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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12024-0.txt b/12024-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c443e1d --- /dev/null +++ b/12024-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15180 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12024 *** + +[Illustration] + +BRED IN THE BONE; OR, LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON + + +A Novel. + + + +BY THE AUTHOR OF + +"A BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK," "GWENDOLINE'S HARVEST," "CARLYON'S YEAR," "ONE +OF THE FAMILY," "WON--NOT WOOED," &c. + + +_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_. + + +NEW YORK: 1872. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +CAREW OF CROMPTON. + + +Had you lived in Breakneckshire twenty years ago, or even any where in +the Midlands, it would be superfluous to tell you of Carew of Crompton. +Every body thereabout was acquainted with him either personally or by +hearsay. You must almost certainly have known somebody who had had an +adventure with that eccentric personage--one who had been ridden down by +him, for that mighty hunter never turned to the right hand nor to the +left for any man, nor paid attention to any rule of road; or one who, +more fortunate, had been "cleared" by him on his famous black horse +_Trebizond_, an animal only second to his master in the popular esteem. +There are as many highly colored pictures of his performance of this +flying feat in existence as there are of "Dick Turpin clearing the +Turnpikegate." Sometimes it is a small tradesman cowering down in his +cart among the calves, while the gallant Squire hurtles over him with a +"Stoop your head, butcher." Sometimes it is a wagoner, reminding one of +Commodore Trunnion's involuntary deed of "derring-do," who, between two +high banks, perceives with marked astonishment this portent flying over +himself and convoy. But, at all events, the thing was done; perhaps on +more than one occasion, and was allowed on all hands not only as a fact, +but as characteristic of their sporting idol. It was "Carew all over," +or "Just like Carew." + +This phrase was also applied to many other heroic actions. The idea of +"keel-hauling," for instance, adapted from the nautical code, was said +to be practically enforced in the case of duns, attorneys, and other +objectionable persons, in the lake at Crompton; while the administration +of pommelings to poachers and agriculturists generally, by the athletic +Squire, was the theme of every tongue. These punishments, though severe, +were much sought after by a certain class, the same to which the +purchased free and independent voter belongs, for the clenched fist +invariably became an open hand after it had done its work--a golden +ointment, that is, was always applied after these inflictions, such as +healed all wounds. + +Carew of Crompton might at one time have been member for the county, if +he had pleased; but he desired no seat except in the saddle, or on the +driving-box. He showed such skill in riding, and with "the ribbons," +that some persons supposed that his talents must be very considerable in +other matters, and affected to regret their misuse; there were reports +that he knew Latin better than his own chaplain; and was, or had been, +so diligent a student of Holy Writ, that he could give you chapter and +verse for every thing. But it must be allowed that others were not +wanting to whisper that these traits of scholarship were greatly +exaggerated, and that all the wonder lay in the fact that the Squire +knew any thing of such matters at all; nay, a few even ventured to +express their opinion that, but for his recklessness and his money, +there was nothing more remarkable in Carew than in other spendthrifts; +but this idea was never mooted within twenty miles of Crompton. The real +truth is, that the time was unsuitable to the display of the Squire's +particular traits. He would have been an eminent personage had he been a +Norman, and lived in the reign of King John. Even now, if he could have +removed his establishment to Poland, and assumed the character of a +Russian proprietor, he would doubtless have been a great prince. There +was a savage magnificence about him, and also certain degrading traits, +which suggested the Hetman Platoff. Unfortunately, he was a Squire in +the Midlands. The contrast, however, of his splendid vagaries with the +quiet time and industrious locality in which he lived, while it +diminished his influence, did, on the other hand, no doubt enhance his +reputation. He was looked upon (as Waterford and Mytton used to be) as a +_lusus naturae_, an eccentric, an altogether exceptional personage, to +whom license was permitted; and the charitable divided the human race, +for his sake, into Men, Women, and Carew. + +The same philosophic few, however, who denied him talent, averred that +he was half mad; and indeed Fortune had so lavishly showered her favors +on him from his birth, that it might well be that they had turned his +head. His father had died while Carew was but an infant, so that the +surplus income from his vast estates had accumulated to an enormous sum +when he attained his majority. In the mean time, his doting mother had +supplied him with funds out of all proportion to his tender years. At +ten years old, he had a pack of harriers of his own, and hunted the +county regularly twice a week. At the public school, where he was with +difficulty persuaded to remain for a short period, he had an allowance +the amount of which would have sufficed for the needs of a professional +man with a wife and family, and yet it is recorded of him that he had +the audacity--"the boy is father to the man," and it was "so like +Carew," they said--to complain to his guardian, a great lawyer, that his +means were insufficient. He also demanded a lump sum down, on the ground +that (being at the ripe age of fourteen) he contemplated marriage. The +reply of the legal dignitary is preserved, as well as the young +gentleman's application: "If you can't live upon your allowance, you may +starve, Sir; and if you marry, you shall not have your allowance." + +You had only--having authority to do so--to advise Carew, and he was +positively certain to go counter to your opinion; and did you attempt to +oppose him in any purpose, you would infallibly insure its +accomplishment. He did not marry at fourteen, indeed, but he did so +clandestinely in less than three years afterward, and had issue; but at +the age of five-and-thirty, when our stage opens, he had neither wife +nor child, but lived as a bachelor at Crompton, which was sometimes +called "the open house," by reason of its profuse hospitalities; and +sometimes "Liberty Hall," on account of its license; otherwise it was +never, called any thing but Crompton; never Crompton Hall, or Crompton +Park--but simply Crompton, just like Stowe or Blenheim. And yet the park +at Crompton was as splendid an appanage of glade and avenue, of copse +and dell, as could be desired. It was all laid out upon a certain +plan--somewhere in the old house was the very parchment on which the +chase was ordered like a garden; a dozen drives here radiated from one +another like the spokes of a wheel, and here four mighty avenues made a +St. Andrew's cross in the very centre--but the area was so immense, and +the stature of the trees so great, that nothing of this formality could +be observed in the park itself. Not only were the oaks and beeches of +large, and often of giant proportions, but the very ferns grew so tall +that whole herds of fallow deer were hidden in it, and could only be +traced by their sounds. There were red deer also, almost as numerous, +with branching antlers, curiously mossed, as though they had acquired +that vegetation by rubbing, as they often did, against the high wooden +pale--itself made picturesque by age--which hedged them in their sylvan +prison for miles. Moreover, there were wild-cattle, as at Chartley +(though not of the same breed), the repute of whose fierceness kept the +few public paths that intersected this wild domain very unfrequented. +These animals, imported half a century ago, were of no use nor of +particular beauty, and would have dwindled away, from the unfitness of +the locality for their support, but that they were recruited +periodically, and at a vast expense. It was enough to cause their +present owner to strain every nerve to retain them, because they were so +universally objected to. They had gored one man to death, and +occasionally maimed others, but, as Carew, to do him justice, was by no +means afraid of them himself, and ran the same risk, and far oftener +than other people, he held he had a right to retain them. Nobody was +obliged to come into his park unless they liked, he said, and if they +did, they must "chance a tossing." The same detractors, whose opinion we +have already quoted, affirmed that the Squire kept these cattle for the +very reason that was urged against their existence; the fear of these +horned police kept the park free from strangers, and thereby saved him +half a dozen keepers. + +That his determination in the matter was pig-headed and brutal, there is +no doubt; but the Squire's nature was far from exclusive, and the idea +of saving in any thing, it is certain, never entered into his head. The +time, indeed, was slowly but surely coming when the park should know no +more not only its wild-cattle, but many a rich copse and shadowy glade. +Not a stately oak nor far-spreading beech but was doomed, sooner or +later, to be cut down, to prop for a moment the falling fortunes of +their spendthrift owner; but at the time of which we speak there was no +visible sign of the coming ruin. It is recorded of a brother prodigal, +that after enormous losses and expenses, his steward informed him that +if he would but consent to live upon seven thousand a year for the next +ten years, the estate would recover itself. "Sir," returned he in anger, +"I would rather die than live on seven thousand a year." Our Carew would +have given the same reply had twice that income been suggested to him, +and been applauded for the gallant answer. The hint of any necessity for +curtailment would probably have caused him to double his expenditure +forthwith, though, indeed, that would have been difficult to effect. He +had already two packs of hounds, with which he hunted on alternate days, +and he had even endeavored to do so on the Sunday; but the obsequious +"county" had declined to go with him to that extent, and this anomaly of +the nineteenth century had been compelled to confine himself on the +seventh day to cock-fighting in the library. He kept a bear to bait (as +well as a chaplain to bully), and ferrets ran loose about Crompton as +mice do in other houses. He had a hunter for every week in the year, yet +he often rode his horses to death. He had a stud of racers, and it was +this, or rather his belief in their powers, which eventually drained his +vast resources. Not one of them ever won a great race. This was not +their fault, nor that of their trainer, but his own; he interfered in +their management, and would have things his own way; he would command +every thing, except success, which was beyond his power, and in missing +that he lost all. Otherwise, he was lucky as a mere gambler. His +audacity, and the funds he always had at his disposal, carried him +triumphantly, where many a more prudent but less wealthy player withdrew +from the contest. Games of skill had no attraction for him, but at an +earlier date in his career he had been a terror to the club-keepers in +St. James's, where his luck and obstinacy had broken a dozen banks. It +was said--and very likely with truth--that he had once cut double or +quits for ten thousand pounds. + +His moral character, as respected the softer sex, was such as you might +expect from these traits. No modest woman had been seen at Crompton for +many a year; although not a few such--if at least good birth and high +position include modesty--had, since his majority, striven to give a +lawful mistress to the place. His eccentricities had not alarmed them, +and his shamelessness had not abashed them. Though his constitution was +said to be breaking up through unparalleled excesses, his heart, it was +currently reported in domestic circles, was sound: and what a noble feat +would it be to reclaim him! It was also reckoned impossible that any +amount of extravagance could have seriously embarrassed such a property +as he had inherited, indeed long since, but of which he had had the sole +control only a few years. At the time of which we speak Carew was but +thirty-five, though he looked much older. His muscles were still firm, +his limbs yet active, and his hand and eye as steady with the gun or +bridle as ever. But his bronzed face showed signs of habitual +intemperance; his head was growing prematurely bald; and once or twice, +though the fact was known to himself only, his iron nerve had of late +failed him. The secret consciousness of this last fact made him more +venturesome and reckless than ever. "Time," he swore, "should never play +_him_ tricks. He was as good a man as ever he was. There was a quarter +of a million, more or less, to be got through yet, and, by Jove, he +would see it out!" Of course he did not swear by Jove; for, as we have +said, he kept a chaplain, and was therefore no heathen. + +One of the arguments that the mothers of those young ladies who sought +his hand were wont to make use of, to their great comfort, was that Mr. +Carew was a churchman. There was a private chapel at Crompton, the +existence of which, of course, explained why his presence did not grace +the parish church. Then his genealogy was of the most satisfactory +description. Carews had dwelt at Crompton in direct succession for many +a century. Charles I., it is almost unnecessary to state, had slept +there--that most locomotive of monarchs seems to have honored all old +English mansions with a night's visit--and had hunted in the chase next +morning. Queen Elizabeth had also been most graciously pleased to visit +her subject, John Carew, on which occasion a wooden tower had been +erected for her in the park, from which to see "ten buckes, all having +fayre lawe, pulled down with grey-houndes;" she shot deer, too, with her +own virgin hands, for which purpose "a cross-bowe was delivered to her +by a nymph with a sweet song." These things, however, were in no way +commemorated. Carew was all in all: his devouring egotism swallowed up +historical association. His favorite female bull-dog, with her pups, +slept in the royal martyr's apartment. The places in Crompton Chase held +remarkable were those where its present owner had made an +unprecedentedly long shot, or had beaten off one of the wild cattle +without a weapon, or had run down a stag on foot. There was no relic of +ancient times preserved whatever, except that at midsummer, as in Lyme, +that very curious custom was kept of driving the red deer round the +park, and then swimming them through the lake before the house--a very +difficult feat, by-the-by, to any save those who have been accustomed to +"drive deer." One peculiar virtue of Carew--he was addressed, +by-the-way, by all his inferiors, and some of his equals, as "Squire" +only--was, we had almost forgotten to say, his regard for truth, which +may truly be said to have been "passionate," if we consider the effect +produced in him when he discovered that any one had told him a +falsehood. He would fall upon them tooth and nail, if they were menials; +and if guests, he would forbid them his house. This was surely one +excellent trait. Yet it was maintained by those carpers already alluded +to, that to tell truth was comparatively easy in one who was as careless +of all opinion as he was independent in means; moreover, that a love of +truth is sometimes found to exist in very bad company, as in the case of +the Spartan boy who stole the fox, and if the veracious Squire did not +steal foxes (which he did, by-the-by, indirectly, for a bagged one was +his delight), he was guilty of much worse things. However, this is +certain, that Carew of Crompton never told a lie. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WAITING FOR AN INTRODUCTION. + + +We have said that Carew was not exclusive; so long as he had his own way +in every thing he was good-tempered, and so very good-natured that he +permitted not only his friends but his dependents to do pretty much as +they would. He was a tyrant only by fits and starts, and in the mean +time there was anarchy at Crompton. Every soul in the place, from the +young lords, its master's guests, down to the earth-stopper's assistant, +who came for his quantum of ale to the back-door, did pretty much as +seemed right in his own eyes. There were times when every thing had to +be done in a moment under the master's eye, no matter at what loss, or +even risk to limb or life; but usually there was no particular time for +any thing--except dinner. The guests arose in the morning, or lay in bed +all day, exactly as they pleased, and had their meals in public or in +their own rooms; but when the great dinner-gong sounded for the second +time it was expected that every man should be ready for the feast, and +wearing (with the single exception of the chaplain) a red coat. The +dinner-parties at Crompton--and there was a party of the most +heterogeneous description daily--were literally, therefore, very gay +affairs; the banquet was sumptuous, and the great cellars were laid +under heavy contribution. Only, if a guest did happen to be unpunctual, +from whatever cause, even if it were illness, the host would send for +his bear, or his half-dozen bull-dogs, and proceed to the sick man's +room, with the avowed intention (and he always kept his word) of +"drawing the badger." In spite of his four-legged auxiliaries, this was +not always an easy task. His recklessness, though not often, did +sometimes meet with its match in that of the badger; and in one chamber +door at Crompton we have ourselves seen a couple of bullet-holes, which +showed that assault on one side had met with battery upon the other. +With such rough manners as Carew had, it may seem strange that he was +never called to account for them at twelve paces; but, in the first +place, it was thoroughly understood that he would have "gone out" (a +fact which has doubtless given pause to many a challenge), and would +have shot as straight as though he were partridge-shooting; and +secondly, as we have said, he had a special license for practical jokes; +the subjects of them, too, were not men of delicate susceptibilities, +for none such, by any accident, could have been his guests. In +consideration of good fare, good wine, a good mount in the +hunting-field, excellent shooting, and of a loan from the host whenever +they were without funds, men even of good position were found to "put +up" very good-naturedly with the eccentricities of the master of +Crompton, and he had his house full half the year. It is not to be +wondered at, therefore, that his servants were found willing to compound +for some occasional ill usage, in return for general laxity of rule, and +many unconsidered trifles in the way of perquisites. His huntsmen and +whips got now and then a severe beating; his grooms found it very +inconvenient when "Squire" took it into his mad head to sally forth on +horseback across country by moonlight; and still worse, when he would +have the whole stud out, and set every servant in his employ, not +excepting his fat French cook, in the saddle, to see how they would +comport themselves under the unaccustomed excitement of a steeple-chase. +But upon the whole, the retainers at Crompton had an easy berth of it, +and seldom voluntarily took their discharge. + +Perhaps the best situations, as being less liable to the _per contras_ +in the shape of the master's passionate outbursts, were those of the +park-keepers, of whom old Walter Grange was one. He was a bachelor, as +almost all of them were. It was not good for any one with wife or +daughter (if these were young, at least) to take service with Carew at +all; and living in a pleasant cottage, far too large for him, in the +very heart of the chase, Grange thought it no harm to take a lodger. The +same old woman who cooked his victuals and kept his rooms tidy would do +the same office for another who was not very particular in his food, and +could rough it a little in other respects; and such a one had Walter +lately found in the person of a young landscape-painter, Richard Yorke. +This gentleman was a stranger to Crompton and its neighborhood; but +having (as he said) happened to see a certain guarded advertisement in +the _Times_ headed, "To Artists and Others," that lodgings in the midst +of forest scenery could be procured for what seemed next to nothing, he +had come down from London in the autumn on the chance, and found them +suitable. + +To poet or painter's eye, indeed, the lodge was charming; it was small, +of course, but very picturesquely built, and afforded the new tenant a +bow-windowed sitting-room, with an outlook such as few dwellings in +England, and probably none elsewhere, could offer. In the fore-ground +was an open lawn, on which scores of fine-plumaged pheasants strutted +briskly, and myriads of rabbits came forth at eve to play and +nibble--bordered by crops of fern, above which moved statelily the +antlered deer. A sentry oak or two of mighty girth guarded this open +space; but on both sides vast glades shut in the prospect with a wall of +checkered light and shadow that deepened into sylvan gloom. But right in +front the expanding view seemed without limit, and exhibited all +varieties of forest scenery; coppices with "Autumn's fiery finger" on +their tender leaves; still, shining pools, where water-fowl bred and +dwelt; broad pathways, across which the fallow deer could bound at +leisure; or one would leap in haste, and half a hundred follow in +groundless panic. The wealth of animal life in that green solitude, +where the voice of man was hardly ever heard, was prodigious; the rarest +birds were common there; even those who had their habitations by the sea +were sometimes lured to this as silent spot, and skimmed above its +undulating dells as o'er the billow. The eagle and the osprey had been +caught there; and, indeed, a specimen of each was caged in a sort of +aviary, which Grange had had constructed at the back of the lodge; while +Yorke's sitting-room was literally stuffed full of these strange +feathered visitants, which had fallen victims to the keeper's gun. The +horse-hair sofa had a noble cover of deer-skin; the foot-stool and the +fire-rug were made of furs, or skins that would have fetched their price +elsewhere, and been held rare, although once worn by British beast or +"varmint." The walls were stuck with antlers, and the very handle of the +bell-rope was the fore-foot of a stag. Each of these had its story; and +nothing pleased the old man better than to have a listener to his +long-winded tales of how and where and when the thing was slain. All +persons whose lives are passed in the open air, and in comparative +solitude, seem in this respect to be descendants of Dame Quickly; their +wearisome digressions and unnecessary preciseness as to date and place +try the patience of all other kinds of men, and this was the chief cross +which Grange's lodger had to bear as an offset to the excellence of his +quarters. It must be confessed that he did not bear it meekly. To stop +old Walter in mid-talk--without an open quarrel--was an absolute +impossibility; but his young companion would turn the stream of his +discourse, without much ceremony, from the records of slaughter into +another channel (almost as natural to it)--the characteristics and +peculiarities of his master Carew. Of this subject, notwithstanding that +that other made him fret and fume so, Yorke never seemed to tire. + +"I should like to know your master," he had said, half musingly, after +listening to one of these strange recitals, soon after his arrival; to +which Grange had answered, laughing: "Well, Squire's a very easy one to +know. He picks up friends by every road-side, without much troubling +himself as to who they are, I promise you." + +The young man's face grew dark with anger; but the idea of self-respect, +far less of pride, was necessarily strange to a servant of Carew's. So +Grange went on, unconscious of offense: "Now, if you were a young +woman," he chuckled, "and as good-looking as you are as a lad, there +would be none more welcome than yourself up at the big house. Pretty +gals, bless ye, need no introduction yonder; and yet one would have +thought that Squire would know better than to meddle with the +mischievous hussies--he took his lesson early enough, at all events. +Why, he married before he was your age, and not half so much of a man to +look at, neither. You have heard talk of that, I dare say, however, in +London?" + +Richard Yorke, as the keeper had hinted, was a very handsome +lad--brown-cheeked, blue eyed, and with rich clustering hair as black as +a sloe; but at this moment he did not look prepossessing. He frowned and +flashed a furious glance upon the speaker; but old Grange, who had an +eye like a hawk, for the objects that a hawk desires, was as blind as a +mole to any evidence of human emotion short of a punch on the head, and +went on unheeding: + +"Well, I thought you must ha' heard o' that too. We folk down here heard +o' nothing else for all that year. She got hold o' Squire, this ere +woman did, though he was but a school-boy, and she old enough to be his +mother, bless ye, and was married to him. And they kep' it secret for +six months; and that's what bangs me most about it all. For Carew, he +can keep nothing secret--nothing: he blurts all out; and that's why he +seems so much worse than he is to some people. Oh, she must have been a +deep one, she must!" + +"You never saw her, then?" asked Yorke, carelessly shading his eyes, as +though from the westering sun, which Midas-like, was turning every thing +it touched in that broad landscape into gold. + +"Oh yes, I see her; she was here with Squire near half a year. Mrs. +Carew--the old lady, I mean--was at Crompton then; and the young +one--though she was no chicken neither--she tried to get her turned out; +but she wasn't clever enough, clever as she was, for that job. Carew +loved his mother, as indeed he ought, for she had never denied him any +thing since he was born; and so, in that pitched battle between the +women, he took his mother's side. And in the end the old lady took his, +and with a vengeance. I do think that if it had not been for her, young +madam would have held on--Why, what's the matter, young gentleman? That +was an oath fit for the mouth of Squire hisself." + +"It's this cursed toothache," exclaimed Yorke, passionately. "It has +worried me so ever since you began to speak that I should have gone mad +if I had not let out at it a bit. Never mind me; I'm better now." + +"Well, that's like the Squire again," returned the keeper, admiringly. +"He seems allus to find hisself better for letting out at things, and at +people too, for the matter of that. To hear him sometimes, one would +almost think the ground must open; not that he means any harm, but it's +a way he's got; but it does frighten them as is not used to him, surely. +I mind that day when he first took the fox-hounds out, and Mr. Howard +the sheriff as was that year--he's dead and gone long since, and his +grandson is sheriff now again, which is cur'ous--well, he happened to +ride a bit too forward with the dogs, and our young master--Oh dear, +dear," and the old man began to chuckle like a hen that has laid two +eggs at a time, "how he did swear at the old man!" + +"You were talking about Mrs. Carew the elder," observed the artist, +coolly. + +"Was I? True, so I was. Well, she and the young Squire was for all the +world like a deer with her fawn--all tenderness and timidity, so long as +he was let alone; but when this 'ere woman came, as she considered his +enemy, she was as bold as a red stag--nay, as one of our wild-cattle. It +was through her, I say, that the bride got the sack at last; and when +that was done the old lady seemed to have done her work, and was content +enough when her son portioned her off, and persuaded her to live at the +dower-house at Morden; and indeed she could hardly have staid at +Crompton, with such goings on as there are now--feastings and fightings +and flirtings--" + +"Just so," interrupted the young painter; "she got her way, I know. But +with respect to the younger lady, Mrs. Charles Carew, what was _she_ +like, and what did people say of her?" + +"Well, not much good, I reckon. What could they say of a school-mistress +who marries her pupil?" + +"A school-mistress, was she?" said Yorke, in a strange husky voice. "We +never heard that in London." + +"Well, she was summut of that sort, Sir, though I don't know exactly +what. Young as he was, Carew was not quite child enough to be at a +dame's school, that's true. But she was not a mere servant-girl, as some +said, any way, for she could play and sing--ay, songs that pleased him +too--and she had book-learning, I've heard, such as would have +astonished you; so that some folks said she was a witch, and had the +devil's help to catch Carew. But a woman don't want magic, bless you, to +come over a lad of seventeen--not she. What nonsense people talk! If +any pretty girl about Crompton was to take a fancy to _you_ now, as is +like enough, do you suppose--" + +"But I thought you said that Mrs. Charles Carew was not a girl?" + +"Nor more she was: she was five-and-thirty if she was a day; and +yet--_there_ was the wonder of it--she did not look much over twenty! +I've heard our gentlemen, when out shooting, liken her to some fine +Frenchwoman as never grew old, and was fell in love with unbeknown by +her grandson. Now, what was her name? I got it written down somewhere in +my old pocket-book; it was summut like Longclothes." + +"_Ninon de l'Enclos?_" suggested Yorke, without a smile. + +"Ay, that's the name. Well, Mrs. Charles Carew, as you call her, was +just like her, and a regular everlasting! She was not what you would +call pretty, but very "taking" looking, and with a bloom and freshness +on her as would have deceived any man. Her voice was like music itself, +and she moved like a stag o' ten; and the Squire being always manly +looking and swarthy, like yourself, there was really little difference +between them to look at. I dare say she's gone all to pieces now, as +women will do, while the Squire looks much the same as he did then." + +"I have never even seen him," said the landscape-painter, moodily. + +"Well, don't you stare at him, young master, when you do get that +chance, that's all. Some comes down here merely to look at him, as if he +was a show, and that puts him in a pretty rage, I promise you; though to +get to know him, as I say, is easy enough, if you go the right way about +it. If you were a good rider, for instance, and could lead the field one +day when the hunting begins, he'd ask you to dinner to a certainty; or +if you could drive stags--why, he would have given you a hundred pounds +last midsummer, when we couldn't get the beasts to swim the lake. +There's a pretty mess come o' that, by-the-by; for, out of the talk +there was among the gentlemen about that difficulty, the Squire laid a +bet as _he_ would drive stags; not as _we_ do, mind you, but in harness, +like carriage-horses; and, cuss me, if he hasn't had the break out half +a dozen times with four red deer in it, and you may see him tearing +through the park, with mounted grooms and keepers on the right and left +of him, all galloping their hardest, and the Squire with the ribbons, +a-holloaing like mad! For my part, I don't like such pranks, and would +much sooner not be there to see 'em. There will be mischief some day +with it yet, for all that old Lord Orford, down at Newmarket some fifty +years ago, used to do the same thing, they say. It ain't in nature that +stags should be druv four-in-hand, even by Carew. However, the Squire +won his wager; and we haven't seen none o' _that_ wild work o' late +weeks, though we may see it again any day." + +"I have heard of that strange exploit," observed Yorke; "but as driving +deer, even in the ordinary way, is not my calling, and as I am no great +rider, even if I had a horse, I don't see how I am to introduce myself +to your mad Squire, and yet I have a great fancy for his acquaintance. +Do you think he'd buy any of these drawings, taken in his own park, from +his own timber?" The young man touched a portfolio, already well stocked +with studies of oak and beech. "Here is a sketch of the Decoy Pond, for +instance, with the oldest tree in the chase beside it; would not that +interest him, think you? You think not?" + +"Well, young gentleman," said the keeper, frankly, "if I say no, it +ain't that I mean any slight to your drawing. It's like the tree enough, +for certain, with the very hoop of iron as I put round it with my own +hands twenty years ago--and, by the same token, it will want another +before this winter's out; but I don't think the Squire cares much for +such matters. He might, maybe, just give a look at it, or he might bid +you go to the devil for a paper-staining son of a--well--what you will. +He does not care a farthing, bless 'ee, for all the great pictures in +his own gallery, though they cost his grandfather a mint of money, and +are certainly a fine sight--so far as the frames go. And, on the other +hand, if he happens to be cross-grained that day, he might tear it up +before you could say 'Hold,' and kick you down the Hall steps into the +bargain, as he has done to many a one. That's where it is, you see, the +Squire is so chancy." + +"I don't think he would kick _me_ down his Hall steps," said Yorke, +grimly. + +The keeper grinned. "Well, you see, nobody can tell that till it's +tried. The Squire is a regular bruiser, I promise you, though I grant +you are a strapping young fellow, and you have told me that you know how +to use your fists. That's a great thing, mind you, for a man to ha' +learnt; a deal better than Latin or such-like, in my opinion. Folks talk +of life-preservers and pistols, but there's nothing like a good pair of +well-handled fists when one has to tackle a poacher. I've been at +Crompton, man and boy, these fifty years, and had a good many +rough-and-tumbles with that sort, and I have never had the worst of it +yet. It prevents bloodshed on both sides; for if you haven't no +shooting-iron, there's few Englishmen, poachers or not, who will draw +trigger on you; and as for a bludgeon, it's as likely to be in my hand +as another's after the first half minute." + +"Is there much poaching now at Crompton?" inquired Yorke, mechanically. +It would have been plain to any less obtuse observer than his companion +that he no longer gave him his attention. + +"Well, no; nothing to be called serious has happened lately; though I +dare say we shall have some scrimmages as the winter comes on; there's +allus a good deal of what I calls hanky-panky work in the fawn season. +Women and children--especially children--will come into the park, under +pretense o' picking up sticks; and they'll put away a new dropped fawn +in their bundles, if they get the chance; and then they take it home, to +be reared until it grows up, and can be sold for venison." + +"I should have thought there would have been no market for such a +commodity--that is, in the case of people such as you describe," +observed Yorke, yawning. + +"Market!" echoed the keeper, contemptuously; "there'd be a market +to-morrow morning for the whole herd o' our wild-cattle, if they were +stolen to-night; there'd be a market for a rhinoceros or a halligator, +if we happened to keep 'em, bless 'ee, as easy as for a sucking pig! But +I don't call that poaching--I mean the fawn-stealing. It's the +professionals from the Midland towns as come by tens and twenties at a +time as is our trouble. We generally gets wind of 'em beforehand, and +then out we all goes, and Squire with us--for he dearly loves a +fight--and then there's broken crowns and bloody noses; but, thank God, +there's been no murder done, at least, not in my time, at Crompton. And +that reminds me, Sir, that it's time for me to start on my evening +rounds." + +"Well, when you next have any news of such an incursion, Grange, I hope +you will let me make one of your party," said Yorke, good-humoredly. "I +can hit out straight from the shoulder; and perhaps I might get to know +the Squire _that_ way." + +"And as likely a road to lead you into his good graces, Sir," said the +keeper, rising, "as any I know. Are you for a walk round the park this +fine evening, Sir?" + +"No; not to-night, thank you, Grange. I have got to fill in this sketch +a bit that I took this morning." + +"Then, good-night, Sir, for I sha'n't return before daylight." + +But it was not till long after the keeper had taken his departure that +Richard Yorke turned hand or eye to his unfinished drawing. He sat +staring straight before him with steadfast eyes and thoughtful face, for +hours, murmuring to himself disjointed sentences; and ever and anon he +started up and paced the little room with rapid strides. "He shall see +me, and know me, too," muttered he, at last, between his clenched teeth, +"though it should cost one of us our lives. She shall not say I came +down to this wilderness, like some hunted beast to covert, for nothing." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE NIGHT-WATCH. + + +It was an easy thing enough, as Walter Grange had said, to make +acquaintance with Carew of Crompton, and possible even to become his +bosom friend at a short notice, for his friendships, all made in wine, +at play, or in the hunting-field, were soon cemented; but then, if the +introduction was effected in an unpropitious time or manner, it was like +enough to end in affront or downright insult. A gulf might be fixed just +where you wanted a causeway, and of this--though he had feigned to +inquire about it so innocently of the honest park-keeper--Richard Yorke +was well aware. He had, as has been hinted, come down to Crompton with +the express view of throwing himself in the way of its eccentric master, +and to do so opportunely, and he was content to bide his time. Thus, +though the autumn had far advanced, and the time had come for men of his +craft to hasten from the dropping, dripping woods, no longer fair, to +hive at home their sweet memorials of the summer time, Richard remained +at Crompton, not willingly, indeed, nor even patiently, but with that +sort of dogged resolve which is engendered, even in a restless spirit, +by long watching. He had stopped so long that he would not now give up +his watch; the fortress, indeed, showed no more sign of breach than when +he first sat down before it; but still he would not raise the siege. +This persistency excited no surprise in his house companion; Walter +Grange was no gossip, nor curious about other men's affairs; it was +easy, even for him, to see that his tenant had a proud stomach, and he +had set down his talk about desiring an introduction to Carew as merely +another phrase for wishing for a good chance of disposing of his wares +to best advantage in that market to which so many of such various +callings thronged. He did not think, as he had honestly confessed, that +there was much chance of the Squire becoming a patron of the fine arts, +but he wished the young fellow luck, and was glad, for more than one +reason, that he staid on. + +It was at least three months after his young lodger's arrival that +Walter burst into his sitting-room one afternoon, without his usual +knock at the door, with the great news that he had just had word, by a +safe hand, that a gang of poachers would be in the Home Park that very +night, and that all the staff of keepers would be out in waiting for +them. + +"You know," said he, quite indignant that the young man did not show his +enthusiasm, "you told me I was to be sure and let you know, Mr. Yorke; +but, of course, you needn't make one of us unless you like." + +"Oh yes, I'll come," laughed the young fellow--"that is, provided it is +fine. I can't fight in the rain, even for the game laws." + +"It'll be a lovely night, Sir, with just enough of moonlight to know +friends from foes," went on the keeper, rubbing his hands, and +unconsciously moistening them in his excitement. "I knew you'd come. I +said to myself: 'Mr. Yorke'll never turn tail;' and we shall be really +glad of your help, for the fact is we are short-handed. Napes is down +with the rheumatics, and two of our men are away from home, and there +ain't time to send to the out-beaters. So we shall be only +nine--including yourself--in all. Let's see," continued the old man, +counting on his fingers: "there'll be Bill Nokes, and Robert Sloane, +and--" + +"Spare me the roll-call, Grange," interrupted the painter; "and tell me +where I am to be, and when, and I'll be there." + +"Very good, Sir," said the keeper, musing. "I'll put you at the Squire's +oak--the one as you drawed so nicely--that'll be at the Decoy down +yonder, and close to home. You have only to use this whistle, and you'll +get help enough if you chance to be set upon; there will be a fight, no +doubt. They must be a daring lot to poach the near park, within sound of +the house: they ain't a done that these ten year; for the last time they +brought Squire and his bull-dogs out, which was a lesson to one or two +of 'em. However, he's for town, they say, to-day." + +"All right, Grange; we must do without him, then," returned the young +man, cheerfully. "What time am I to be on guard?" + +"You should be there at ten at latest, Sir. There'll be plenty of us +within whistle-call, you understand. But nobody will come aneist you as +has any business there; so whoever you see you must go in at." + +Yorke nodded, smiling, and doubling his white fists, hit out +scientifically with his right. + +"You're one after the Squire's own heart," exclaimed the keeper, +admiringly; "and I do wish you could foregather with him. What a reach +of arm you've got, and what a play of muscle! The fist is the weapon for +a poacher--that is, I mean _agin_ him--if you only know how to use it. I +can depend on the Decoy being guarded by ten, Sir, can I? for I must be +off to the head-keeper's with the rest." + +"Yes, you can." + +"Then, good-by, Sir, for the present." + +"Now what a poor fool is that!" soliloquized the young painter, +contemptuously, as the door closed upon his late companion. "To think +that I should risk my life against a poacher's on even terms! Of course, +if they suffice, I shall only treat him to my knuckles; but if not--if +he be a giant, or there be more than one of them--then here is a better +ally than mere bone and sinew." Yorke took out of a drawer a +life-preserver, made of lead and whalebone, struck with it once, to test +its weight and elasticity, then slipped it into his shooting-jacket +pocket. "That will enlarge their organs of locality," said he, grimly; +"they will not forget the Decoy Pond in a hurry whose heads knock +against this." + +He made a better supper than was usual with him that night; filled his +pocket-flask with brandy, and his pouch with tobacco; and then making +sure that the whistle Grange had given him, and which he had hung round +his neck, was within easy reach of his fingers, sallied out, well +wrapped up as to his throat, and with his hands in his pockets. If +Richard Yorke was doomed not to have life made easy for him, he made it +as easy as he could. He never omitted a precaution, unless it gave him +trouble to take it out of proportion to the advantage it conferred; he +was never imprudent, unless the passion of the moment was too strong for +him; but sometimes, unfortunately, his mere whims were in their +intensity passions, and his passions, while they lasted, fits of +madness. He was a landscape-painter, partly because he had some taste +that way, but chiefly because he hated regular work of any sort. He had +no real love for his art, and not the least touch of poetic feeling. He +knew an oak from a beech-tree, and the sort of touch that should be used +in delineating the foliage of each; a yellow primrose was to him a +yellow primrose, and he could mix the colors deftly enough which made up +its hue. His education had been by no means neglected, but it had been +of a strange sort; every thing he had learned was, as it were, for +immediate use, and of a superficial but attractive character. The +advocates of a classical curriculum would have shaken their heads at +what Richard Yorke did know, almost as severely as at his lack of +knowledge. He had read a good deal of all kinds of literature, including +much garbage; he could play a little on the piano, and speak French +with an excellent accent. In a word, he had learned every thing that had +pleased him, as well as a little Latin and some mathematics, which had +not. He knew English history far better than most young Englishmen; but +the sight of tomb or ruin had never made his heart pulse faster with an +evoked idea by a single beat. Historical associations had no charm for +him. This mighty oak, for example, under the shadow of which he now +stands sentry, and which he had transferred so deftly to his portfolio, +has no longer any interest for him. He has "done it," and its use and +pleasure are therefore departed in his eyes. He knows quite well that +though it is called the Squire's, in token, probably, of some wholesale +slaughter of wild-ducks effected by Carew from its convenient cover, +that this tree is hundreds of years old--the oldest in all the chase. He +has read the "Talking Oak," for indeed he can quote Tennyson by the +yard, and in dulcet voice; and it would have been natural enough, one +would think, in such a time and place, that some thoughts of what this +venerable monarch of the forest must have witnessed would perforce come +into his mind. The same moonlight that now shines down between its +knotted naked branches must have doubtless lit on many a pair of lovers, +for it was ever a favorite place for tryst in by-gone years. The young +monk, perhaps, may here (when Crompton was an abbey) have given double +absolution, to himself and to the girl who confessed to him her love. +Roundhead maiden and Cavalier gallant must many a time have forgotten +their political differences beneath this oak, as yet a tree not sacred +to royalty; nay, perhaps even those of. York and Lancaster may here have +been compounded for, in one red rose of a blush. Bluff Harry had haply +hunted beneath its once wide-spreading arms, and certainly the martyr +king had done so, with a score of generations of men of all sorts, dead +and gone, God alone knows whither. Though no more the bugle sounded, nor +the twanging bow was heard, there was surely an echo of their far-away +music in the young painter's ear! No, there was none. + + Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter, + +was a line Richard Yorke had read, perhaps, but certainly had not +understood. He heard the bare branch creak and sway above his head as +the wind slowly took it; he heard the night-jar croak, as it flew by on +silent wing; and now and then he heard, or thought he heard, the sound +of the voices of his fellow-watchers a great way off, which was his only +touch of fancy. They were all silent, and in close hiding. + +It is not to be supposed, however, that his mind was fixed upon the +matter in which he was engaged, so that other subjects were thereby +excluded from it. The repression of night-poaching was not a matter that +interested him either in principle or practice. He would just as soon +that the keeper had not reminded him of his offer to share his +watch--the whim that had once seized him to do so had died away; but +having once promised his company, he was not one to break his word. So +here he was. + +The young man's thoughts were busy, then, neither with the past nor the +present, but with the future--that is, _his own_ future. The path of +life did not lie straight before Richard Yorke, as it does before most +men of his age, and in fact it came, so to speak, abruptly to a +termination exactly where he stood. + +In such a case, the choice of the wayfarer becomes boundless, and is +only limited by the horizon and circumstances. As matters were, he had +scarcely enough to live on--not nearly enough to do so as his tastes and +habits suggested; and yet, by one bold stroke, with luck to back it, he +might, not "one day" (_that_ would have had small charm for him), but at +once, and for his life-long, be rich and prosperous. He could not be +said to have expectations, but his position was not without certain +contingencies, the extreme brilliancy of which might almost atone for +their vagueness. It was from a dream of future greatness, or what seemed +to him as such, wherein he saw himself wealthy and powerful, surrounded +with luxury and with the ministers of every pleasure, that he was +suddenly and sharply awakened by a trifling incident--the snapping of a +dead twig in the copse hard by. In an instant the glittering gossamer of +thought was swept aside, and the young fellow was all ear and eye. The +wind had dropped for some time, and the silence was intense; that solemn +hush seemed to pervade the forest which some poet has attributed to the +cessation of spiritual life, as though the haunters of the glade were +_waiting_ for the resumption of their occupations until the interloping +mortal should pass by. Nothing stirred, or, if so, it was motion without +sound, as when the full-feathered owl slid softly through the midnight +air above him. Not a dead leaf fell; and where the leaves had fallen +there they lay. How was it, then, that a twig broke? The deer were +couched; the pheasants sat at roost, their heads beneath that splendid +coverlet, their wing; and though there were creeping things which even +midnight did not woo to rest in that vast wilderness, Yorke had imbibed +enough of forest lore to know that the noise which he had heard was +produced by none of these. A rat in the water-rushes, or a stoat pushing +through the undergrowth, would have announced itself in a different +fashion. Again the sound was heard, and this time it was no longer the +crackling of a twig, but the breaking of a branch; then cautious +footsteps fell upon the frosty leaves, and, with a light leap on the +bank that fringed the copse, the poacher stood in the open. + +That such he was, Yorke had no doubt whatever; the moonlight streamed +full upon him, and showed him to be none of the Crompton keepers, +unless, indeed, he was disguised. For an instant, it passed across his +mind that this might be Walter Grange himself--he was about the same +height and build--come to play a trick upon him to test his courage, for +the man's face was blackened like a burglar's; but this idea was +dismissed as soon as entertained. The keeper, he reflected, thought far +too seriously of the night's doings to make jest of them, and besides, +he could never have sprung upon the bank as yonder fellow did, his +limbs, though sturdy, being stiff with age and occasional rheumatism. +The intruder seemed quite alone, and it was probable, while his +confederates paid attention to the pheasants in the Home Park, that he +was bent upon making a private raid upon the sleeping water-fowl. He +had no gun, however, nor, as far as Yorke could make out, any other +weapon; and as soon as he had got near enough to the pond to admit of +it the watcher sprang out from beneath the shadow of the oak, and +placed himself between the stranger and the copse from which he +had emerged. Yorke was the taller by full six inches, and believing +himself to be more than a match for his antagonist, had not so +much as laid finger on his concealed weapon; but if he had now +any thought of doing so, it was too late; for, with a cry +of eager rage, the man turned at once, and sprang at him like a tiger. +It needed all his skill and coolness to parry the fierce blows which +fell upon him like hail, and which he had scarcely time to return. Yorke +was an adept at boxing, and in the chance encounters into which a +somewhat dissipated and reckless youth had led him, he had been an easy +victor; but it now took all he knew to "keep himself." An instant's +carelessness, or the absence of a hand in search of that which he would +now have gladly seized, and his guard, would have been broken through, +and himself placed at his foe's mercy. Nothing but his long reach +preserved him from those sledge-hammer blows, which seemed as though +each must break the arm they fell upon. As for using his whistle, the +opportunity, of course, was not afforded him; and, moreover, he had no +breath to spare for such a purpose. Breath, however, was also a +desideratum with the poacher, and the more so inasmuch as he accompanied +every blow--as Brian de Bois-Guilbert was wont to hammer home his +mace-strokes with "Ha! Beauseant, Beauseant!"--with some amazing oath. +It is recorded of an American gentleman, much given to blasphemy, that +he could entertain "an intelligent companion" for half a day with the +mere force and ingenuity of his expletives; and this singular talent +seemed to be shared by Richard Yorke's antagonist. That one of the most +accomplished roughs of the Midlands had fallen to the young painter's +lot in that night's _mêlée_, he could not for a moment doubt; but this +reflection did not go far to soothe him. He did not care for fighting +for its own sake, while his pride revolted against thus being kept at +bay by a brutal clown. If he could but get the chance, he made up his +mind to end this matter once for all, and at last the opportunity seemed +to be afforded. The poacher suddenly stepped back to the very margin of +the pond, a long oval piece of water, and not very deep, and quick as +thought, Yorke drew his deadly weapon. But at the same moment there was +a sound of racing feet, and down the drive there came two men at +headlong speed. Yorke did not doubt that they were poachers; but his +blood was up, and he was armed--he felt like an iron-clad against whom +three wooden ships were about to pit themselves. "Where I hit now I make +a hole," he muttered, savagely, and stood firm; nor did he even put his +lips to the whistle that hung round his neck. + +[Illustration: "THE MAN TURNED AT ONCE, AND SPRANG AT HIM LIKE A +TIGER."] + +But as the men came nearer, in the foremost he recognized Walter Grange, +and at the same moment saw his late antagonist plunge wildly into the +ice-cold pond, and begin to wade and swim across it. + +"Cuss him! I durst not do it," gasped Walter, just too late, and +mindful, even in his passionate disappointment, of rheumatic pains. +"Dash after him, Bob, while Mr. Yorke and I run round." + +But Bob had had the rheumatism too, or had seen the unpleasant effects +of it in others, and shook his shaggy head. + +A mocking laugh burst from the poacher, already nearing the opposite +bank. + +"Dang him! If I'd got a gun, I'd shoot him. Run, man!" cried Walter, +excitedly--"run, man, run! He can never get along in his wet clothes." +And off the two men started in hot pursuit. + +Yorke watched them toiling round the pond, while the poacher landed, +shook himself like any water-dog, and leisurely trotted off. + +"It was lucky for him," murmured he, as he replaced his weapon in his +pocket, "that the help came on _my_ side;" then lit his pipe, and +leisurely walked home. + +Three hours later returned the keeper (for whose arrival he had been +sitting up), with twinkling eye and a look of triumph. + +"Well, you caught the beggar, did you, Grange?" + +"Oh yes, we caught him fast enough," responded the other, grinning; "we +caught the whole lot of them. And who d'ye think they were? Why, it was +the whole party from the house, as had come out to play at poachers! Who +ever heard of such a game? Some on 'em got it hot, I reckon, in the new +spinney yonder. But _that_ was no matter. We've all had our skins full +of rum punch, and a sov. apiece, because Squire says we proved ourselves +good watch-dogs. And here," continued the old man, exultingly, "are a +couple of sovs. for yourself. 'Give them to that tall young fellow,' +says Squire, 'as you posted by the Decoy Pond, for he knows how to use +his fists.' Why, that 'ere chap as you had the tussle with was Carew +hisself!" + +A deadly paleness overspread the young man's cheeks. + +"Was that Carew?" he said. + +"Yes, indeed, it was; though none of us know'd it. You needn't look so +skeared. He ain't annoyed with you; he's pleased, bless 'ee, and here's +the proof of it." + +"You may keep the guineas, Grange," said Yorke, gravely; "only keep my +secret too. If he thinks I was a night-watcher, let him continue in that +belief." + +"Why, it's the best introduction to Carew as you could have!" insisted +the astonished keeper. "You have only to go up to the great house +to-morrow, and say: 'Here's the man as proved your match last night,' +and--" + +"You must allow me to be the best judge of my own affairs," interrupted +the young fellow, haughtily; "so you will be so good as to say nothing +more about the matter." + +"Just as you please, Sir; and I am sure you are very kind," answered the +keeper, slipping the coins into his pocket. "Squire hisself could not be +more liberal, that's certain. You are tired, I see; and I wish you +good-night, Sir, or rather good-morning." + +"Good-night, Grange." + +"Now, that's what I call pride," said Walter, grimly, as he closed the +door upon his lodger; "and I am sure I hope, for his sake, it may never +have a fall." + +When Richard Yorke was thus left to himself he did a curious thing; he +took out the life-preserver from its receptacle, and having made up the +fire, placed it in the centre of the burning mass, so that in the +morning there was nothing left of it save a dull lump of lead. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ACROSS THE THRESHOLD. + + +A day or two passed by, and nothing more was heard of Carew's combat +with the young watcher; some other mad frolic had doubtless entered into +the Squire's head and driven that one out. The hot punch imbibed after +his swim in the Decoy Pond seemed to have averted all evil consequences, +or perhaps he was case-hardened to such things. It was not uncommon with +him to spend whole winter nights on a neighboring "broad," in pursuit of +the mere-fowl that haunted it, in water or ice or swamp. He treated his +body as an enemy, and strove to subdue it--though not for the good +reasons of the Apostle--by every sort of harshness and imprudence; or +rather he behaved toward it as a wayward father toward his child--at one +time with cruel severity, at another with the utmost luxury and +indulgence. No rich man, probably, ever gave his heir so many chances of +inheritance, or excited in him so many false hopes, as did the Squire of +Crompton, who had no heir. + +The hunting season had begun with him after its usual fashion; he seldom +troubled himself to find a fox, but turned one out of a bag to insure +sport, or ran a drag over the most difficult and dangerous country that +could be selected. + +Yorke had almost made up his mind to take the keeper's advice, and +distinguish himself by putting his neck to the same risks as Carew, on +horseback, in order to recommend himself to his notice, when an event +occurred by which he attained his end in another way. + +Tired of the park, wherein he had dwelled so long, and which every day +the approach of winter made more bare and desolate, he had taken a +solitary walk along the highway which led to the market-town. He was +returning, and had reached the top of the long hill where the park fence +began, and a high solid gate--so that no dogs could enter--gave access +to that wild domain, when a confused murmur in the keen blue air caused +him to look back. For a mile or more the road was straight, and the +leafless trees and hedges left the prospect open to him in all +directions; at the extremity of the road was some huge moving object, +which, advancing at great speed, disclosed the Squire's mail phaeton, +drawn by four antlered stags, and followed at some distance by three or +four mounted grooms, apparently unable to keep up with him. Carew +himself was standing up like some charioteer of old, and, although he +already outstripped the very wind, was laying about him frantically with +his whip, as up the hill the frightened creatures tore as if the ground +were level. The reason of this headlong speed was at the same time made +evident by the appearance of a pack of hounds, which, followed by a +numerous field in scarlet, was coming across the grass-land in full cry. +The spectacle, though weird and strange, was by no means without a +certain grandeur--like some barbarous pageant. Yorke understood the +situation at a glance. He had heard the keeper say that, not content +with his wild progresses through the park, the Squire had sworn to drive +his stags one day into the market-town, and this he had doubtless +actually accomplished; but, on his return, he had had the misfortune to +be caught sight of by one of his own packs of hounds, which were now in +full pursuit of him, like another Actaeon. The terrified stags, with +that deep-mouthed menace of their natural enemies ringing in their ears, +at once threw off all control, and had left their grooms behind them in +half a dozen bounds. If only the harness held, they would be at the +lodge gate in a very few minutes; but, on the other hand, the hounds +were nearer to that point, which they were approaching diagonally. They +were running, of course, by sight, like greyhounds, and with greyhounds' +speed. Above their eager mellow notes, and the mad shouting of the +excited sportsmen, and the ceaseless winding of the disregarded horn, +above the thunder of his own wheels, and of the hoofs of his strange +steeds upon the wintry road, rang out Carew's hoarse tones: "The gate, +the gate!" If only that wooden wall could be interposed between his +stags and their pursuers, all might yet be well. But, though the +lodge-keeper had been drawn by the tumult to his door, he stood there +like one amazed and fascinated by the spectacle before him, and +paralyzed with the catastrophe that seemed impending. + +"Gate, gate, you gaping idiot!" roared the Squire, with a frightful +curse; but the poor shaking wretch had not the power to stir; it was +Yorke himself who dashed at the latch, and threw the long gate wide to +let the madman pass, and then slammed it back upon the very jaws of the +hounds. They rushed against the solid wood like a living battering-ram, +and howled with baffled rage; and some leaped up and got their fore-paws +over it, and would have got in yet, but that Richard beat them back with +his bare hands. + +In the mean time Carew and his stags swept up the park like a whirlwind, +and presently, coming to a coppice, the frightened creatures dashed into +it, doubtless for covert, where wheel and rein and antler, tangling with +trunk and branch, soon brought them to a full stop. + +"Good lad!" exclaimed Carew, as Yorke hurried up to help him; "you are a +good plucked one, you are; you shall keep the lodge, if you will, +instead of that lily-livered scoundrel who was too frightened to move. +Oh, I ask pardon; you are a gentleman, are you?" + +"Sir, I hope so," answered the young man, stiffly, his anger only half +subdued by the necessity for conciliation. + +"Then, come up to the house and dine, whoever you are; I'll lend you a +red coat. Curse those grooms! what keeps them? One can't sit upon a +stag's head to quiet him as though he were a horse." (Two of the stags +were down, and butting, at one another with their horns.) "What a pace +we came up White Hill! I tried to time them, but I could not get my +watch out. You moved yourself like a flash of lightning, else I thought +we must have pinned you against the gate. It was well done, my lad, well +done; and I'm your debtor." + +The Squire held out his hand, for the first time, for Yorke to shake. + +"Why, what's this?" said he, peering into the other's eyes. "I have +seen your face before, my friend." + +"Yes, Sir; a week or two ago I played the part of night-watcher in your +preserves--it was a mad prank; but"--and here the young fellow smiled +roguishly--"it was better than poaching, you must admit." + +"What!" cried the Squire, delighted, "are you the fellow that had that +bout with me in the Decoy Pond? Why, I thought you were one of my own +men, and sent you something; but, of course, my scoundrels drank it. I'm +glad to see you, Sir, by daylight. It was the uncertain moonshine that +hampered me, else, by Jove, I'd have given you 'one, two!' We must have +it out another day, for a drawn battle is just the thing I hate. What's +your name, young gentleman, and where do you live?" + +"I live close by, Sir; I am in lodgings for the present." + +"Ay, ay, for the hunting, I suppose," said the impetuous Squire. "Hark +to those devils of dogs; they are howling yet; they would have had my +stags by this time but for you. Well, well; send for your portmanteau, +and take up your quarters at Crompton; you shall have a hearty welcome; +only don't be late for dinner--seven, Sir, sharp. Here are my knavish +grooms at last." + +And, under cover of the fire of imprecations which the Squire poured +upon his approaching retainers, the young landscape-painter withdrew. He +had obtained his end at last, and he wished to retire before Carew +should put that question to him for a second time--what is your +name?--which, at such a moment, it would, for certain reasons, have been +embarrassing to answer. + +He betook himself at once to the keeper's lodge, and packing up his +wardrobe, which, though of modest dimensions, comprised all that was +requisite for a gentleman's costume, dispatched it to the great house. +He followed it himself shortly afterward, only waiting to dash off a +note by the afternoon's post for town. It was literally a "hurried +line," and would have better suited these later telegraphic days, when +thoughts, though wire-drawn, are compressed, and brevity is the soul of +cheapness, as of wit. "_I have got my foot in, and however it may be +pinched, will keep the door open. Direct to me at Crompton_." + +It was not a nice trait in the young man, if it was a characteristic +one, that he did not take the trouble even to leave so much word as that +for the old keeper, who was engaged in his outdoor duties, but simply +inclosed the few shillings in which he was indebted to him inside an +envelope, addressed to Walter Grange. The old man liked him, as he well +knew, and would have prized a few words of farewell; but Yorke was in a +hurry to change his quarters for the better; he had climbed from low to +high, and gave no further thought to the ladder which had so far served +him. But yet he had some prudence too. Though he had dwelled so long in +the Carew domains, so careful had he been not to intrude his presence +inopportunely on its master, that he had never so much as seen, except +at a distance, the mansion to which he was now an invited guest. How +grand it showed, as his elastic step drew near it, with tower and turret +standing up against the gloomy November sky, and all its broad-winged +front alive with light! How good it would be to call so fine a place his +home! How excellent to be made heir to the childless man who ruled it, +and who could leave it to whomsoever his whim might choose! + +It was unusual for a guest to approach Crompton for the first time on +foot. The Squire's jovial friends used for the most part strange +conveyances, such as tandems and randoms, and the great flower-beds in +the lawn in front gave sign that some such equipage had been lately +driven up not altogether with dexterity. It is difficult at all times to +drive "unicorn," and more so if the horses are not used to that method +of progression, and still more so if the charioteer is somewhat +inebriated; and all these conditions had been fulfilled a few minutes +previously in the case of Mr. Frederick Chandos, a young gentleman of +twenty-one years of age, but of varied experience, who had just arrived +that day on his first visit. But when Yorke appeared at the front-door, +there was no less attention paid to him than if he had driven up with +four-in-hand. Obsequious footmen assisted him to take off his wrappers +in the great hall, whose vastness dwarfed the billiard-table in its +centre to bagatelle proportions. A profusion of wax-lights--and no +others were permitted at Crompton, save in the servants' offices--showed +eight shining pillars of rare marble, and a grand staircase broad enough +for a coach-and-four, and up which, indeed, Carew _had_ ridden horses +for a wager; while all the walls were hung with huge-figured +tapestry--"The Tent of Darius" and "The Entry of Alexander into +Babylon," both miracles of patient art. The grandeur of the stately +place was marred, however, by signs of revel and rough usage. The +Persian monarch, spared by his Grecian conqueror, had been deprived, by +some more modern barbarian, of his eyes; while the face of his royal +consort had been cut out of the threaded picture, to judge by the ragged +end of the canvas, by a penknife. The very pillars were notched in +places, as though some mad revelers had striven to climb to the pictured +ceiling, from which gods and men looked down upon them with amaze; the +thick-piled carpet of the stairs was cut and torn, doubtless by horses' +hoofs; and here and there a gap in the gilt balusters showed where they +had been torn away in brutal frolic. A groom of the chambers preceded +the new guest up stairs, and introduced him to a bachelor's apartment, +small, but well furnished in the modern style, whither his portmanteau +had been already taken. "Squire has given orders, Sir," said he, +respectfully, "that he should be informed as soon as you arrived. What +name shall I say, Sir? But here he is himself." + +As the groom withdrew, Carew made his appearance at the open door. He +was smoking a cigar, although it was within an hour of dinner-time; and +at his heels slouched a huge bull-dog, who immediately began to growl +and sniff at the new guest. "Quiet, you brute!" exclaimed the Squire, +with his customary garnish of strong expletive. "Welcome to Crompton, +Mr.--I forget your name; or rather you forgot, I think, to favor me with +it." + +"My name is Richard Yorke, Sir." + +"Yorke, Yorke--that sounds easterly. You are of the Cambridgeshire +stock, I reckon, are you not?" + +"No, Sir," returned the other, with a slight tremor in his voice, which +he could not control; "I come from nearer home. Your wife's first +husband was called Yorke, if you remember, and I bear his name, +although I am her lawful son, by you, Sir." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AT CROMPTON. + + +After the bold avowal made at the conclusion of the last chapter, +Richard Yorke and his father (for such indeed he was) stood confronting +one another, for near a minute, without a word. A tempest of evil +passions swept over Carew's swarthy face, and his eyes flashed with a +fire that seemed to threaten personal violence. The bull-dog, too, as +though perceiving his master's irritation with the stranger, began to +growl again; and this, perhaps, was fortunate for the young man, as +affording a channel for the Squire's pent-up wrath. With a great oath, +leveled alike at man and brute, he raised his foot, and kicked the +latter to the other side of the room. + +"Impudent bastard!" cried he; "how dare you show your face beneath my +roof?" + +"How _dare_ I?" responded the young man, excitedly, and with his +handsome face aglow. "Because there was naught to fear; and if there +were, I should not have feared it." + +"Tut, tut! so bold a game could never have entered into your young head. +Your mother must have set you on to do it--come, Sir, the truth, the +truth." + +"She did not set me on, father," insisted the other, earnestly. "I came +here of my own will. I have been dwelling within a stone's-throw of your +house these six months, in hopes to see you face to face. She told me +_not_ to come--I swear she did." + +"So much the better for her," ejaculated the Squire, grimly. "If I +thought that she had any hand in this, not another shilling of my money +should she ever touch. It was agreed between us," he continued, +passionately--"and I, for my part, am a man who keeps his word--that she +and hers should never meddle more with me and mine; and now she has +broken faith." + +"Nay, Sir, but she has not," returned the young man, firmly. "I tell you +it was against her will that I came hither." + +"The devil it was!" exclaimed the Squire, suddenly bursting into a wild +laugh. "If you get your way with _her_, when she says 'no,' you must be +a rare one. You are my son for certain, however, or you would never dare +to stand here. It was a rash step, young Sir, and might have ended in +the horse-pond. I had half a mind to set my bull-dog at you. Since you +_are_ here, however, you can stay. But let us understand one another. I +am your father, in a sense, as I am father, for aught I know, to half +the parish; but as to being lawfully so, the law has happened to have +decided otherwise. I know what you would say about 'the rights of it;' +but that's beside the question; the law, I say, for once, is on my side, +and I stand by it. Egad, I have good reason to do so; and if your mother +had been _your_ wife, as she was mine, you would be with me so far. Now, +look you," and here again the speaker's manner changed with his shifting +mood, "if ever again you venture to address me as your father, or to +boast of me as such, I will have you turned out neck and crop; but as +Mr. Richard Yorke, my guest, you will be welcome at Crompton, so long as +we two suit each other; only beware, young Sir, that you tell me no +lies. I shall soon get rid of you on these terms," continued the Squire, +with a chuckle; "for to speak truth must be as difficult to you, +considering the stock you come of, as dancing on the tight-rope. Your +mother, indeed, was a first-rate rope-dancer in that way, and I rarely +caught her tripping; but you--" + +"Sir," interrupted the young man, passionately, "is this your +hospitality?" + +"True, lad, true," answered the Squire, good-humoredly; "I had intended +to have forgotten Madam Yorke's existence. Well, Sir, what _are_ +you?--what do you do, I mean, for a livelihood--beside 'night-watching?'" + +"I am a landscape-painter, Sir." + +"Umph!" grunted Carew, contemptuously; "you don't get fat on that +pasture, I reckon. Have you never done any thing else?" + +For a single instant the young man hesitated to reply; then answered, +"Never." + +"You are quite sure of that?" inquired the other, suspiciously. + +"Quite sure." + +"Good! Here, come with me." + +His host led the way along an ample corridor, hung with tall pictures of +their common ancestors, and opened the door of another bedroom. It was +of a vast size; and even when the Squire had lit the candles upon the +mantle-piece, and those which clustered on either side of the great +pier-glass, the darkness did but give place to a sort of shining gloom: +the cause of this strange effect was the peculiarity of the furniture; +the walls were of bog-oak, relieved, like those of a ball-room, by +silver sconces; the chairs were of the same material. The curiosity of +the room was, however, the bedstead; this was of an immense size, and +adorned above with ostrich feathers, which gave it the appearance of a +funeral car; the pillars were of solid ebony, as were also the carved +head and foot boards; it was hung with crimson damask curtains, trimmed +with gold braid; and upon its coverlet of purple silk lay a quilt of +Brussels point lace of exquisite design. + +"I will have your traps brought in here," said Carew, throwing away the +end of his cigar, and drawing from his pocket a heap of filberts; "it +will be more convenient. You will find a room through yonder door, where +you can sit and paint to your heart's content." + +"You lodge me so splendidly, Sir, that I shall feel like Christopher +Sly," observed the young fellow, gratefully. + +"Ay, sly enough, I'll warrant," returned the Squire, who had just +cracked a nut and found it a bad one. "That's Bred in the Bone with you, +I reckon. Look yonder!" As he spoke, a porcelain vase clock upon the +chimney-piece struck the half hour, and a gilt serpent sprang from the +pedestal, showing its fang, which was set in brilliants. "That's my +serpent clock, which always reminds me of Madam, your mother, and the +more so, because it goes for a twelvemonth, which was just the time she +and I went in double harness. But here are your clothes, and you must be +quick in getting into them, for we dine sharp at Crompton.--Watson, go +to my man, and bid him fetch a red coat for this gentleman.--You'll +hear the gong, Mr. Yorke, five minutes before dinner is served." And +with a careless nod to his guest, and a whistle to his four-footed +companion, Carew sauntered off. + +The young man would have given much to have had half an hour at his +disposal to think over the events of the last few minutes, and to +reflect upon his present position; but there was no time to lose, if he +would avoid giving umbrage to his host by being late. He therefore +dressed in haste, and before the first note of the gong was heard was +fully equipped. If the Squire, in introducing him to this splendid +lodging, had had it in his mind to overcome him by a mere exhibition of +magnificence, the design had failed; it was only Yorke's artistic sense +that had been impressed; the fact was that the young fellow was of that +character on whom superiority of any sort has small effect; while in the +present case the signs of wealth about him gave him self-confidence, +rather than any feeling of inferiority; insomuch as he considered +himself "by rights," as the Squire had said, the heir of all he saw, and +by no means despaired of becoming so, not only _de jure_, but _de +facto_. Certainly, as he now regarded himself in the pier-glass in his +scarlet coat, it was not to be wondered at that he reflected +complacently that, so far as personal appearance went, he was not likely +to find a superior in any of the company he was about to meet. A +handsomer young fellow had indeed never answered the importunate summons +of the Crompton gong. + +He had no difficulty about finding his way to the drawing-room, for a +stream of red-coated guests was already setting thither from their +respective chambers, and he entered it with them unannounced. This was +the only apartment in the house which did not bear traces of mischievous +damage, because, as on the present occasion, it was used for exactly +five minutes every evening, and at no other time whatever. After dinner +the Squire's guests invariably adjourned to the billiard-table or the +library, and the yellow drawing-room was left alone in its magnificence. +This neglected apartment had probably excited more envy in the female +mind than any at Crompton, although there were drawing-rooms galore +there, as well as one or two such exquisite boudoirs as might have +tempted a nun from her convent. It was a burning shame, said the matrons +of Breakneckshire, that the finest room in the county should not have a +lawful mistress to grace it; and it was not their fault (as has been +hinted) that that deficiency had not been supplied. It was really a +splendid room, not divided in any way, as is usual with rooms of such +vast extent, but comprehending every description of architectural +vagary--bay-windows, in each of which half a dozen persons might sit and +move, and recesses where as many could ensconce themselves, without +their presence being dreamed of by the occupants of the central space. + +At present, however, the flood of light that poured from chandelier and +bracket, and flashed upon the gorgeous furniture and on the red coats of +the guests, seemed to forbid concealment, and certainly afforded a +splendid spectacle--a diplomatic reception, or a fancy-ball, could for +brilliancy scarcely have exceeded it, though the parallel went no +farther; for, with all this pomp and circumstance, there was not the +slightest trace of ceremony. New guests, like Yorke himself, flocked in, +and stood and stared, or paraded the room; while the less recent +arrivals laughed and chatted together noisily, with their backs to the +fires--of which there were no less than three alight--or lolled at full +length upon the damask sofas. These persons were not, upon the whole, of +an aristocratic type; many of them, indeed, were of good birth, and all +had taken the usual pains with their costume, but a life of dissipation +had set its vulgarizing mark on them: on the seniors the pallid and +exhausted look of the _roué_ was indeed rarely seen--country air and +rough exercise had forbidden that--but drink and hard living had written +their autographs upon them in another and worse handwriting. Blotches +and pimples had indeed so erased their original likeness to gentlemen +that it was even whispered by the scandalous that it was to prevent the +confusion with his menials, that must needs have otherwise arisen, that +the Squire of Crompton compelled his guests to wear red coats. The +_habitués_ of the place, who were the contemporaries of the Squire, had, +as it were, gone to seed. But there was a sprinkling of a better class, +or, at all events, of a class that had not as yet sunk so low as they in +the mire of debauchery: a young lord or two in their minority, whom +their parents or guardians could not coerce into keeping better company; +and other young gentlemen of fashion, in whose eyes Carew was "A +devilish good fellow at bottom;" "Quite a character, by Jove!" and "A +sort of man to know." Among these last was Mr. Frederick Chandos, who +had so lately got among the chrysanthemums with his gig-wheels, and Mr. +Theodore Fane, his bosom friend, who always sat beside him on his +driving-seat, and in return for sharing his perils, was reported to have +the whip-hand of him. Nor was old age itself without its representative +in the person of Mr. Byam Byll, once a master of fox-hounds, now a +pauperized gourmand, who, in consideration of his coarse wit and +"gentlemen's stories," was permitted to have the run of his teeth at +Crompton. This Falstaff to the Squire's Prince Hal was a rotund and +portly man, like his great prototype, but singularly handsome. His smile +was winning yet, and, in spite of his load of years and fat, he still +considered himself agreeable to the fair sex. + +For this information and much more, respecting the character of his +fellow-guests, Yorke was indebted to a very singular personage, who had +introduced himself to him as "Parson Whymper," and whom he now knew to +be the Squire's chaplain. The reverend divine was as proud of that +office (and infinitely more comfortable in it) as though he had been +chaplain to an archbishop. He was the only man present who wore a black +coat, and he had a grave voice and insinuating manner, which really did +smack something of the pulpit. + +"Mr. Yorke," said he, blandly, "I make no apology for introducing myself +to you; Carew and I have been just having a talk about you, and he has +no secrets from his ghostly adviser. I take your hand with pleasure. I +seem to feel it is the flesh and blood of my best friend. Sooner or +later, mark me, he will own as much, and, be sure, no effort of mine +shall be wanting to insure so desirable a consummation." + +Yorke flushed with pleasure, not at the honeyed terms, nor the good-will +they evidenced, but at the news itself--the fact of his father having +revealed their relationship to him seemed so full of promise--and yet he +resented the man's professions, the audacity of which seemed certainly +to imply that he was taken for a fool. + +"I am sure, Mr. Whymper," said he, stiffly, "I ought to be greatly +obliged to you." + +"Hush! Not Mr. Whymper, if you please, for that's a fine here. Every +body at Crompton calls me 'Parson.' Obliged, Sir! Not at all. It is only +natural that, being what I am, I should wish you well. The law, it is +true, has decided against your legitimacy, but the Church is bound to +think otherwise. In my eyes you are the Squire's only son"--here he made +a whispering-trumpet of his brawny hands, and added with great +significance--"and heir." + +"I see," said Yorke, smiling in spite of himself. + +"Of course you do; did you think I was trifling with your intelligence? +I tell you that it is quite on the cards that you may recover your lost +position, and regain what is morally your own again. Carew is delighted +with you, not so much because you saved his stags as because you fought +such a good battle with him by the Decoy Pond. He has been consulting me +professionally as to whether it would be contrary to the tables of +affinity to have another set-to with you. I am sorry my reply was in the +negative, for, now I look at you, I do believe you would have thrashed +him; but I was so afraid of his getting the better of you, which might +have ruined your fortunes." + +Richard could only repeat his thanks for the good clergyman's kindness. +"You know nobody here, I suppose," observed the latter, "and, with a few +exceptions, which I will name to you, that is not of much consequence. +It is a shifting lot: they are here to-day and gone to-morrow, as says +the Scripture, and I wish they were all going to-morrow except Byam +Ryll. That's old Byam yonder, with the paunch and his hands behind him; +he has nowhere else to put them, poor fellow." And here Parson Whymper +launched into biography as aforesaid. + +The clock on the chimney-piece, on which the two were leaning, broke in +upon the divine's scarcely less dulcet accents with its silver quarter. + +"This is the first time," said Whymper, "that I have ever known your +father late; and to you belongs the honor of having caused him to +transgress his own immutable rule." + +While he was yet speaking a hunting-horn was blown in the hall beneath, +and the whole company turned _en masse_, like a field of poppies before +a sudden wind, to the door where Carew was standing. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FEAST OF LAPITHAE + + +The host himself led the way down stairs; while the rear of the party +was brought up by Mr. Whymper, to whom Yorke attached himself. + +When they reached the dining-room, and before they took their seats at +the ample table, the chaplain, with sonorous voice, gave a view holloa! +which was the Crompton grace. + +"It is very distressing to me to have to act in this way," whispered he +to his young friend, whose countenance betrayed considerable +astonishment; but it is the custom of the house; and, after all, there +is no great harm in it. _De minimis non curat lex_, you know." + +"That does not hold good with respect to the law of affiliation, +parson," observed Mr. Byam Ryll, who sat on the other side of him, "if, +at least, I have not forgotten my _Burns_." + +"I always understood that Burns had very loose views upon such matters," +returned the chaplain, demurely. + +"My dear parson, your remark is like that excellent condiment which I +wish I could see at this otherwise well-provided table--caviare to the +multitude. Why is it not furnished? You have only to say the word." Here +he addressed himself to Yorke: "This worthy divine who sits at the +bottom of the table, young gentleman, and who has neglected his duty in +not having introduced us, is all-powerful here; and we all endeavor to +make friends of him; nor is that circumstance, it is whispered, the only +respect in which he resembles the mammon of unrighteousness." + +A shadow of annoyance crossed the parson's smiling face. + +"Mr. Richard Yorke," said he, "this is Mr. Byam Ryll, our unlicensed +jester." + +"The parson, on the contrary," retorted the other, with twinkling eyes, +"is our Vice, and gives himself every license. What is the matter with +Carew to-night? He looks glum. I dare say he has been eating greens and +bacon at some farm-house, and is now regretting the circumstance. He has +no moral courage, poor fellow, and knows not how to deny his appetite." + +"You never did such a wasteful thing in your life, Byam, I'll warrant," +said the parson, smiling; "and yet some say that you have been a +profligate." + +"I know it," replied the gourmand, shaking his head; "and I forgive +them. They call me a slave to my stomach; if it be so, I at least serve +a master of some capacity, which is not the case with every body." + +"You are saying something about _me_, you big fat man," cried Carew, +from the other end of the table, and his voice had a very unpleasant +grasp in it. "Come, out with it!" + +"If our venerable friend does not stoop to deception," whispered the +parson into Yorke's ear, "he will now find himself in an ugly hole." + +"I was observing that you did not eat your lamperns, Squire," said the +stout gentleman, "and remarked that you were in no want of a feeder." + +"What's a feeder?" returned the host, ill-temperedly. "If it's a bib, +you'll soon want one yourself, for, egad, you're getting near your +second childhood!" + +"It must have been my plumpness and innocence which suggested that +idea," responded the other, smiling. "But if you have never known a +feeder, you have missed a great advantage, Squire. When you dine with my +Lord Mayor the question is always asked, will you have a feeder, or will +you not? If you say 'Yes,' you pay your half-guinea, and get him. He is +generally a grave old gentleman like myself, and much resembles a +beneficed clergyman. He stands behind your chair throughout the feast, +and delicately suggests what it is best for you to eat, to drink, and to +avoid. 'No; _no_ salmon,' he murmurs, if you have had turbot already; +and, '_Now_, a glass of Burgundy, _if_ you please, Sir;' +or, '_Now_, a glass of sherry.' If an indigestible or ill-compounded +_entree_ is handed, he will whisper 'No, Sir: neither now nor never,' +with quite an outburst of honest indignation; nor will he suffer you to +take Gruyere cheese, nor port with your Stilton. The consequence is, +that the next morning you feel as lively as though you had not feasted +on the previous evening, and convinced that you made a good investment +of your half-guinea in securing his services. If there was a feeder at +Crompton," concluded the old gourmand, sighing, and with a hypocritical +look, "it would be a boon to some of you young fellows, and might +produce a healthy and devout old age." + +"That's a good one!" "Well done, Byam!" "You won't beat that!" resounded +from all sides, for such were the terms in which the gallery at Crompton +expressed their approbation, whether of man or beast; but Mr. Frederick +Chandos and a few others, inclusive of Mr. Theodore Fane, kept a +dignified silence, as over a joke that was beyond their capacities--they +reserved their high approval for "gentlemen's stories" only. As for the +grim Squire, for whom alone the narrative had been served and garnished, +at so very short a notice, he observed upon it, that "when he had used +up old Byam's brains he should now have the less scruple in turning him +out-of-doors, inasmuch as it seemed there was a profession in town that +was just suited to him." + +How wondrous is the power of naked wealth--of the mere money! Simply +because he had a large rent-roll, this mad Carew could find not only +companions of his own calibre--reckless good-for-naughts, or dull +debauchees--but could command gray beard experience, wit, the art of +pleasing, in one man; and in another (what he was not less destitute of, +and needed more), politic management and common-sense. We do not say, as +the Squire himself sometimes did, when in a good-humor with his two +satellites, that Parson Whymper and Byam Ryll had more brains in their +little fingers than all his other friends had in their whole bodies, but +it was certain that, even when drunk, they were wiser than the others +when sober; the one had astuteness enough for a great statesman (or what +has passed for such in England) to hold the most discordant elements +together, and to make what is rotten seem almost sound; and, indeed, +without his chaplain's dextrous skidding, Carew would long ago have +irretrievably lost social caste, and dissipated his vast means to the +last shilling. On the other hand, Byam Ryll was gifted with even rarer +qualities; he was essentially a man of mark and character, and might +have made his fortune in any pursuit by his own wits; but his fortune +had been ready-made when he came of age, and he had occupied himself +very agreeably instead in getting through it, in which he had quite +succeeded. Parson Whymper, who had never known what it was to have a +ten-pound note to call his own, was now no worse off than he. They would +both have frankly owned, had they been asked, that they detested work of +any kind. Yet the chaplain had almost as much business on his hands as +the bursar of a great college, in the administration of Carew's affairs, +besides filling an office which was by no means a sinecure, in that of +his master of the ceremonies. Many a rudeness in that house would have +been bitterly avenged, and many a quarrel would have had a serious +termination, but for the good offices of Parson Whymper. Nor would Mr. +Byam Ryll have been considered by every body to earn an easy livelihood +in making jests out of every occasion, to tickle the fancy of a +dull-witted audience and of a patron, as often as not, morose; yet the +flesh-pots of Egypt had attracted both these men to the Squire's +service, their poverty as well as their will consenting; and in exchange +for meat and drink, and lodging of the best, they had sold themselves +into slavery. Upon the whole, they were well disposed to one another; +the bond of intelligence united them against the rich "roughs" with whom +they had to deal; they tilted together, side by side, against the +_canaille_; yet each, from the bitter consciousness of his own +degradation, took pleasure in the humiliation or discomfiture of the +other, at the rude hands of their common master. + +"Profession," said Chandos, in reply to Carew's last remark; "gad, your +ancient friend is lucky to have found one in these days. They tell me +that no young gentleman can now get his living without answering +questions, writing down things, drawing maps, and passing--What the +deuce do they call them?" + +"Hanged if _I_ know," said the Squire. "Ask Byam; he knows every thing." + +"I say, Mr. Byam," drawled the young man, somewhat insolently, but +without being aware that he was addressing a stranger by his Christian +name, "Carew says you know every thing. What is it that a gentleman is +now obliged to go through before he can get any of these snug things one +used to get for the asking? What is the confounded thing one has to +pass?" + +"Muster," answered Ryll, derisively, as though it was a riddle. + +Carew laughed aloud. The nearer a retort approached to a practical joke, +provided it was not at his own expense, the better he liked it. + +"What did the old beggar say?" inquired Mr. Frederick Chandos, his fair +face crimson with anger. + +"He asked for the mustard; he didn't hear you," answered the Squire, +mischievously; "he never does hear a fellow who lisps." + +"I asked you, Mr. Byam," repeated the young man with tipsy gravity, +"what is the name of those examinations?" + +"The name of the gentleman on my left, Mr. Chandos, is Ryll, and not +Byam--except to his intimate friends," interposed the chaplain; "and the +name you are in want of is competitive." + +"That's it," said the young man, slapping the table, and forgetting both +his mistake and his anger in the unaccustomed acquisition of an idea. +"Competitive examination is what they call it Well, you know, there was +my young brother--confound him!--looking to me to pay his bills; and, in +fact, having nothing to live upon, poor devil, except what I gave him. +So, of course, I was anxious to get him off my hands." + +"Very natural," assented Carew. "For my part, I could never see what +younger brothers were born for." + +"You'd see it less if you had one to keep," continued Chandos. "In old +times, now, I could have got Jack something warm and snug under +government, or in the colonies; and so I should now, but for one +thing--that he had to pass one of these cursed examinations first. +However, as it had to be done, and as Jack, according to his own +account, was as much out of form for one as another of them, I +recommended him to try his luck for something in India; for as long as +you can keep a fellow on the other side of the world he can't dun +you--not to hurt; it ain't like coming and calling _himself_; and you +needn't read his letters unless you like. Well, 'India be it,' says +Jack; 'that's as good a place as another;' though, in my opinion, he +never expected to go there. He thought he had no chance whatever of +pulling through, and so did I, for the fact is, Jack is a born fool." + +"Did you say he was your brother, or only your half-brother?" inquired +Mr. Byam Ryll, with an appearance of great interest. + +"My very own brother, Sir," replied the unconscious Chandos, flattered +to find such attention paid to him; "and as like to me as one thimble, I +mean as one pea, is to another. Well, the strange thing is, the deuce +alone knows how it happened, but _Jack got through_." Here he took a +bumper of port, as though in honor of that occasion. "It's a perfect +marvel, but the best thing for _him_ (as well as for me) in the world. +Nobody ever went out under better auspices, for the governor of Bengal +is our cousin, and Jack was to school with his private sec.: it's a +first-rate connection. Our family has been connected with India for ever +so long. I'll tell you how." + +"It is a most admirable connection," observed Mr. Byam Ryll; "and the +whole circumstances of the case will, I have no doubt, be interesting in +the highest degree to the natives of Bengal. Your brother should embody +them in a neat speech, and deliver it from the deck of the steamer +before he lands." + +It is probable that Mr. Frederick Chandos would have so far +misunderstood the nature of this observation as to have accepted it as a +compliment had not Carew burst into a series of wild laughs, which +betokened high approval, and was one of his few tokens of enjoyment. He +had evinced unmistakable signs of discontent and boredom before his +intellectual henchman had thus struck in on his behalf; and he was +really gratified for the rescue. Chandos was muttering some drunken +words of insolence and anger; but Carew bore him down. + +"Pooh, pooh! Old Byam was right!" cried he, with boisterous mirth. "I +dare say all that long story of yours _may_ interest those black +fellows; but for me, I care nothing about it. It's all rubbish. Be +quiet, you young fool, I say; it's too early yet for buffets. Here, +bring the beaker." + +This was a magnificent tankard, the pride of Crompton, which, at the +conclusion of dinner, was always filled with port-wine, and passed round +the table. It was lined with silver gilt, but made of ivory, and had a +cover of the same, both finely carved. On the bowl was portrayed a +Forest Scene, with Satyrs pursuing Nymphs; on the lid was the Battle of +the Centaurs; while the stem was formed by a sculptured figure of +Hercules. If the artist, Magnus Berg, who had fashioned it long ago in +his own Rhine Land, had had foresight of the sort of company into whose +hands his work was in these days to pass he could not have hit upon more +apt devices. His Satyrs and his Centaurs had here their representatives +in the flesh; while the thews and sinews of the son of Alcmene had their +counterpart in those of the man who now stood up at the head of that +splendid table, and drank such a draught as though the port were porter. +It was a feat to hold it with one hand, and therefore Carew did so; but +to empty it at a draught was, even for him, an impossibility, for it +held three bottles of wine. Though the Squire could be acquitted of +entertaining reverence for any thing human or divine, he had a sort of +superstitious regard for his beaker, and believed that so long as he had +it in his possession--like the "Luck of Eden Hall"--no great harm could +happen to him. He attached all the importance of a religious +ceremony--and, indeed, it was the only one he practiced--to the using of +this goblet, and resented any levity during the process as though it +were sacrilege. But to stand up after dinner, and much less to support +this elaborate drinking-vessel, was not always an easy matter with the +Squire's guests, and so it happened on the present occasion. The usage +was, that one held the cover while his neighbor drank from the cup, +after a ceremonious bow to him; and it fell to the lot of Mr. Frederick +Chandos to perform this latter duty immediately after his host, and +while there was still much wine in the goblet. Uncertain as to his +footing, and trembling with irritation, as well as with the weight of +his burden, he hesitated to drink. Perhaps, in his already wine-muddled +brain, he had some vague idea of passing the vessel on, and thereby +showing his displeasure; but, at all events, the hesitation was +unfortunate for him, for, with a fierce ejaculation of impatience, Carew +crammed the great cover on the young man's head, which, like the helmet +of Otranto, came down over nose and chin. Maddened with the insult, +Chandos dashed the contents of the goblet into what he thought was the +Squire's face, but which was indeed the white cravat and waistcoat of +his opposite neighbor; and then began a scene that Smollett alone could +have described or Hogarth painted. It was as though a concerted signal +had been given for a free fight among all the Squire's guests. The one +art that was practiced among them was that of boxing, and almost every +man present had a neat way of hitting out with one hand or the other, +which he believed to be unique, and the effect of which he was most +curious to observe. The less skillful with their fists used any other +weapons that came handy. The dessert service of Dresden porcelain, +elaborately enameled with views of the chief towns of Germany, had once +been the marriage portion of a princess, and was justly held to be one +of the rarest treasures of Crompton; but it was no more respected now +than if it had furnished forth the table of Pirithous. The plates +skimmed about like quoits, and all the board became a wreck of glass and +china. Above the clamor and the fighting could be heard Carew's strident +voice demanding his beaker, pouring unimaginable anathemas against any +one who should do it damage, and threatening to unmuzzle and bring in +his bear. The servants, not unused to such mad tumults, gathered in a +mass at the doorway, and awaited with equanimity the subsidence of the +storm among their betters. It came at last, and found the scene of +contest not unlike a ship after storm--the decks all but clean swept, +and the crew (who had broken into the spirit-room) exhausted. + +Richard Yorke, who, with his two neighbors, had taken no part in the +affray beyond defending himself from blows or missiles, was even more +astonished at the general good-humor that now succeeded than at the +fracas itself. If there had been any bad blood among the combatants, it +seemed to have been spilled, for there was now nothing but laughter and +applausive drumming of fists upon the table. The company were as pleased +with their own performance as the holiday faces that greet with such +exuberant joy the havoc upon the stage at pantomime time. The _habitués_ +of Crompton, indeed, were not unlike wild school-boys, with a Lord of +Misrule for their master, and "give and take" for their one good +precept. Nay, the rude outbreak had even a beneficial effect, for it cut +short the orgie, which might, and probably would, have otherwise been +prolonged for hours. There was no dissentient voice when Mr. Byam Ryll +arose and observed, in demure accents: "Suppose, my dear friends, that +we join the ladies." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +YORKE REPORTS PROGRESS. + + +I trust it will not be imagined, and far less hoped for, by any reader +of this sober narrative, that the phrase which concluded the last +chapter implies that he or she is about to be introduced to bad company. +The fair sex will not be without their representatives in our story, and +that soon; but they will not be such as blushed unseen (if they blushed +at all) in the bowers at Crompton. Mr. Ryll's suggestion, "Let us join +the ladies," was only an elegant way he had, and which was well +understood by his audience, of proposing an adjournment to the +billiard-room. If that worthy old gentleman could be said to have had +any source of income whatever, it was the billiard-table; and hence it +was that he was always ready to proceed thither. Nor had he boasted +without reason, a while ago, of his powers of self-denial, for he would +often forego a glass of generous wine (when he felt that he had had +enough), in order to keep his hand steady for the game at pool, which +invariably took place at Crompton after dinner. His extreme obesity, +though it deprived him of some advantages in the way of "reach," was, +upon the whole, a benefit to him. His antagonists lost the sense of his +superiority of skill in their enjoyment of the ridiculous and +constrained postures in which he was compelled to place himself, and he +was well content to see them laugh and lose. None but a first-rate +player could have held his own among that company, whose intelligence +had been directed to this particular pursuit for most of their natural +lives; and even "Tub Ryll," as they called him, had to supplement his +dexterity by other means to make success secure. His liveliest sallies, +his bitterest jests, were all reserved for these occasions, so that +mirth or anger was forever unstringing the nerves of his competitors, +and diminishing their chance of gain. It was difficult to unstring the +nerves of Parson Whymper, who ran him very close in skill, and sometimes +divided the spoil with him; but on the present occasion he had a wordy +weapon to baffle even that foe. This consisted in constant allusion to +the latter's supposed reversionary interest in the living at Crompton, +the incumbent whereof was ancient and infirm, and which was in the +Squire's gift. This piece of preferment was the object of the chaplain's +dearest hopes, and the last subject he would have chosen to jest upon, +especially in the presence of its patron. + +"Is he to have it, Squire, or is he not?" would be Tub Ryll's serious +inquiry, just as it was the parson's turn to play on him, or, "Who backs +the vicar elect?"--observations which seldom failed to cost that +expectant divine a sovereign, for the play at the Hall table, although +not so high as was going on in the Library with those who patronized +cards, was for considerable stakes. Carew, who enjoyed, above all +things, this embarrassing pleasantry, would return an ambiguous reply, +so that the problem remained without a solution. But when the disgusted +chaplain at last threw up his cue, in a most unusual fit of dudgeon, the +Squire put the question to the company, as a case of church preferment +of which he was unwilling to take the sole responsibility. "The sum," he +said, "which had been offered to him for the next presentation would +exactly defray the cost of his second pack of hounds, which his chaplain +himself had advised him to put down; so the point to be considered--" + +"The hounds, the hounds!" broke in this impatient audience, amidst roars +of laughter. And nobody knew better than poor Parson Whymper that this +verdict would be more final than that of most other ecclesiastical +synods, and that he had lost his preferment. It was Carew's humor to +take jest for earnest (as it was to turn into ridicule what was +serious), and to pretend that his word was pledged to decisions to which +nobody else would have attached the slightest weight; it pleased him to +feel that his lightest word was law, or perhaps it was a part of the +savage adoration which he professed to pay to truth. + +Byam Ryll felt a genuine regret that he had pushed matters so far, +though Whymper himself was to blame for having shown temper, and thereby +precipitated the catastrophe. But he did not play the less skillfully on +that account; and, moreover, had no rival to divide the pool with him. + +"I would give five pounds if somebody would beat him," muttered the +discontented parson within Yorke's hearing, who was standing aloof with +his cigar watching the game. + +"I think I _could_," said the young man, quietly, "if I _had_ five +pounds." + +As the pool was two pounds, and the lives were one, this was exactly the +amount of pecuniary risk to be run, and which want of the necessary +funds had alone prevented the young man from incurring. + +"Here is a fiver," replied the parson, softly. + +"But I really have no money," remonstrated Yorke, though his fine face +lit up for a moment with delight (for he was a gambler to the core), +"nor any expectation of--" + +"Yes, yes; you have expectations enough," answered the other, hurriedly. +"You may give me that living yet yourself--who knows? Take a ball, +man--take a ball." + +So, when another game commenced, the young landscape-painter, who had +spent at least as much of his short life at those boards of green cloth +called "public tables" as in studying the verdant hues of nature, made +one of the combatants, and not a little astonished them by his +performance. He had the eye of a hawk, with the litheness of a young +panther; and his prudence during the late debauch had preserved his +steadiness of hand. Mr. Theodore Fane had the misfortune to be his +immediate predecessor, and was "potted" at long distances. + +"By Jove!" exclaimed he, sulkily, upon losing his last life by a double, +"you must have lived by your wits, young gentleman, to have learned to +play pool like that." + +"I have," returned Yorke, without moving a muscle, and preparing to +strike again. "You will come to do the same, if you play much at this +game--but your sad end will not be protracted. You will starve to death +with considerable rapidity." + +"My dear Mr. Yorke," said Byam Ryll, approvingly, "you have won my +heart, though I can't afford to let you win my sovereigns; I like you, +but I must kill you off, I see." + +"Unless--" said Yorke. + +"Unless what?" inquired Ryll, as he made his stroke at Yorke's ball, +which was quite safe, and grazed it with his own, which, gliding off +another ball, found its way into a pocket. For once, he had really +allowed himself to be "put off" his aim. + +"Unless you commit suicide," replied the young fellow, smiling. "I was +about to warn you of the danger of that kiss." + +"You are worse than a highway robber, young Sir," said the annoyed old +gentleman. + +"That's true," returned Yorke, "for I take your money and your 'life.'" + +The young fellow repaid his loan that night, besides putting half a +dozen sovereigns into his own pocket; and there was other fruit from +that investment. + +Carew was delighted with his son's skill, though his wit was somewhat +wasted on him. "Why the deuce did you not play in the first game?" said +he, when the party broke up to adjourn to the hazard-table. "I suppose +it was your confounded cunning" (and here his face grew dark, as though +with some recollection of the past); "you wanted to see how they played +before you pitted yourself against them--did you? How like, how like!" + +"I had no money, Sir, until Parson Whymper lent me some." + +"Oh, that was it--was it?" said the Squire. "Well, well, that was not +your fault, lad, nor shall it be mine--here, catch," and out of his +breeches-pocket he took a roll of crumpled notes and flung them at him; +then suddenly turned upon his heels, with what sounded like a muttered +execration at his own folly. + +Yorke did not risk this unexpected treasure on the chances of the dice, +but retired to his own room. It was a dainty chamber, as we have said, +and offered in its appointments a curious contrast to his late +sleeping-room in the keeper's lodge. He opened the door of communication +to which the Squire had referred, and found himself in a sort of +boudoir, in which, as in his own room, a good fire was burning. By the +lover of art-furniture, this latter apartment would have been pronounced +a perfect gem. Here also every article was of ebony, and flashed back +the blaze from the red coals like dusky mirrors. Yorke lit the +candles--huge waxen ones, such as the pious soul in peril sees in his +mind's eye, and promises to his saint--and looked around him with +curiosity. Like the little Marchioness of Mr. Richard Swiveller, he had +never seen such things, "except in shops;" or rather, he had seen single +specimens of such exposed in windows of great furniture warehouses, +rather as a wonder and a show than with any hope to tempt a purchaser. +On one hand stood an ebony cabinet, elaborately carved with fruit and +flowers; it was divided into three parts, and their shut doors faced +with plate-glass gave it the appearance of a tripartite altar with its +sacred fire kindled. A casket almost as large glowed close beside it, +enriched with figures and landscapes, and with shining locks and hinges, +as he afterward discovered, of solid gold. A book-case of the same +precious wood was filled with volumes bound in scarlet--all French +novels, superbly if not very decorously illustrated. But the article +which astonished the new tenant of this chamber most was the ebony +escritoire that occupied its centre, with every thing set out for +ornament or use that is seen on a lady's writing-table. It was +impossible that such nick-nacks as he there beheld could be intended for +male use, and still less for such men as were the Squire's guests. Did +this chamber and its neighbor apartment usually own a female +proprietress? and if so, why was _he_ placed there? This idea by no +means alarmed the young landscape-painter, who had no more _mauvaise +honte_, nor dislike to adventures of gallantry, than Gil Blas de +Santillane. He sat down at the escritoire, and, taking up a gilt pen +with a ridiculous silk tassel, began a letter to the same person to whom +that day he had already dispatched a missive; but this time it was not +so brief: the day of brilliant dies and illuminated addresses had not as +yet set in, so he wrote at the top of the little scented sheet, in a +bold free hand, the word Crompton! and put a note of admiration after +it. Had you seen his face as he did so, you would have said it was a +note of triumph. + +"My DEAR MOTHER,--_Veni, vidi, vici_--I have come, I have seen him, and +I am at all events tolerated. The perilous moment was when I told him +who I was. He said he was half disposed to set his bull-dog at me, but +he didn't; on the contrary, he at once bid me exchange my bachelor's +quarters for the two chambers I at present occupy, and which remind me +of the _Arabian Nights_. I have never seen any thing like them; the +furniture of both is of ebony; but the most curious part of the affair +is, that they are evidently designed for a lady. Imagine your Richard +sleeping under a coverlet of real Brussels lace! Every thing in the +house, however, is magnificent, or was so once, before it was damaged by +barbarous revel. Such orgies as I have witnessed to-night would seem +incredible, if I wrote them; the _Modern Midnight Entertainment_ of old +Hogarth will supply you with the _dramatis personae_; but the splendor +of the surroundings immensely heightened the effect of it all. Carew and +his friends might have sat for Alaric and his Goths carousing amidst the +wreck of the art treasures of Rome. Nothing that he has affords him any +satisfaction; though, if it is of great cost, Chaplain Whymper tells me +that he derives a momentary pleasure from its willful damage. This man +and one other are the only persons of intelligence about Carew; but even +they have no influence with him that can be depended on. If madness were +always hereditary indeed, I might consider myself doomed. You were right +there, I own; but you must needs allow that in undertaking this +adventure contrary to your advice I have effected something. The +chaplain is already speculating upon my future fortunes, and he knows +his patron better than any body; at all events, if I am turned out of +doors to-morrow (which I am aware is quite on the cards), I shall have +three hundred pounds in my pocket, which Carew, with a 'Catch that,' +threw me in notes, exactly as you throw a chicken-bone to _Dandy_ as he +sits on his hind-legs, though I did not 'beg' for them, I do assure you. +The immediate cause of my being invited hither was as follows [here the +writer described his exploit with the stags]. This, with our match at +fisticuffs by moonlight, had greatly inclined Carew to favor me; yet, +when the disclosure of my identity was made, I thought for a moment all +my pains were lost. He resented the intrusion exceedingly; but then he +had himself invited me to be his guest; and he holds his word as good as +his bond. Indeed, by what the chaplain tells me, it will soon be held +something better, for even his vast estate is crumbling away, acre by +acre, beneath the load of lavish expenditure it has to bear. There must +be much, however, at the worst, to be picked up among the _debris_ of +such a fortune." + +"I am aware that it is in the last degree improbable that Carew will be +persuaded to make a will in _any body's_ favor at present. He imagines, +I think, that the whole world is made for his sole enjoyment--it almost +might be so, for all he sees to the contrary--and never dreams that he +will die. But it is also certain that he will die early; and more than +likely that he will come to grief, when he has lost his nerve, in one or +other of the mad exploits which he will be too proud to discontinue. +Then will your Richard become the most assiduous and painstaking of +nurses that ever humored crack-brained patient. But there! I have made a +dozen programmes of what is to happen, and this is but a specimen. Who +can tell? I may be heir of Crompton yet, or I may come back to you +to-morrow like a bad penny, and with what the vulgar describe as a flea +in my ear." + +"It will not surprise you to learn that you are personally held in great +disfavor here, though the chaplain (who has heard all from the Squire's +lips) speaks of you with due respect. The last thing that is desired at +Crompton is, of course, the return of its lawful mistress. Carew himself +is very bitter against you, which is doubtless owing to the good offices +of grandmamma. The clock has just struck four, which bids me close this +letter, though of all the Squire's guests, to judge by the wrangling +that is going on in the Library below stairs, the first to retire will +be your affectionate son, RICHARD YORKE." + +"P.S.--I forgot to say that Carew made the most pointed inquiries as to +whether I had any other profession than that of landscape-painting. +Would it not be strangely comical if he should bestir himself to get me +some Civil appointment! I almost fancied he must have been thinking of +doing so, from some scraps of talk I heard him let fall at dinner. +Curiously enough, by-the-by, who should have been sitting at his +right-hand, but Frederick Chandos, Jack's brother! 'Good Heaven!' (you +will say), 'suppose it had been Jack himself;' however, it was not." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +HOW BENEDICT BECAME A BACHELOR. + + +Notwithstanding the late hour at which Yorke retired to his sumptuous +couch, he was up the next morning betimes. He was restless, and eager to +explore the splendors of the house, that had been so nearly his +inheritance, for it was not without a stubborn contest that the law had +deprived him of what he still believed to be his rights. Nor had +Crompton, in his eyes (as we have hinted), only the interest of +Might-have-been; it had that of Might-be also. If not absolutely +sanguine, he was certainly far from hopeless of fortune making him that +great amends; at all events, while the opportunity was afforded him, +which he well knew might be lost forever by his own imprudence, or +through the caprice of another, he resolved not to neglect it. It was +broad daylight, yet not a soul was stirring in all the stately place; +nothing but the echo of his own footsteps, as he trod the corridor, and +entered the great Picture-gallery, met his attentive ear. The collection +of old masters at Crompton was varied and valuable; he could have spent +hours among them with infinite pleasure, if the intoxicating thought +that they all might be one day his own had not been present to mar their +charms. He regarded them less as an admiring disciple, or a connoisseur, +than as an appraiser. The homely life-scenes of Jan Stein, the saintly +creations of Paul Veronese, the warmth of Rubens, and the stateliness of +Vandyck, were all measured by one standard--that of price. The contents +of this one room alone, thought he, "represent no moderate fortune." + +When his eye strayed to the tall windows, and rested on the wooded acres +which owned in mad Carew a nominal master, the beauty of dale and upland +touched him not at all. "I wonder now," sighed he, "how much of this is +dipped?" It was a good sign, he thought, that in one room he found a +cabinet containing no less than fifty antique cameos; for, if the +pressure of pecuniary difficulty had really begun to be severe, the +Squire would surely have parted with what must have been in his view +useless lumber, and was so easily convertible into cash. The Library +offered a strange spectacle: chairs thrown down, and broken glasses, +bore witness to the wildness of last night's revel; the splendid carpet +was strewn with the ends and ashes of cigars, and with packs of cards; +and on the table, scratched in all directions by the sharp spurs of +fighting-cocks, still lay the dice and caster. The atmosphere was so +heavy with the fumes of wine and smoke that Yorke was glad to escape +from it, through a half-opened window, into the morning air. + +How bright and fresh it was! How much there was of bracing enjoyment, of +wholesome gayety, in the mere breath of it; how much of invigorating +delight in the mere sight of the glittering turf, the beaded trees, to +which the hoar-frost had lent its jewels! But such cheap luxuries are +not only unknown to those who are sleeping off their debauch of the past +night during the brightest hours of the day; they are also lost upon +those who rise early in the morning, to follow the strong drink of greed +and envious expectation. Richard Yorke enjoyed them not, save that he +felt his lungs play more freely. A couple of gardeners were at work upon +the lawn, of one of whom he asked the way to the stables, the report of +the completeness and perfection of which had often reached him. The +house and its furniture--nay, the house and its inmates--were of less +consequence in the Squire's eyes than the arrangements of his +loose-boxes. The old dynasty of Houyhnhnms was re-established at +Crompton; the Horse bare sway, or was at least held in higher account +than the Human. The Horse, the Hound, the Pheasant, the Bag-fox, and, +fifthly, Man, were there the gradations of rank; and a compound +being--half man, half brute--was, by a not unparalleled freak of +fortune, the master of all. Carew had never fed his mares with human +flesh, but there was a legend that he had rubbed a friend over with +anise-seed, and offered that dainty morsel to his dogs. The victim was +snatched away again, however, by some officious underling, who justified +his interference upon the ground that the hounds would have been spoiled +by such an indulgence; and the Squire had pardoned him. This was one of +the stories about the Master of Crompton which divided the country into +those who believed it and those who did not; but Walter Grange had told +it to Richard as a characteristic fact. + +The stables were indeed a marvel, not only of cleanliness and comfort, +but, if it had been possible by any arts of daintiness to make them +cox-combs, such would Carew's horses have become. They had +looking-glasses in their own glossy coats, and yet it was not well for +one of them to be an especial favorite with its master, for it more than +once happened that he would ride such so often and so long that it fell +under him, killed with kindness, overwhelmed with his oppressive favor. +On such occasions, if the Squire happened to have been as devoted as +usual to his brandy flask, he would shed copious tears, which many +instanced as a proof that he was neither selfish nor cold-hearted. + +The kennels were of vast proportions, hedged in by high palisades, +through the interstices of which many a black muzzle now protruded, +sniffing like ill-tempered women, or uttering shrill whines of despair. +As Yorke, with his hands buried in his pockets, for they were cold, +though his head was too well provided with clustering hair to be +conscious of the absence of a hat, was contemplating this spectacle with +cynical amusement, up strode the chaplain, wholesome and ruddy-looking. + +"You are up betimes--as Crompton hours go--Mr. Yorke; I hope such good +habits will not be undermined by evil associations. How I envy you your +constitution, to be able to face this November mist with a bare head!" + +"Nay, parson," rejoined the young man, "you must have risen early +yourself to know that there _was_ a mist. It's clear enough now all +round. I suppose our impatient friends yonder," pointing to the kennel, +where all the dogs, hearing the chaplain's voice, were now in full +chorus, "will have their will this morning?" + +"Yes; it is this pack's turn to hunt." + +"I wish, for your sake, Mr. Whymper, that there was only one pack," +observed Yorke, with good-natured earnestness. + +"Ah, you are referring to that foolish talk about the living last night. +Poor Ryll is quite broken-hearted about it this morning; and, in fact, +he did do me an ill turn, though, I am sure, without intending it. It is +the misfortune of a professed wit--and especially of a poor one--that he +can not afford to be silent." + +"You take it more good-humoredly than I should," said Yorke. "I should +be inclined to charge something for a joke made at my own expense, where +the loss was so considerable." + +"You don't look of a very revengeful disposition, neither," returned the +chaplain, critically. + +"I have never experienced the feeling of revenge," answered the young +man, frankly; "but I know what it is to feel wronged, and I think it is +lucky that it is the law, and not an individual, that has done me the +mischief--one can't have a vendetta against the law, you know. But, if +it were a man, ay, though he were my own flesh and blood, he should pay +for it--yes, sevenfold. I would not put up with injustice from any human +being; and where I could, if the law would not help me, I would right +myself with the strong hand." + +It was curious to see the effect which this objectless passion wrought +upon the young man's face, and even figure. His lithe limbs seemed to +grow rigid; his right hand was clenched convulsively; his handsome +Spanish countenance was lit up with a sort of dusky glow. + +"My dear young friend," said the chaplain, quietly, "my profession, +perhaps, ought to suggest to me some serious arguments against the +disposition which you so unmistakably evince; but I will confine myself +to saying that such a temper as yours is not to be kept for nothing. It +is only men in your father's position who can indulge themselves in such +a luxury, I do assure you. You'll come to grief with it some day." + +Yorke laughed, good-humoredly. "What must be, will be. Let us hope there +will be no occasion for the display of my fire-works. I suppose, what +with his two packs of hounds and the rest of it, even my father will be +brought to behave himself demurely, sooner or later." + +"I should like to see Carew demure," said the chaplain, smiling; +"although not reduced to that state by the extremities of poverty. Yes, +as you say," he added, in a graver tone, "the pace at which he has been +going these twenty years has begun to tell on his fortune. But it is not +the dogs that will ruin him (as they ruined poor Ryll, with his few +thousands), nor yet his hunters. It is his race-horses on the Downs +yonder that will bring him to his piece of bread." + +"I suppose so," said Yorke, sighing, not so much on Carew's account as +on his own; "he backs a horse because it is his own. That is his +confounded egotism." + +"Your tie of relationship, Mr. Yorke, does not, I perceive, make you +blind to your father's foibles." + +"Why should it?" rejoined the young man, passionately. "Am I to feel +grateful to him for begetting me? What has he done to make me feel that +I owe him aught? Do you suppose I thank him for being admitted here, +unacknowledged, uninvited in my own proper person? For being permitted +to take my fill at the common trough along with his drunken swine?" + +"Nay, my friend," interposed the chaplain, coldly; "the food and wine +are of the best; and we should never scoff at good victual. If you have +so proud a stomach, why are you here? It embarrasses you to answer the +question. Let me, then, shape the reply. 'I have a sense of my own +dignity,' you would say, 'far keener than that of my father's flatterers +and favorites; but, on the other hand, I humiliate myself for a much +greater stake.'" + +"_I_ humiliate myself?" reiterated the young man, angrily. + +"You take money that is not very gracefully offered for your acceptance, +my young friend," said the chaplain, quietly. + +"You saw him, did you?" cried Richard, hoarse with shame and passion. + +"No; I did not; but I heard him swearing at you at the hazard-table for +having emptied his pockets; and I am familiar with his mode of bestowing +presents. You must forgive me, Mr. Yorke," added Parson Whymper, dryly; +"but you ought to know that when a man has lost his own self-respect, he +is, naturally averse to the profession of independence in another." + +"If you deem yourself a dependent, Mr. Chaplain," replied Yorke, +bitterly, "you still permit yourself some frankness." + +"Yes; that is one of the few virtues which are practiced at Crompton. +You will find me speak the truth." + +There was irony in Parson Whymper's tone; and yet the young man felt +that he was not the subject of its cynicism. Was it possible that this +hard-drinking, hard-riding, hard-headed divine was scornful of himself, +and of his own degraded position? Yorke did not credit him with any such +fine feeling. He had read of Swift at Temple's, and could understand the +great Dean's bitterness against a shallow master and his insolent +guests, but that a man should become despicable to himself, was +unintelligible to him. + +"Of course," continued the chaplain, smiling at his evident +bewilderment, "I could have been as smooth-spoken as you please, my +young friend; but I had estimated your good sense too highly to endeavor +to conciliate you by such vapid arts." + +"I thank you," said Yorke, thoughtfully. "I hope you were right there; I +am sure at least that from your mouth I could hear home truths, which +from another's would be very unpalatable. You are good enough to speak +as though you would wish us to be friends. I am going to ask you, +therefore, to do me a favor." + +"I will do any thing that lies in my power; but do not, for your own +sake, press me to influence your father----" + +"No, no; it is not that," broke in the other, hastily. "It lies with +yourself to grant my request. I wish to hear from you the true story of +Carew's marriage with my mother." + +"The _true story_?" echoed Parson Whymper. "Nay; I can not vouch for +being possessed of that. I have only heard it from your grandmother: the +counsel for the prosecution is scarcely a reliable authority for the +facts of a case." + +"And I have only heard the defense," said Yorke. "Let me now, for the +first time, know what was urged upon the other side, and so weightily," +the young man gloomily added, "that it made my mother an outcast, and +myself a disgraced and penniless lad. You see, I know exactly what was +the end of it all, so do not fear to shock me." + +"There can be no disgrace where one has not one's self to blame," urged +the chaplain. + +"You think so?" broke in the other, bitterly. "What! not when one's +mother is to blame, for instance? Well, please begin." + +"I had much rather not," said the chaplain. "It would be much better for +you to get the newspaper report of the case--I can tell you the exact +date--and read both _pro_ and _con_." + +"No report was ever published, Mr. Whymper; the case was heard with +closed doors, or suppressed by Carew's influence. So much, perhaps--to +judge by your face--the better for me." + +"I think it would be better for you not to hear it, even now, Mr. +Yorke," returned the chaplain, not without a touch of tenderness in his +tone. "But, if you insist upon it, come to my private room, and let us +breakfast together first, then we will have the story over our cigars." + +Accordingly, the two repaired to the apartment in question--a very snug +one, on the ground-floor, but so strewn with documents and letters that +it resembled a lawyer's sanctum. The morning meal--which, in the host's +case, consisted of a game-pie and a tankard of strong ale--having been +here dispatched, and their cigars lighted, Parson Whymper began as +follows: + +"It must have been in the autumn of 1821 that Carew finally left +school--the public school of Harton. He got into some difficulties with +the authorities--refused, I believe, to apologize for some +misdemeanor--so that he had to be privately withdrawn----" + +"I beg your pardon there," remarked Yorke, hastily. "He was expelled, as +I happen to know for certain." + +"Very likely," said the chaplain, slowly expelling the smoke from his +lips; "indeed, I should say most likely. But remember mine is +professedly an _ex parte_ statement. Mrs. Carew--I mean Mrs. Carew the +elder--is solely responsible for it. Of course, she softened down the +facts against her son, and I have no doubt made compensation for so +doing by highly coloring the offenses of her daughter-in-law. I told +you, you would not like the story. Is it still your wish that I should +proceed with it?" + +"Yes, yes," said Yorke; "go on. I was a fool to interrupt you." But the +chaplain noticed that the young man held his open palm before his face, +under pretense of shielding it from the fire, and that his cheeks grew +scarlet as the tale went on, nevertheless. + +"Carew was not seventeen then, when he left school for the house of a +gentleman of the name of Hardcastle, in Berkshire, as his private pupil. +It was understood that he was to have his particular care and attention, +but not his exclusive services. There were one or two other +pupils--rather queer ones as it would seem; but Mr. Hardcastle +advertised in the newspapers for lads of position, but neglected +education--young fellows, in short, who had proved unmanageable at +home--and undertook to reform them by his system. It was no wonder, +then, that Carew found some strange companions. The strangest of all, +however, under the circumstances, was surely the tutor's niece, Miss +Hardcastle herself." + +"Why strangest?" interrupted Yorke. + +"I think Mrs. Carew the elder meant to imply that this young lady, being +possessed of great physical advantages, should have been the last person +selected by Mr. Hardcastle as his housekeeper, and the companion of his +pupils, and the more so since he was well aware, as it afterward turned +out, that she had already succeeded in victimizing (such was Mrs. +Carew's expression) one of these very lads. That was years ago, it is +true; and it might well be imagined that a lady of the mature age of +five-and-thirty might have outlived her charms; but in her particular +case this was not so. Miss Hardcastle, as she was called, was still very +beautiful, high-spirited, and an excellent horsewoman. She was also--if +that had been necessary to obtain her purpose--well-read and +accomplished. Being clever, good-looking, and not easily shocked, +however, she was more than competent to secure the affections of young +Carew. She was, nevertheless, as I have said, literally old enough to be +his mother; and the idea of the affair having been a love-match, in the +usual sense of the expression, was simply preposterous. That Miss +Hardcastle was herself of this opinion seems evident from her having +enjoined secrecy upon her youthful bridegroom. They lived together as +man and wife, under Mr. Hardcastle's roof, for near six months before +their marriage was proclaimed. Then young Mrs. Carew took a bold step: +she persuaded her husband to bring her to his house, under the roof of +which his mother was then residing. But they did not come (as one might +have imagined) in the fashion of two runaway lovers, who seek +forgiveness for their youthful ardor with penitence and submission. The +bridegroom was full of wild mirth at having at last done something +seriously to astonish the world. He was fond of his mother, after his +own fashion; but so far from entreating her forgiveness, he did not even +perceive any particular necessity for conciliation. The bride was full +of triumph; she had not risked much, and she had won a great stake. It +would have been better for her could she have borne her success with +more modesty. Her mother-in-law was transported with rage, which she was +too wise to exhibit. She knew her son far better than his new wife did; +and she felt that opposition was for the present hopeless; but she took +counsel with her son's guardian, and bided her time. It came at last, +though very slowly. Carew was devoted to his spouse for a whole +twelvemonth--a longer time than youth and beauty combined have ever +enthralled him since. Even when her tender tones--for she had the +sweetest voice that ever woman possessed--failed to thrill him, and her +queenly form to charm, he would probably not have consented to take part +against her, but for her own imprudence. She lost her temper with him +upon a matter where it is difficult for the wisest of her sex to keep +it: she grew jealous." + +"Without cause?" inquired Yorke, gloomily. His cigar had gone out, +though he still held it between his white lips. + +"No; not without cause. That is a point, I fancy, about which my +informant had her reasons for not being explicit." + +"What!" cried the young man, indignantly. "She threw some one in her +son's way, to divert his attention from his lawful wife?" + +"Perhaps; I can't say for certain. I am not defending her, Mr. Yorke; +but remember, she loved her son. She beheld him a victim to an artful +woman. He was not in her eyes as he is in mine, and perhaps in yours. He +had, she argued, capabilities of good, an affectionate and trustful +nature; he was the best _parti_ in the county, and had chosen his +tutor's niece--a woman old enough to have borne him. Besides, she was +_not_ his lawful wife. The dowager had secretly taken legal opinion upon +that matter, and was only waiting for an opportunity to test it. It was +essential for this that her son should desire his own freedom; and at +last he did so. I have told you the occasion. In the whirlwind of her +wrath, your mother told Carew some home truths; above all, let him know +she despised him, and had inveigled him into marriage. He had no other +name for her, henceforth, but Serpent." + +"I know," said Yorke. "Go on." + +"It was within two months of your birth that this quarrel took place. +Had you been born, and especially here at Crompton, I think the rupture +would never have happened. Your grandmother felt that too, and did her +utmost to precipitate matters, and, as you know, she was successful. Her +daughter-in-law was compelled to leave the house, and an action was +commenced in an ecclesiastical court. The validity of the marriage was +contested on the ground of undue publication of the bans, both parties +having a knowledge of the fact. I am a parson, you know, and this bit of +law lies in my way. The bride appeared in the register as spinster, +whereas she was the widow of an old pupil of her uncle's, whose surname +you bear. It was not an easy victory by any means. The judge of the +Consistory Court held that the inaccuracy in question was insufficient +to invalidate the ceremony; but Carew, or rather your grandmother, +appealed to the Court of Arches, and got the decision reversed. The +marriage was therefore declared null and void. Very hard lines it was +for you, Mr. Yorke; and--and that's the whole story." + +"I thank you," said the young man, gravely. "I can easily imagine that +it might have been told by other lips in harsher terms." + +They were silent for full a minute, Yorke busying himself with the +titles of the documents upon the table, written out in the chaplain's +sprawling hand. + +"Your mother must be a most remarkable woman," observed the latter, +thoughtfully. "Is she still young-looking for her age?" + +"Yes; very. What a queer docket is here! '_Tin Mine. Refused_:' What does +that mean?" + +"It is an application from one Trevethick, an inn-keeper, to purchase a +disused mine at Gethin, on the west coast of Cornwall, which Carew has +declined. Two thousand pounds was offered on the nail, a sum far beyond +its value; but it is one of his crazes that his property there is very +valuable, and it's evident that this Trevethick thinks so too--whereas +it is only picturesque. For grandeur of position, Gethin Castle, or +rather what is left of it, for it is a ruin, is indeed unequaled! You +should take your sketch-book down there, some day. May I ask, by-the-by, +are you only an amateur in that way, or a professional?" + +"I am an artist by profession. I live by my pencil, save for what my +mother allows me out of Carew's pittance. That is small enough, you +know. Hollo! there are the hounds coming round to the front! I suppose +Carew and the rest of them will soon be in the saddle?" + +"And you have never made money by any other means?" pursued the +chaplain, thoughtfully. + +"Never. Why do you ask?" + +"Well, it seemed so strange that a lad like you should find purchasers +for his works," returned the chaplain, carelessly. "The Picture-gallery +here will be of service to you, no doubt." + +"Yes. I shall get my education at Crompton, if I get nothing else," said +Yorke; "and indeed, as I have no desire to peril my neck out hunting, I +shall set to work at once. Good-morning, Mr. Chaplain, and many thanks." +And with a nod and a smile, the young man left the room. + +Parson Whymper looked after him with a grave face. "I wonder whether +Fane was right," he muttered. "He seemed quite positive; though, 'tis +true, he owed him a grudge for potting him at pool. There was something +wrong in that young fellow's face as he said 'Never,' when I asked him +that question as to whether he gained money by other means. If he lied, +the lying must have come from the mother's side. That woman must be a +marvel. Well, I'm sorry, for I should have liked Richard Yorke to have +had his chance here." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +IN BLOOMSBURY. + + +It was the evening of the day after Yorke had listened to his own +biography, and night had long fallen upon the shivering woods of +Crompton; the rain fell heavily also upon roof and sky-light with thud +and splash. It was a wretched night, even in town, where man has sought +out so many inventions to defy foul weather and the powers of darkness. +The waste-pipes could not carry off the water from the houses fast +enough, choke and gurgle as they would; the contents of the gutters +overflowed the streets; and wherever the gas-lights shone was reflected +a damp glimmer. In a large room on the ground-floor of Rupert Street, +Bloomsbury, sat a woman writing, and undisturbed by the dull beating of +the rain without. She often raised her head, intermitted her occupation, +and appeared to listen; but it was to the voices of her Past that she +was giving heed, and not to the ceaseless patter of the rain. What power +they have with us, those voices! While they speak to us we hear nothing +else; we know of nothing that is taking place; there is no Present at +all; we are living our lives again. If purely, so much the better for +us; if vilely, viciously, there is no end to the contaminating +association. It is to escape this that some men work, and others pray. +The furniture of the room was peculiar to the neighborhood; massive, yet +cheap. It had been good once; but long before it came into the hands of +her who now owned it. There was the round bulging looking-glass; the +side-board was adapted for quite a magnificent show of plate and +tankards--only there were none; a horse-hair sofa, from which you would +have seen the intestines protruding had it not been for the continuous +gloom. If the sun ever visited Rupert Street, it shone on the other side +of the way. On the mantel-piece were two of those huge shells in which +the tropic deep is ever murmuring. Who that has taken lodgings in London +does not know them? Who has not sometimes forgotten the commonplaces of +his life in listening to those cold lifeless lips? If you take them up +on their own tropic shore, they will tell you of the roar of London +streets. + +There were two articles in the room, however, which were peculiar to +itself. The one was a human skull--to all appearance, the same as all +other skulls, the virtue of which has gone out of them, though it had +once belonged to no common man. The second object could still less be +termed an ornament than the first, although it was a picture. It +depicted a woman of frightful aspect, having but one eye, and a +hare-lip; she was standing up, and appeared to be declaiming or +dictating; while an old cripple, at a table beside her, took down her +words in writing. If you had gone all over the rest of the house--and it +was a large one--you would have found nothing else remarkable, or which +did not smack of Bloomsbury. It was, indeed, nothing but a +lodging-house, and the room we have described was the private apartment +of its mistress. She might consult her own private taste, she +considered, in her own room, else the skull and the picture occasionally +rather shocked "the daintier sense" of the new lodgers, to whom the +landlady gave audience in this apartment. She is as little like a +lodging-house keeper, to look at, as can be imagined. Her cheeks are +firm and fresh-colored, her teeth white and shining, her eyes quite +bright, and her hands plump. To one who knows her age, as we do--she is +fifty-three--she looks like an old woman who has found out the secret of +perpetual youth, but has kept it for her own use, as, in such a case, +every woman probably would do. There is only one piece of deception in +her appearance; her black hair, which clusters over her forehead like a +girl's, is dyed of that color: it is in reality as white as snow. By +lamp-light, as you see her now, she might be a woman of five-and-twenty, +penning a letter to her love. But she is, in fact, writing to her son; +for it is Mrs. Yorke. Writing to him, but not thinking of him, surely, +when she frowns as now, and leans back in her chair with that menacing +and angry look. No; her anger is not directed against _him_, although he +has left her and home, long since, upon an adventure of which she +disapproved. + +"You will gain nothing for yourself, Richard," was her warning; "and, +perhaps, may wreck even _my_ scanty fortunes." But, as we know, her son +had taken his own way (as he was wont to do), and had so far prospered. +She was writing a reply to the letter she had received from him from +Crompton that very morning, and the task was one that naturally evoked +some bitter memories. + +"So he put him in the ebony chamber, did he?" they ran on. "Ay, that was +_my_ room once. What a pretty chime that serpent-clock had; and how +often have I heard it in the early morning as I lay there--alone! If it +had not been for that hateful woman, I might have been listening to it +now! He seems as mad as ever, by Dick's account, and, I do not doubt, as +brutal and as selfish! And yet it was _he_ that suffered, _he_ that was +wronged, _he_ that was to be pitied! His wife was the adventuress, +forsooth! who deserved all she got. Oh, these men, these men, that treat +us as they please, because they are so sure of sympathy, even from our +fellow-slaves and sisters!" + +She bent again to her occupation, but only for a minute. "All this is +labor in vain, Dick," muttered she, laying down her pen; "the luck is +gone both from you and from me. If I were thirty years younger, indeed, +and might have my chance once more, I would tame your father yet. I +ought to have beaten his meek-faced mother out of doors; I ought to have +trained his bold-eyed girl to work my will with him. She should have +been my accomplice, and not hers; but, now, what boots it that old age +has spared me? Yonder is the only woman!"--she looked toward the +picture--"who has found a way to win mankind, save as their toy. My +reign has been longer than that of most; but it is over." She rose, and, +holding up the lamp, surveyed herself, with a mocking face, in the round +glass. "And this was once Jane Hardcastle, was it? _This_ was her face, +and _this_ her figure! No drunkard, staggering home through such a night +as this, could take me for her now! She had wits too; and better for me +had I lost them with all the rest; then I should not have the sense to +be so bitter! What a future she must once have had before her, if she +had but known what men were made of! It is only when too late that such +women discover what they have missed. This mad Carew was tinder to a +flash of these bright eyes; and the fool Yorke, except in his wild +creeds, as pliant as a hazel twig. I used to think yonder woman was an +idiot, because she believed in a place of torment; but she was right +there. Yes, Joanna," she continued, apostrophizing the picture, "I'm +compelled to confess that you are right; for, being in hell, it is idle +to deny its existence." + +She placed the lamp once more upon the table, yet did not seat herself +beside it, but walked hastily up and down the room. "To be young no +more, to be poor and powerless, to have no hope in this world nor belief +in a better, to have lost even belief in one's self--is not that to be +in Gehenna? I am punished for my sins, men say. Hypocrites! liars! Why +is _he_ not punished? Why is he proud, and strong, and prosperous? Sins? +If Judgment-day should come to-morrow, my soul would be as pure as snow +beside that man's! ay, and beside most men's! Joanna here knew _that_--I +suppose by inspiration; for how else should she? What's that?" + +Amidst the pelting of the rain, which had increased within the last few +hours rather than diminished, the pulling of the house-bell could be +heard. Mrs. Yorke drew forth her watch--a jeweled trinket of exquisite +beauty, one of the few relics of her palmy time. "Past midnight," she +murmured, "and all the lodgers are within. Who can it be?" + +The bell pealed forth again. + +She went into the hall, where the gas was burning, and unlocked the +door. At the same time somebody flung himself violently against it, but +the chain was up. + +"Who is it?" inquired she; and it was strange, at such a moment, to hear +how very soft and musically she spoke, although, when talking to herself +a while ago, her tones had been harsh and bitter as her mood. + +"It is I, mother," returned the voice from outside. + +She unhitched the chain and let him in. "I knew it would be so, Dick," +said she, quietly. + +Richard was pale and haggard, and shone from head to foot with the rain, +which poured off his water-proof coat in streams. + +"You were right, mother," said he, as he kissed her cheek. "No +reproaches. Let me have food and fire." + +She brought him socks and slippers, made a cheerful blaze, and set cold +meat and spirits upon the table. + +He ate voraciously, and drank his hot brandy-and-water, while Mrs. Yorke +worked busily at an antimacassar, in silence. + +"You are not disappointed at seeing me, that's one thing, mother?" + +"No. Read that." She pushed across to him the letter she had been +writing to him that evening, and pointed to this sentence: "You have my +good wishes, but _not_ my hopes--I have no hopes. I shall be surprised +if I do not have you back again before the week is out." + +"Just so," said the young man, cynically. "You have the pleasure, then, +which your dear friend Joanna there never enjoyed, of seeing your own +prophecy accomplished; and I, for my part, have three hundred pounds to +solace myself with for what has certainly been a disappointment." + +"I am glad you are so philosophic, Dick. It is the best thing we can be, +if we can't be religious. How did it all happen?" + +"I scarcely know the plot (for there _was_ a plot), but only the +_dénouement_. I had offended a certain Mr. Fane, toady-in-ordinary to +Frederick Chandos." + +"Ah!" cried Mrs. Yorke, shaking her head. + +"Yes; you were right again, mother, there--the whole affair is a tribute +to your sagacity, if you will only permit me to narrate it to you. I say +that this fellow Fane, when walking with his patron's brother, stupid +Jack, had me pointed out to him in town one day as the man who had +'pulled him through,' as he called it. Can you imagine how even such a +fool as he could have been so mad? It was an act of suicide, which, so +far as I know, fools never commit. Well, Fane was pretty certain of the +identity of your humble servant, which he was, moreover, anxious to +establish, because I had beaten him at pool, and given him the rough +side of my tongue." + +"Oh, Dick, Dick! have skillful hand and ready speech been only given you +to make enemies?" + +Richard laughed, and lighted a cigar. + +"Well, sometimes, mother, the most prudent of us are carried away by our +own genius. I am told that even you, for instance, lost your temper upon +a certain occasion down at Crompton--gave a 'piece of your mind' to my +father, which, it seems, he took as a sample of the whole of it. There, +don't be angry: the provocation, it must be allowed, was in your case +greater than mine; but then you pique yourself on your self-control! +However, this Fane did hate me, and told the chaplain of his suspicions; +the good parson was my friend, however, and all might have gone well, +but for this oaf--this idiot Jack--coming down to Carew's in person. He +could never get any coin out of 'Fred,' it appears, by letter; or, +perhaps, he couldn't 'write!' But there he was in the big drawing-room +when I went in last night, and Carew saw his jaw drop at the sight of +me. He had not the sense to shut it even afterward, though I told him he +had made a mistake, and gave him every chance. I could have persuaded +him, indeed, out of his own identity--and much more mine--only that he +appealed to Fane; and then the game was up. It would have made me laugh +had I not been so savage. Carew turned us both out of the house +together. His love of truth would not permit him, it seems, to harbor +us. So Jack and I went to the inn, played _écarte_ all night, and parted +the best of friends this morning. But I'll be even with that fellow +Fane--yes; by Heaven, I will, if it's a score of years hence!" + +Perhaps the light satiric tone which the young man had used throughout +his narrative was little in accordance with the feelings which really +agitated him; but, at all events, his last few words were full of +malignant passion. + +"Be even, Dick, by all means, with every body," observed Mrs. Yorke, +coolly, "but do not indulge yourself in revenge. Revenge is like a game +at battle-door, wherein one can never tell who will have the last hit." + +"At the same time, it is one of those few luxuries which those who have +least to lose can best afford," said Richard, with the air of a +moralist. + +"It is not cheap, however, even to them," returned Mrs. Yorke, still +busy with her antimacassar. "It may cost one one's life, for instance." + +"And what then?" inquired Richard, carelessly. + +"Nobody knows 'what then,' Dick. Our fanatic yonder had one opinion; our +philosopher there"--she pointed to the skull--"another. Both of them +know by this time, and yet can not tell us. It is the one case where the +experience of others can not benefit ourselves." + +This subject had no charms for Richard. When we are what is vulgarly +called "in the sulks," and displeased (if we were to own it) with the +system of universal government in this world, the next seems of but +little importance. There may be a miscarriage of justice (that is, a +thwarting of our particular wishes) even _there_. Perhaps Mrs. Yorke was +aware that her son's clouded face did not portend religious or +metaphysical speculation, for she abruptly changed the subject. + +"And what are you going to do, Dick, now that this Crompton plan has +failed?" + +He did not answer, but stood with his back to the fire, moodily stroking +his silken mustache. + +"Richard"--she rose, and placed her plump white hand upon his +shoulder;--"it is very, very seldom that I ask a favor of you, but I am +about to do so now. Promise me that you will never again undertake for +another what you undertook for this man Chandos." + +He laughed, as he had laughed before, in bitter fashion. "Why not? It +was fifty pounds down; and apparently no risk: that is, no risk from the +law, which has omitted to provide for the contingency. Next to being +above the law is surely to be ahead of it. Besides, I am really a public +benefactor. Without my help, the state would already have been deprived +of the services of four young gentlemen, all of excellent families. Of +course, such a calling has its disadvantages. It is very difficult to +obtain clients. The offer of one's valuable assistance is liable to be +declined uncivilly--it requires the talents of a diplomatist to convey +it without offense--still, I possess those talents. Again, undoubtedly +the profession is in itself temporary, can never be permanent; but then, +has not nature especially favored me for it, after my mother's model? +Shall I not be a boy at forty, and blooming at fifty-three? The idea of +you being fifty-three, mother!" + +As they stood together side by side it seemed, indeed, impossible that +this young man could be her son, far less the offspring of her middle +age. She smiled upon him sadly, patting his handsome cheek. "And is my +Richard so full-grown a man," said she, "as, to flatter, and not to +grant?" It was impossible to imagine a more winsome voice, or a more +tender tone. + +"Nay, mother; I will promise, if you please," said the young fellow, +kissing her. "And now, let us divide this Crompton spoil together." He +pulled out his purse, and counted the contents. "There is Carew's three +hundred, a few pounds I won at pool, and dull Jack's IOU for +twenty--worth, perhaps, five. Come, we two are partners in the game of +life, you know, and must share alike." + +"No, Dick, no," returned his mother, tenderly; "it is enough for me to +see you win." She shut the purse, and forced it back into his unwilling +hand. "Some day, I trust, you will sweep away a great stake--though not +as you gained this." + +"Ah, you mean an heiress! You think that every woman must needs fall in +love with me, because _you_ have done so, mother." + +His rage and bitterness had vanished, as though by magic; her tone and +touch had spirited them away. + +"Perhaps I do, dear. Go to bed, and dream of one. You must be very +tired. I ought not to say that I am glad to see you back, Dick; yet how +can I help it?" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +OVER THE EMBERS. + + +It was one of the peculiarities of Jane Yorke that she took but little +sleep. The household had long retired, and she put the remains of her +son's meal away with her own hands, then sat down by the fire, thinking. +She had more subject for thought than most women; her life had been +eventful, her experience strange. We know what her second husband--the +man who repudiated her and her child--had been and was. Her first +husband had been scarcely less remarkable. Leonard Yorke was a young man +of respectable family, and of tolerable means. His parents were dead, +and his relatives and himself had parted company early. They were sober, +steady people, connected with the iron trade: a share in their house of +business at Birmingham, carried on in the name of his two uncles, was +the only tie between him and them, save that of kinship. They were +strong Unitarians, strong political economists, strong in their rugged +material fashion every way. They did not know what to do with a nephew +who was a religious zealot, and thought all the world was out of joint; +and they had characteristically sought for assistance in the advertising +columns of the _Times_. Mr. Hardcastle therein proclaimed himself as +having a specialty for the reduction and reform of intractable young +gentlemen, and they had consigned Leonard to his establishment. It was +the best thing that they could think of--for they were genuinely +conscientious men--and they did not grudge the money, though the tutor's +terms were high. Jane was then a very young girl--so young, indeed, that +parents and guardians would scarcely have taken alarm had they been +aware of her being beneath the same roof with their impressionable +charges; and she was childish-looking even for her tender years. Leonard +Yorke, gentle and good-humored, was moved with compassion toward the +orphan girl, as guileless-eyed as a saint in a picture; he pitied her +poverty, and, still more, the worldly character of her uncle and her +surroundings. She was wholly ignorant of the spiritual matters which +engrossed his being, and yet so willing to be taught. She sat at his +feet, and listened by the hour to the outpourings of his fervid zeal. If +she did not understand them, she was in no worse position than himself. +His tongue was fluent. His words were like a lambent flame, playing with +some indestructible material. His mind was weak, and devoted to +metaphysical speculations--mysticisms: the _arcana coelestia_ of +Swedenborg was Holy Writ to him. He believed in three heavens, and their +opposites. Jane's endeavors were directed to make him believe in a +fourth heaven. Childlike and immature in appearance, she was in +character exceedingly precocious. Her intelligence was keen and +practical. In very early years it had been instilled into her that her +future welfare would depend upon her own exertions, and she never forgot +the lesson. Her uncle was very generous to her; but he was not the man +to have saved money for his own offspring, if he had had any, and far +less for his niece; he spent every shilling of his income. Little Jane +would secretly have preferred to receive in hard cash the sums which he +lavished upon her in indulgences; she would have dispensed with her +pony, and kept a steed in the stable for herself of another sort. The +rainy day was certain to come some time or other to her, and she would +have liked to have made provision for it--a difficult matter for most of +us, and for her impossible. She was wise enough, even then, to know how +Uncle Hardcastle would have received any suggestion of a prudential +nature, and she held her tongue. + +In Leonard Yorke, if she did not comprehend his doctrine of "perpetual +subsistence," she perceived a provision for her future. At +one-and-twenty, indeed, he made his pupil his wife, to the astonishment +rather than the scandal of the neighborhood. They opined that it was +only in the East, or in royal families who wedded by proxy, that brides +ran so young. Jane Hardcastle, however, was in reality eighteen years of +age. + +Yorke Brothers, of Birmingham, had nothing to say against the match, but +they objected to a Swedenborgian partner in the iron trade, and bought +their nephew at a fair price out of the business. They did not offer to +take him back again, when, five years later, he became a true believer +in the faith of Mary Joanna Southcott and the coming of the young +Shiloh. This lady, whose portrait, with that of her spiritual +amanuensis, hung in Mrs. Yorke's sitting-room, had been her only rival +in the affections of her husband. She had not been jealous of her upon +that account, feeling pretty certain, perhaps, that the "affinity" +between them was Platonic; but she had rather grudged the money with +which he had so lavishly relieved the "perplexities" of "the handmaid." +The amanuensis used to issue I O U's at Joanna's dictation, to be paid +with enormous interest Hereafter, and Leonard Yorke was always ready to +discount her paper. There was no one that subscribed more munificently +than he did toward the famous "cradle," or looked more devoutly for its +expected tenant. Even when that long-looked-for 19th of October had come +and gone without sign, and two months later his poor deluded idol passed +away into that future with which she had been so rashly familiar, he was +faithful to her yet, and kept the "seal" which she had given him--his +passport to the realms of bliss--as his dearest treasure. He had +scarcely any other "effects" by that time, for, actuated by his too +fervent faith, he had been living upon the principle of his fortune; and +at five-and-thirty years of age Mrs. Yorke found herself a widow, with a +stock of very varied experience indeed, but not much more of worldly +wealth than she had had to start with. It was hard, after half a +lifetime, to resume the same semi-relative, semi-dependent position +under her uncle's roof which she had occupied before; but no better +offered itself, and she was glad to accept it. Her natural attractions +were still wondrously preserved to her; and, perhaps, on the occasion of +her second nuptials (and the fact of her first was carefully concealed), +her age excited less astonishment than her youth had done in the former +instance. + +Yet now at fifty-three, this woman, as remarkable for her talents as for +her beauty, and who, if but for a brief period, had once stood "on +fortune's crowning slope," found herself with little beyond a bare +subsistence, which she received without gratitude from the hands of +Carew. What she derived from her lodging-house defrayed the somewhat +lavish expenditure of her son Richard. She was far, however, from +complaining of his extravagances. She wished him to live like a +gentleman, and not to soil his hands with ignoble, pursuits. She felt a +genuine pleasure--only known to mothers--in gathering toilsomely +together what she knew he would lightly spend. She was for the present +amply repaid by the reflection that her Dick was as handsome and +well-appointed a young fellow as was to be seen in London, with an air +and manner that would become a prince. It was only a question of time, +she thought, when the princess should appear, be captivated, and raise +him to the sphere for which she had taken care to fit him. In the mean +time, it was only natural that he should enjoy himself after the manner +of other youth of great expectations. She was not averse to his +dissipations, for in them indeed lay his best chance of getting +acquainted with young men of this class; nor, so far, had she been +disappointed. It would be surprising to many a stately pater-familias to +learn how easily acquaintanceship, and even friendship, is contracted +with his male offspring, if they be among the pleasure-seekers of the +town. A young man of good address and exterior, with plenty of money in +his pocket, does not require introduction. The club door soon flies open +to him, but not that of the home. Richard was on tolerably intimate +terms with Chandos, and other young men of the same class--but he had +never been introduced to their sisters. It was here that Mrs. Yorke made +her mistake: she thought she understood society because she had studied +two exceptional phases of it. There is nobody more short-sighted than +the Bohemian, who imagines he is a citizen of the world; his round of +life may have no fence in the shape of convention, yet it is often, very +limited, and it is outside every other. + +Mrs. Yorke judged of all men by her knowledge of her late husband and of +Carew, and of women by herself. If it had not been for the +artificialities of society, she might have been right; but they are +powerful, and she knew little about them. In some matters she was +exceedingly sagacious. She did not entertain the alarm which would have +been felt by some mothers with respect to her son's morals, probably +exposed to some danger by his mode of life; perhaps she had not their +scruples; and yet it is strange to see how light those weigh, even with +our severest matrons, when any question of "position" is in the other +scale: they will not only permit their sons to herd with _roués_, +provided they are persons of distinction, but even accept them for their +sons-in-law. Mrs. Yorke, being daughterless, had no temptation to commit +this latter crime, but she was not displeased to imagine her Richard a +man of gallantry; he would in that case be less likely to fall a victim +to undowered charms. "It is not your man-about-town who sacrifices his +future in a love-match," was her reflection. On the other hand, no one +knew better than herself what an easy prey to woman's wiles is a young +gentleman without experience. It was for this reason, as well as because +she loved to have her boy about her, that she had opposed Richard's +going to Midlandshire. She knew Carew too well to hope that he would +ever take into favor a son of hers, and she distrusted the country, with +its opportunities for ensnaring youth into matrimonial engagements. +Thirty years ago, in a fortnight of village life together, she would +have backed herself to have got a promise of marriage out of the Pope; +and she did not believe this to be one of the lost arts among young +persons of her sex. + +Thus Mrs. Yorke had strained every nerve to get the necessary funds to +make town-life pleasant to her son, and yet she had not succeeded. It +was not so much that he found his allowance insufficient, for he had +various means of supplementing it, one of them (at which we have already +hinted) a strange one enough; but the wayward fit was on him that takes +so many of us in the early dawn of manhood; he was restless and eager +for change, and the lessons which his mother had caused him to receive +in landscape-painting furnished him with an excuse for wandering. She +had had him taught to sketch, because it was a likely sort of +accomplishment to aid the scheme of life which she had planned for him; +and he had taken up with the art more seriously than with any thing +else. But it was not in Richard's nature to apply himself with assiduity +to any pursuit. Such callings as lay within his means and opportunities +he was incapacitated for by education and temper. He could not have +occupied any subordinate position that required respectful +behavior--submission to the will of a master. He had had to put the +greatest restraint upon himself during his brief residence at Crompton, +and it was more than doubtful if he could have maintained his position +there as a dependent in any case. He was gentle and good-humored, genial +and agreeable, when pleased; but he had that personal pride which is as +stubborn as any haughtiness of descent, and infinitely more inflammable. +It was no idle brag when he told the Crompton chaplain that he would put +up with injustice from no man (if he could help it), and would repay his +wrong-doer sevenfold (if he got the chance). His sense of right was very +acute and sensitive, especially as respected himself. All his passions +were strong. Much of this might probably be said of any young gentleman +of position accustomed to have his own way: lads of spirit (who can +afford it) do not put up with slights; young noblemen in moments of +exhilaration may even pitch into policemen; and generally, where there +is no temptation to offend, much is forgiven. The danger in Richard +Yorke's case was that his position was far from assured, while he had +done some things which might prove great obstacles to his ever winning +one. He had all the sensitiveness and impatience of one born to fortune, +without the money. + +Mrs. Yorke was too wise a woman not to be acquainted with her son's +character. Her love for him was very great; as great and disinterested +as that with which the most religious and well-principled of women +regard their offspring; but it did not blind her to his faults. Her +experience of life had not led her to expect perfection; her standard of +morals was of very moderate height, and Dick came fully up to it; yet +she felt that her son was headstrong, impulsive, and occasionally +ungovernable. He had taken his own line in respect to his dealings with +Chandos and with others, in spite of her urgent entreaties. Her +opposition, though fruitless, had indeed been so strenuous that the +subject was a sore one between them; and had the opportunity been less +palpable, she would scarcely have ventured to revert to it that night. +She had done so, however, and carried her point. He had passed his word +to her that he would undertake no more such hazards, and Dick's word was +as steadfast as Carew's. He was aimless and indolent; but as a mean man, +who brings himself to perform some act of munificence, will effect it +unsparingly, or a selfish man, "when he is about it," will be all +self-abnegation; so, when he _had_ made up his mind, his determination +was rock. Mrs. Yorke then felt sure of her son so far, and rejoiced at +it. But she was disturbed about him on other accounts. Perhaps, +notwithstanding her assertion to the contrary, she may have had some +scanty hopes of her son's success at Crompton; or perhaps his want of it +placed before her for the first time the gigantic obstacles that lay in +his social path. Were the times really gone by which she had known, +wherein personal beauty, and youth, and grace of manner could win their +way to any height? Or did she misjudge her own sex, while so sagacious +an observer of the other? Her Dick was still very young; but his +appearance should surely have done something for him even now; yet +hitherto it had won him nothing but friendships of doubtful value, one +of which, indeed, had just done him infinite hurt. Were girls with +fortunes, then, as prudent and calculating as those who were penniless, +as she had been? It did not strike her that they were infinitely more +unapproachable; or rather, such was her estimation of her son's +attractions, that she thought he had only to be seen in his opera-stall +to become the magnet of every female heart. Had she been mistaken +altogether in her plan for his future? + +As she sat over the dropping embers of the fire, while the ceaseless +rain huddled against the pane without, a terrible vision crossed her +mind. She saw her son, no longer young, wan with dissipation and excess, +peevish and fretting for the luxuries which she herself, old and +decrepit, could no longer procure for him. She even heard a voice +reproaching her as the cause of their common ruin: "Why did you humor +me, woman, when I should have been corrected? Why did you bring me up to +beggary, as though I had been a prince? why have taught me nothing +whereby I could now at least earn my daily bread? Why did you let me +lavish in my youth the money which, frugally husbanded, might now have +supported us in comfort? Why did you do all this--you who were so +boastful of your worldly wisdom?" For a moment, so great was her mental +anguish, that she almost looked her age--not that the picture had any +terrors for herself, but upon her son's account alone. She may not have +been penitent, as good folks are, but her heart was full of another's +woe, and had no room left for one selfish regret. She had (in her +vision) ruined both; but it was only for dear Dick that her tears fell. +If the guardian angel, which is said to watch for a time by every one of +us, had not given up his disappointing vigil at poor Mrs. Yorke's elbow, +a tremor of delight then stirred him limb and wing. Nay, perhaps in the +Great Day, when all our plans shall be scrutinized, whether they have +been carried out or not, this poor, impotent, fallacious one, which +worldly Mrs. Yorke had formed for her son's future, will stand, +perchance, when others which recommend themselves better to human eyes +have toppled down, because built on the rotten foundations of self. +There will certainly be many worse ones. She did not propose to sell her +offspring, as match-making mothers do, to evil bidders. In her doting +thought her Dick would make any woman happy as his wife. At all events, +right or wrong, judicious or otherwise, her scheme must now be adhered +to: it was too late to take up with any other. The vision of its failure +had faded away, and she could think the matter out with her usual +calmness. + +The gray dawn creeping through the shutter-chinks found her thinking +still; but ere the dull sounds of awakening life were heard above +stairs, and before the coming of the sleepy, slatternly maid to "do the +parlor," Mrs. York had arrived at her conclusion. + +The early matin prime, she was wont to say, was always her brightest +hour, but it found her, on the present occasion, white and worn, not +with her long vigil, but because it was "borne in upon her," as poor +Joanna used to say, that her son and she must part for his own good: so +soon as the spring should come she would bid him go. London, where all +was prudence and constraint, was no place to win the bride she sought +for him. He should go forth into the country, where even heiresses were +still girls, and win her, as troubadour of old, but with sketch-book in +hand instead of harp. Not a promising scheme, one might say; but then, +what schemes for a young man's future, who has no money, _are_ promising +nowadays? Moreover, it could be said of it (as can not be often said) +that, such as it was, her Richard was by nature adapted for it; +and--though this was a less satisfactory reflection--was adapted for +nothing else. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE GUIDE TO GETHIN. + + +It is the spring-time, that time of all the year when those "in city +pent" desire most to leave it, if only for a day or two, and breathe the +air of the mountain or the sea; the time when the freshest incense +arises from the great altar of Nature, and all men would come to worship +at it if they could. Even the old, who so far from the East have +traveled that they have well-nigh forgotten their priesthood, feel the +sacred longing; in their sluggish blood there still beats a pulse in +spring-time, as the sap stirs in the ancient tree; but the young turn to +the open fields with rapture, and drink the returning sunbeams in like +wine. To draw breath beneath the broad sky is to them an intoxication, +and the very air kisses their cheek like the red lips of love. + +With his face set ever southward or westward, Richard Yorke has traveled +afoot for days, nor yet has tired; neither coach nor train has carried +him, and all the luggage that he possesses is in the knapsack on his +back, to which is strapped his sketch-book, like a shield. He is +striding across a heath-clad moor, with stony ridges, and here and there +a distant mine-chimney--a desolate barren scene enough, but with +sunshine, and a breeze from the unseen sea. It is classic ground, for +here, or hereabouts, twelve centuries ago, was fought "that last weird +battle in the west," wherein King Arthur perished, and many a gallant +knight, Lancelot, or Galahad, may have pricked across that Cornish moor +before him on a less promising quest than even his. How silent and how +solitary it was; for even what men were near were underground, and not a +roof to be seen any where, nor track of man nor beast, nor even a tree. +There had been men enough, and beasts and trees too, in old +times--heathen and ravening creatures, and huge forests; but it seemed, +as the wayfarer looked around him, as though all things had been as he +now beheld them from the beginning of creation. Richard, artist though +he was by calling, had not the soul to take pleasure in a picture for +the filling in of which so much imagination was required; and he turned +aside to one of the stony hills, and climbed it, in hopes to see some +dwelling-place of man. He was gregarious by nature, and, besides, he was +in want of his mid-day meal. + +There was feast enough before him for his eyes. + +In front lay a great table-land, indented here and there with three +chasm-like bays, which showed how high the cliffs were which they cut. +In one, nestled a fishing-town, with its harbor; in another, a low white +range of cottages hung on the green hill-side; and in the third, at sea, +as it appeared, stood up an ancient castle, huge and rugged. This last +object was of such enormous size that Richard rubbed his eyes like one +in a dream. He had heard of Cornish giants, and certainly here was a +habitation fit for the king of them. A lonely church upon the clifftop +beyond it, by affording him some measure of the probable size of this +edifice, increased his incredulity. He looked again, and saw that it was +not a castle, though the sun yet seemed to light up tower and battlement +quite vividly, but only one isolated rock of vast size and picturesque +proportions; upon the crown of which, however, there were certainly +walls, and what looked to be broken towers. "That must be Gethin," said +the young man, cheerily. "I must be at the end of my journey." Unless, +indeed, he should take ship, there was not much more opportunity for +travel. Before him stretched in all directions the limitless sea. + +So magnificent had been the prospect that, when Richard descended and +pursued his trackless way again along the moor, he half doubted whether +that fair vision had not been a mere figment of his brain; the more so, +since what view there was about him seemed now to contract rather than +to expand; the horizon grew more limited; and presently nor sea, nor +land, nor even sky was to be seen. There was no rain, but his hair and +mustache were wet with a fog that was as thick as wool. By touch rather +than by sight he presently became aware that he had left the heath, and +was walking on down-land. Suppose he were nearing the verge of that line +of cliff's which he had just seen, and should come to it before he was +aware! As he paused, in some apprehension of this, all of a sudden a +song broke upon his ear, like a solemn chant: + + "Keep us, O keep us, King of kings, + Under thine own almighty wings." + +He did not recognize the words, but the tone in which they were sung, +though muffled by the dense atmosphere, struck him as especially sweet +and earnest. The next instant, walking rapidly, with a light and +graceful motion, the dim figure of a young girl passed in front of him, +and the mist closed behind her, though he still heard her pious psalm. +Richard stood like one enchanted. Was she an angel sent to warn him of +his peril, or an evil spirit clothed in beauty and holiness to lure him +on to it? He gave a great shout, and the harmonious voice, already +faint, grew still at once. He cried out again: "I am a stranger here, +and have lost my way; pray, help me." + +Then once more through the mist came the young girl, this time without +her song, and stood before him; she was very beautiful, but with a pale +face and frightened eyes. "She is crazed, poor soul," thought Richard; +and he smiled upon her with genuine pity. She put her hand to her side, +as though in pain, or to repress some tumult of her heart. + +"Where is it you wish to go, Sir?" + +"To Gethin; where there is an inn, I believe. Is it not so?" + +"Yes, Sir." Her words were sane and concise enough, but the tone in +which they were spoken was tremulous and alarmed. + +"You are not afraid of me, are you?" said Richard, in the voice that he +had inherited from his mother. + +"No, Sir, no," answered she, hurriedly; "only the fog was so thick, and +I was startled. I did not expect to find any body here. It is very +lonely about Gethin, and we do not in general see any of the quality who +come to sketch and such like"--and she pointed to his portfolio--"until +much later in the year." + +"I am not the quality," rejoined Richard, smiling, "but only a wandering +artist, who has heard of the beauties of Gethin. What has been told me, +however, comes far short of the reality, believe me;" and he cast a +glance of genuine admiration upon the blushing girl. + +A slender fair-haired maiden she was, with soft blue eyes, over which +the lids were modestly but attractively drooped. One who had a great +experience of the sex--if not a very respectable one--has left on record +a warning against eyelids. "A wicked woman," says he, "will take you +with her eyelids." + +It does not, however, require wickedness to ensnare a young gentleman by +these simple means. + +"I wish, my pretty damsel," said Richard, softly, "that I painted +figures instead of landscapes, for then I should ask you to be my +model." + +It was not modesty so much as sheer ignorance which kept the young girl +silent; she had never heard of a painter's model; but the tone in which +her new acquaintance spoke implied a compliment, and she looked more +confused than ever. + +"Have you often so thick a fog as this at Gethin?" + +"Not often, Sir; this is a very bad one, and you might have come to harm +in it. Some folks believe that in such weather the Pixies come abroad, +as they do at night, to mislead travelers who have lost their way; and, +indeed, the clifftop lies not a hundred yards in front of you." + +"Oh, you think I was misled by a bad fairy, do you?" returned Richard, +in an amused and bantering tone. "Well, at all events, I have now met +with a good one; and may I ask what name she goes by?" + +"My name is Trevethick, Sir," said the damsel, simply. "I am no angel, +but I am going to the place you seek; it is this way, Sir." + +It was evident that his banter had not pleased her. The same tone that +is found agreeable in the town does not always prove welcome in the +country. She motioned with her hand to the southward, and began to walk +so fast that Richard could not easily keep pace with her. + +"But are there really fairies about here?" inquired he, seriously. "I am +quite a stranger to these parts, and should be glad to learn all I can." + +"Nay, Sir, I can not say; I have myself never seen one, though I know +some who have, or say they have. There are tales of worse than Pixies +told about that moor you have come across. You might have met the Demon +Horse that tempts the tired traveler to mount him, and then carries him +nobody knows whither; but, for certain, he is never seen again." + +"Then the spirits about here are all bad, are they? I suppose to make up +for the goodness and the beauty of the mortals, eh?" + +"Nay, they are not all bad, Sir," continued the young girl, gravely; +"the Spriggans, who guard the buried treasures of the giants, have often +helped a poor man out of their store; or, at least, 'tis said so." + +"And the giants--are they all dead?" + +"Yes, indeed, Sir, long ago," answered the damsel; "though that they +lived here once is true enough. There's Bonza's Chair, you must have +passed before the fog came on, and could not but have noticed; and the +hurling-stones he used to throw for pastime with his brother, they are +to be seen still; but all that about his having such long arms that he +could snatch the sailors from the decks of ships as they went by, is, in +my judgment, but an old wife's tale, and I don't credit it. There, see, +Sir; the fog is thinning; that is the castle yonder. When you see it +thus in air it is a sign of storm." + +The mist, instead of lifting, was growing less dense above, as it melted +before the rays of the sun, and the ruin which Richard had seen from the +hill-range was now once more visible, without the pedestal of rock on +which it was placed. It was a glorious sight, though weird and spectral, +and the young painter halted in mute admiration. The scene seemed +scarcely of the earth at all. + +"Most folks are pleased with that when they first see it," remarked his +companion, with the flattered air of one who exhibits some wonder of his +own to a well-pleased stranger. "You are very lucky, Sir; it is not +often one gets so good a view." + +"I am lucky, too, in having so fair a guide to show it me," said +Richard, gallantly. "There is a church in air too: what is that?" + +"That is Gethin church, Sir. It stands all by itself, a mile from the +village; but folks say that the tower was first built for a landmark for +the ships, and that the church and church-yard were added afterward." + +"Then people die here, do they, even in this land of dreams?" said +Richard, half to himself. + +"Die, Sir? Oh yes," answered the young girl, sadly; "my own mother died +two years ago, and lies buried there in yonder lonesome place. But it is +not usual for Gethin folks to die so young, except by shipwreck." + +"Are there many wrecks here, then?" + +"Yes, Sir, and will be to all time; our church-yard is half full of +drowned men. On the nights before storm, up yonder, you may hear them +calling out each other's names." + +"Have _you_ ever heard them?" + +"Not I, Sir, thanks be to Heaven. I would not venture there at night for +the best cargo that ever came to Turlock." + +"Where is Turlock?" + +"The port there behind us, Sir; you can see the houses now, but not the +harbor. It winds beneath the cliff, so that a ship can scarcely make it, +save in smooth weather, though, when it once does so, it is safe enough. +To see the great green waves rush in and turn, and turn, and waste +themselves in their wild fury, as though they searched for it in +anger--ah! it's an awful sight." + +"That is in winter-time only, I suppose?" + +"Nay, Sir; we have storms at other seasons. Whenever I see such a sign +as the castle without the crag--it's all clear now, you see, because the +wind is rising--then am I thankful that my father is no sailor. Most +folk are such at Gethin that are not miners." + +"Then your father is a miner, is he?" + +"No, Sir, not now, though he once was. Every body knows John Trevethick +about here, and why he don't work underground." + +"How was that, then?" inquired Richard, with interest. "You must +remember I am a stranger, and know nothing." + +"Well, Sir, it was years ago, and before I was born. Father was just +married, though he was not a young man for a bridegroom, and was down +Turlock pit-hole with Harry Coe (Solomon's father), putting in shot for +blasting. They had worked underground together for five-and-twenty +years, and were fast friends, though Coe was an older man, and a +widower, with Solomon almost of age. They were deep down in the shaft, +and one at a time was all that the man at the windlass above could haul +up; and they had put in their shot, and given them the signal. One was +to go up first, of course, and then the second to light the match, and +follow him with all speed. Now, while they were still both at the +bottom, it struck Coe that the match was too long, and he took a couple +of stones, a flat and a sharp one, to cut it shorter. He did cut it +shorter, but at the same time kindled the match. Both shouted their +loudest, and sprang at the basket, but the man at the windlass could not +lift the double weight. You see, Sir, it was certain death to both of +them, unless one should give way. Then Coe jumped out, crying to father +'Go aloft, John. In one minute I shall be in heaven.' It was he who had +caused the disaster, and therefore, as he doubtless thought, should be +the one to suffer for it; besides, he reflected, perhaps, that he was an +old man, and had no bride at home to mourn for him; still, it was a +noble deed, and I never denied it." + +"Denied it!" exclaimed Richard; "I should think not. Why should you?" +and he looked up with wonder into his companion's face. It was one blush +from brow to chin. + +"Well, Sir," continued she, disregarding his interruption, "my father +was hurried up; and as he looked over the basket the charge exploded, +and the great stones flew up and blackened his face. In a minute more he +was safe above-ground." + +"But the poor man below?" + +"He was dead, Sir. It could not have been otherwise. Father took it so +to heart that he never did a day's work underground again. And when I +was born, a few months afterward, I was christened Harry--though that's +a lad's name--in memory of the friend that saved his life by the +sacrifice of his own." + +"He might well have done that, and even more," said Richard, "if more +could have been done." + +"That's just what father says, Sir," answered the young girl, quietly. +"But when things have happened so long ago--before one was born--they +don't come home to one quite so strong, you see. Father keeps not only +his old gratitude, but his old tastes. He cares more for mines and +machinery and such like than for any thing else; he is a better mechanic +than any in Turlock, where I have just been to the watch-maker's to get +him some steel springs. You should see the locks he makes, and the rings +he turns. He will be so pleased if you ask him to show them to you." + +"I shall certainly ask him to do so, if I get the chance," said Richard, +eagerly. "Is that your house with the pretty garden?" + +"No, Sir; that's the parson's. Nobody can get flowers to grow as he +does. The next house at the top of the hill is ours." + +"Why, I thought that would be the inn!" exclaimed Richard, looking at +the little white-washed house, with its sign-board, or what seemed to be +such, swinging in the rising breeze. + +"It _is_ the inn," said his companion, quietly, but not without a +roguish smile. "Father keeps the _Gethin Castle_, although he has many +other trades." + +"And is that he, at the door yonder?" inquired Richard, pointing to a +tall, thick-set man of middle age, who was standing beneath the little +portico, with a pipe in his mouth. + +"No, Sir, that is not father," replied the girl, with sudden gravity; +"that is Solomon Coe." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A PERILOUS CLIMB. + + +"Is father in?" inquired the young girl of Solomon, as he stood in the +doorway, without moving aside to let Richard pass into the house. + +"No, he is not," returned the person addressed, his keen blue eye fixed +suspiciously on the stranger. "As you were so long on your errand, he +gave up his lock-work, and has gone off to the pit. He said he had never +known you loiter so." + +"I did not loiter at all," returned the maiden, indignantly; "if it had +not been for the fog, I should have been home an hour ago; but one can't +walk through wool as if it were air. You had the fog here yourselves, +hadn't ye?" + +It was strange to note the change in the girl's speech; not only were +her air and tone quite different from what they had been--her modesty or +shyness exchanged for a confidence and even a touch of defiance--but her +phraseology had become blunt and provincial. + +"Well, any way he was angered, Harry," returned Solomon, "until I told +him of the new copper lode, as I whispered to you of this morning (you +were the first to learn it, Harry), when off he set, in good-humor +enough with all the world.--You'll come across John Trevethick, if you +want him, young man, over at Dunloppel, though I doubt whether you will +find him much of a customer--unless you are in the iron and steel line." + +"I am in the knife-and-fork line just at present," answered Richard, +good-humoredly; "and, if you will be good enough to move aside, I should +like to order my dinner." + +"I ax pardon," said Solomon, sulkily, withdrawing himself from the +doorway. "I did not know I was hindering custom.--Who is this young +spark, Harry?" added he, in a low tone, as the other entered the house. + +"Well, he's a young gentleman, Solomon, as you could see very well if +you chose," answered the girl, angrily. "He don't look much like a +bagman, I think, any ways. I am sure father would not like you to treat +his customers in that fashion." + +"I am sure he wouldn't like your escorting such customers over Turlock +Down alone." + +"That's father's business, and not yours, at present, Solomon," retorted +the girl, tartly; "and perhaps it never may be yours. You take as much +upon yourself because of your new copper vein as if it was gold." + +"Nay, don't say that, Harry," replied the other, with an admiring look, +from which every trace of ill feeling seemed to have departed. "If it +_were_ gold, I should be more pleased upon your account than my own, you +may depend upon it. You think I am jealous, now, of yonder bit of a lad, +but----" + +"I think nothing of the kind," answered Harry, impetuously. + +"Well, well," returned Solomon, soothingly; "then we'll say no more +about it. Trevethick wanted me to be away with him to pit, but I said: +'No; I'll wait for Harry, and bring her with me to Dunloppel.' It's a +great find, my girl, and may be the making of us all." + +"Nay, a walk to Turlock and back is enough for one day's work, Solomon; +and, besides, I'm wet through with the fog, and must change my +things.--Hannah! Hannah!" and, raising her voice to landlady pitch, she +addressed some one within doors, "didn't you hear the parlor bell +ringing?--So never mind me, Solomon; I dare say I shall hear enough +about the lode when you and father come back;" and with that, and a +careless nod of her shapely head, the young girl pushed past her +disappointed swain, and ran up stairs. + +The _Gethin Castle Inn_ was a much better house of entertainment than +might have been looked for in a spot so secluded from the world, and far +from the great arteries of travel. A coast-road passed through the +little village leading from Turlock to the now almost disused harbor at +Polwheel, and that was the sole means of getting to Gethin save on foot +or horseback. There was no traffic--to be called such--in the district. +Dunloppel, always a productive mine, was, like its more famous brother, +Botallack, situated on the sea-coast, so that neither road nor tramway +had been created for its needs; the land about was barren, except in +minerals; and not a tree was to be seen for miles. Indeed, with the +exception of the parson's garden, there was scarcely a cultivated spot +in the whole parish. The graceful sprays of the sea-tamarisk, however, +flourished every where, in lieu of foliage, and in places where +certainly foliage is seldom seen. Not only did it grow luxuriantly on +banks and similar exposed positions, as though the roaring sea-winds, +which cut off all other vegetation, favored and nourished it, but waved +its triumphant pennant upon walls and house-tops. Stony places have a +special attraction for this weed; and it takes root so readily that the +story of its importation into Gethin might have had more foundation in +fact than some other local legends equally credited. Only a few years +back the plant had been unknown there, but a wagoner of the place, on +his return journey, had plucked a sprig of it in some locality where it +grew, to serve the purpose of a whip; and, when he reached home, had +thrown it carelessly on the top of an earthen wall, where it had struck +root, and multiplied. + +The cliffs, and the sea, and, above all, the ruined castle upon the +rock, were the sole attractions then which Gethin possessed--and that +they _did_ attract was an unceasing subject of wonder to its +inhabitants. Whatever could the fine folk see in a heap of stones or a +waste of water, to bring them there for hundreds of miles, was a mystery +unexplained; but the villagers were no more unwilling than professional +spiritualists to take a practical advantage of the Inexplicable. In the +winter they reaped the harvest of the sea, or explored the bowels of the +earth; in the summer they transformed themselves into "guides," and set +up curiosity-shops of shells and minerals; while, to supply +accommodation to the increasing throng of Visitors, John Trevethick, who +had always a keen eye for profit, had leased the village beer-house, and +enlarged it to the dimensions of a respectable inn. Even now, however, +the house exhibited a curious ignorance or disregard of the tastes of +those for whose use it was built--the windows of all its sitting-rooms +opened upon the straggling street, while the glorious prospect of cliff +and ocean which it commanded behind was totally ignored. Thus Richard +Yorke found himself located in an apartment which, though otherwise +tolerably comfortable, might as well have been in Bloomsbury for the +view which it afforded. The walls were ornamented by colored pictures of +the Royal Exchange and of the Thames Tunnel, London; and upon the +mantel-piece was an equestrian figure (in china) of Field-marshal the +Duke of Wellington as he appears upon the arch of Constitution Hill. The +only attempt at "local coloring" was found in the book-case--composed of +two boards and a cat's cradle--in which three odd volumes of the "Tales +of the Castle" had been placed, no doubt with reference to the grand old +ruin whose tottering walls beckoned "the quality" to Gethin. + +His simple meal of bacon and eggs having been dispatched, and gratitude +failing to invest with interest the lean pigs that searched in vain for +cabbage-stalks, or the dyspeptic fowls that were moulting digestive +pebbles in the street without, Richard lit a cigar, and prepared to +saunter forth. The fog had vanished; all the sky was blue and bright. +The keen and gusty air increased in him that elasticity of spirit with +which luncheon at all stages of their life-journey inspires mankind. + +"I suppose," said he, looking in at the window of the room he had just +left, and where Hannah, who was waiting-maid as well as cook, except "in +the season," was clearing away the remnants of the repast, "one can get +to the castle without a guide?" + +"Nay, Sir; you must get the key first, for the man don't bide at the +cottage, except in summer-time, and the gate has got spikes at the top. +Miss Harry has got it somewheres, if you'll wait a minute." + +Miss Harry herself brought it out to him. She had changed her attire for +what was an even more becoming one than that she had worn before, and +her bright brown hair was arranged with greater care, and perhaps with +more view to effect. + +"The guide has not begun his duties yet, Sir," she explained, with a +smile; "and so we keep the key here. You can't fail to find the road; +but the precipice-path is a bit awkward in a wind like this, and you +must be careful to take the right one; the old ledge was broken in by +the storm last month, and has an ugly gap." + +"But why not show me the way yourself, Miss Harry?" pleaded the young +fellow. "You know how easily I lose myself; and if I should come to +harm, by taking the wrong turning, you would be sorry, I'm sure." + +"Indeed I should, Sir," returned the young girl, simply; "and I doubt +whether you will find any body else in the village. This news from the +mine has taken them all off, it seems; and you wouldn't know rock from +castle, unless you had one to tell you, they are so alike." + +The fact was that Harry's conscience smote her for her wish to be of +service to this handsome young fellow, since she had just refused to +accompany Solomon to Dunloppel, on the score of fatigue. It was level +walking, or nearly so, to the pit-mouth, and it was a climb of many +hundreds of feet to the ruin. Still, she felt no longer tired, if she +had done so a while ago, and the stranger _might_ come to harm without a +guide. + +"But you're not coming without a bonnet?" exclaimed Richard. + +"Nay, Sir; I should come home without one if I went up yonder in such a +wind as this," answered she, laughing; "and I recommend you to fasten on +_your_ hat, if you wish to see it again." + +"But you'll catch cold," urged Richard. + +"We don't mind air at Gethin, Sir; and this shawl will cover my head, if +that's all." + +It really was Harry Trevethick's custom to go bareheaded in fine weather +about her own home, though, perhaps, the consciousness that she never +looked so well in even her Sunday head-gear, as with her own ample +tresses for a covering, may have influenced her resolve. Chignons were +unknown at that time, and never had the young man beheld such wealth of +gold-tinged locks as that which blew about his fair companion's brow, +and presently streamed out behind her, as they neared the cliffs, and +met the full force of that Atlantic breeze. It blew freshly and shrilly +enough up the winding gorge through which they had to descend to the +foot of the castled rock; but by the time they reached the beach the +wind had risen to a gale. They stopped a minute within shelter of a +hollowed cliff to view the place. It was a noble spectacle. The great +waves came roaring in, and dashed themselves against the walls of slate +in sheets of foam, to fall back baffled and groaning. They had eaten the +cliff away in two dark frowning spots, which his guide said were +caverns, approachable at low-water; but the rock itself on which the +castle stood defied them; they had only succeeded in insulating it, +except for a narrow tongue of land, which now formed the sole access to +it from the shore. Even without any historical or poetic association, +the object before them--rising bare and sheer into the air to such a +height--on which a swarm of gulls, shrunk to the size of bees, were +clanging faintly, was grand and striking; but the place had been the +hold of knights and kings a thousand years ago and more. The young girl +pointed out to Richard where the main-land cliff had once projected so +as to meet the rock, and showed him on the former's brow some fragments +of rude masonry. "That was the ancient barbacan," she said, "once joined +to the castle by a draw-bridge, as was supposed, which, when drawn up, +left Gethin so that neither man nor beast could approach it without +permission of its defenders. Even now, with none to hinder one, it is a +steep and perilous way, especially in a wind like this. Perhaps it would +be better not to venture." + +"But you shall take my arm, Harry," said Richard; "only let me pin your +shawl about your head first, lest those long locks of yours blind us +both." + +"I can do that myself, Sir, thank you," said Harry, austerely; then +added, with a smile, to reassure him--for why should she be angry?--"you +would only have pricked your fingers, as Solomon does. No man is clever +with his hands, excepting father." + +"And you say that to a painter, do you, Miss Harry--a man who lives by +his handiwork?" + +"I forgot that," said Harry, penitently; "besides, I was only saying +what Solomon says." + +"That was the gentleman who took me for a peddler, eh?" said Richard. +"He is not quite so wise as his namesake--is he?" + +"Oh yes, Sir; Solomon Coe has a long head: the longest, father says, of +any in these parts. He has made his own way famously in the world--or, +rather, under it, for he is a miner. He used to work in the coal-pits up +Durham way, but--" + +"Is that why he looks so black?" interposed Richard, laughing. + +"Nay, Sir, I didn't notice _that_," said Harry, simply. "Very likely he +was down Dunloppel this morning. It half belongs to him, father says; +and if this lode turns out well, he will be very rich." + +"And your father would be glad of that, would he not?" + +"Yes, indeed, Sir; for Solomon is the son of his old friend and +preserver, as I told you." + +"But it would not please _you_ quite so much--eh, Miss Harry?" + +"Not so much as father--certainly not," answered the girl, gravely. "It +seems to me folks are rich enough when they don't spend half they get; +just as other folk--like Mr. Carew, who owns all about here--are poor +enough, with all their wealth, who pay out of their purse twice what +comes into it." + +"Mr. Carew is known here for a spendthrift, is he, then?" + +"Well, Sir, it's only gossip, for he has never set foot here in his +life, I reckon; but, from what we hear, he must fling away his money +finely. However, as father says, there's one excuse for him--he has +neither chick nor child of his own. Eh, but you're looking white, Sir; +Gethin air is apt to nip pretty sharp those who are not accustomed to +it. You had best not try the castle to-day." + +"Yes, yes; we will go at once," cried Richard, impatiently; and, drawing +the girl's hesitating arm through his own, he moved rapidly along the +wind-swept way. Under the circumstances, there really was some danger; +but, had there been twice the peril, he would not have shrunk from it at +that moment--the chance observation of the young girl about Carew's +having no offspring had turned his blood to a white heat of wrath. +Although his mother had studiously instilled in him how foolish it was +to indulge in any expectations with respect to the Squire, he had always +entertained some secret hopes in that quarter until he had proved their +fallacy by experiment; and the failure of his expedition to Crompton +rankled in his mind. He regarded his father with the bitterest +resentment; he did not altogether forgive his mother for the share which +she had had (through her misrepresentation of her own position in the +register) in depriving him of his birth-right, and he felt himself at +odds with all the world. He had come to Gethin partly on account of what +Parson Whymper had told him of its picturesqueness, but chiefly because +it was an out-of-the-way spot, unfrequented by that society with whom he +had such good grounds for quarrel, and where he was not likely to have +his pride wounded afresh by any reference to his position; and yet he +had not been two hours in the place before the only person in it in whom +he was likely to be interested had galled him keenly. He could not long +be angry with her, however, for her involuntary offense, nor angry at +all in such fair company. She clung to him, perforce, upon the narrow +causeway, and shrank with him into whatever shelter was afforded, here +and there, upon their toilsome path, when they took breath, and gathered +strength together for once again confronting that pitiless blast. If +either of them had known how fierce a gale was imminent, they would not +certainly have ventured upon such an expedition; but, having done so, +they were resolved to go through with it. Harry had plenty of courage, +and fought her way with practiced eye and hand along the winding ledge; +and Richard was not one to own himself vanquished by difficulties before +which a woman did not quail. Twice and thrice, however, they were both +driven back again round some comparatively sheltered corner by the mere +fury of the wind, which battled with them as stubbornly as though it +were the disembodied spirits, of the ancient defenders of the place; and +when, mechanically, and almost of necessity, Richard's arm sought the +young girl's waist, whose garments made it more difficult for her to +advance than for him, she did not reject its welcome aid. Then, just as +his disengaged hand was clinging to a pinnacle of rock, his hat blew +off, exactly as she had predicted, and his dark curls mixed with hers in +wild confusion. Thus, foot by foot, they won their way, and reached at +last the iron-spiked door, the only work of modern hands on that gray +rock. This screened them from the gale; and, as they stood a while to +rest beneath its shelter, she showed him what a handsome key her father +had made for it, with cunning wards, more suitable for a banker's safe +than for such ancient relics as they guarded, and told him how the gate +was put there to exclude the summer visitors, who would otherwise enter +without fee. + +"Nay, but I will pay my fee," said Richard, gallantly; and, since their +cheeks were almost touching as it was, the debt was easily discharged on +her ripe lips. + +"For shame, Sir!" cried the girl, indignantly; and there was something +in her face and voice which showed him that her anger was not feigned. +"I am sorry I brought you here, mistaking you for a gentleman. Here is +the key, Sir; but I go back alone." And she freed herself roughly from +his arm, and turned to go. + +"For Heaven's sake, don't!" cried Richard, earnestly. "You may call me +any thing you please, but do not let my rudeness prove your peril. I +_was_ rude, but, on my honor, I did not intend to be so. I meant no +harm, although I see I have vexed you. Forgive me, pray; I did not mean +to be either ungenerous or ungrateful. Is it thought so very wrong at +Gethin--even with such great temptation--" + +"Yes, Sir, it is," she broke in, vehemently; "and I was wrong to come +with you." + +"Nay, don't say that," pleaded the young fellow. "How could you be wrong +to do so great a kindness to a stranger as you have done to me? It was +my sense of it--my heartfelt sense, believe me, of the trouble and toil +you have undergone for my sake; and I don't deny, Harry, your beauty +too, of which I have never seen the like. But there, I am offending you +again. Pray, come into the shelter; it makes me sick to see you in such +danger;" and to make room for her, and at the same time to stand as much +apart from her as possible, he stepped back, forgetting the scanty space +on which he stood, and--fell! + +A yard--a mile--he scarcely could say which, so overwhelming for the +instant was his sense of peril! He only knew that he was flying through +space. Then, suddenly, his feet found foothold, and his hands clung to +the gray rock, and the driving wind beat on his body ceaselessly, and +seemed to nail him where he clung. + +Was it the scream of gull, or piercing cry of some spirit of the air, +that rang through his brain? or was it, indeed, the agonizing shriek of +a woman? He heard it plainly; but Harry never knew whether she had +shrieked or not. She was aware of nothing except that this unhappy man +was perishing--had, perhaps, already perished--for her sake; through +fear for her safety, and his wish not to give her offense. She was on +her knees upon the ledge, and craning over it with horror-stricken face +the next instant, and could see him plainly. His feet had fallen upon +that very part of the old path which the storms of last winter had torn +and jagged away. A few jolting fragments of rock were all that was left +of it--insufficient even for a practiced cragsman to make his way along +on either side. His head--she could not see his face--was but a yard +beneath her; but how could she get at him? + +"I am here," she cried. "Be of good courage, Sir." + +She had nothing to offer in the way of help at the moment; but she was +well aware of what vital importance it was that he should not lose +heart. She lay down with her face on the bare rock, and strove to reach +him; but, even had her arm been long enough, he had no hand to spare to +clasp her own. The whole force of the gale was full upon her, and +carried her hair to windward like a whip. + +"Do not come too near the edge, brave girl," cried Richard, beginning to +be conscious of her efforts. "Is there no rope nor ladder?" + +"Yes," answered the girl. "Keep heart. Do not look down. I must be five +minutes gone--not more." + +She was up, and with the gate-key in her hand, ere she had done +speaking. Great Heaven! would that door never open? How her trembling +hands missed the keyhole; and when the key was in, how the rusty wards +opposed its turning. Then when the door was opened, it seemed as though +the winds had husbanded their strength behind it for one wild sortie, +with such fury did they rush out to beat her back. But she struggled in +somehow, and on across the howling waste of clifftop to a little hut of +stone, which formed the covering of a well. There, as she expected, she +found a rope coiled up, which was used to draw up water in an iron cup, +to gratify the curiosity of visitors as much as to quench their thirst; +for it was strange, indeed, to meet with fresh water there, the presence +of which, no doubt, had caused the place to be chosen for a fastness in +old time. With this she hurried back; and fixing one end firmly round +the door-post, she looped the other in a slip-knot, and lowered it +carefully to Richard. "Put this beneath your arms," she said; "the rope +is strong and firmly fastened. You must climb up by it, hand over hand." + +It was not so easy a task for the young artist as for a Gethin man; but +he was strong and active; and where his chief difficulty lay, which was +at the clifftop, the girl's willing arms assisted him. + +"You have saved my life, Harry," were his first words, when he stood in +safety. "How shall I ever repay you?" + +Then this brave girl, who had never faltered where action was necessary, +began to sob and cry. + +He took her hand and covered it with kisses. "I may kiss this," said he, +plaintively, "may I not?" + +She did not withdraw her fingers, but neither did she cease from +weeping. Her grief seemed to be something more than that resulting from +the tension of strong feelings suddenly relaxed. + +"Let me go home, let me go home!" was her sole reply to all his +entreaties that she should rest a while, and strive to calm herself. It +was with difficulty that he could support her down the steep, so +violently did she tremble. When they reached the foot of it she turned +to Richard and murmured: "I have one favor to ask of you, Sir. Will you +grant it to me?" + +"Most certainly, dear girl. It would be gross ingratitude indeed if I +did not." + +"Then never speak," returned she, earnestly, "of what has occurred +to-day. Never show by your manner that you feel--as you say--grateful +for what service I have been able to be to you. Let not father nor +Solomon ever know." + +"It will be very hard, Harry, to keep silence--to owe you so great a +debt, without acknowledging it," said Richard, tenderly; "but, since +such is your wish, I will obey it." + +"Thank you, Sir. And now I will go home alone. I was deterred by the +wind, the steepness--any thing you please--from accompanying you up +yonder; remember that. You will not mind waiting a while behind me?" + +"Surely not," said Richard, wonderingly. + +And the next moment she had hurried round an angle of the main-land +cliff, and was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +FISHING FOR AN INVITATION. + + +"What a strange girl!" muttered Richard, as he stood in the same +hollowed rock, alone, where Harry and he had first taken shelter. "What +a compound of strength and weakness--as my mother says all girls are, +though I have never known them strong before! How eager she seemed to +part company with me, and how anxious to get home without me--and I am +never to speak of what has happened, to her father nor to Solomon! This +Solomon is her unwelcome wooer, that is clear. He is neither young nor +handsome--nor attractive in any way in her eyes, I reckon. And what a +beauty she is, to be thrown away on such a boor!" + +The recollection that the door at the top of the rock had been left +open, and the key inside it, here flashed upon him. "She will be sorry +about that key," he thought; "and glad and grateful to me if I go back +and fetch it. The old man will be wroth with her for having trusted a +stranger with such a treasure. This Trevethick must be an ingenious +fellow, and a long-sighted one, no doubt. It was he who applied to +Parson Whymper for a lease of the old mine, if I remember right. Perhaps +the chaplain may help me to get it him, for I owe him something for his +daughter's sake. The idea of his having such a daughter! What rubbish is +this we artists talk of birth and beauty! Neither in life nor on canvas +have I ever seen one so fair as this girl." He meditated for a moment, +then cried out, angrily: "Heaven curse me, if I harm her! What an +ungrateful villain should I be! If there be a Gehenna, and but one man +in it, I should deserve to be that man!" + +Then he began to climb the rock. He did not tarry this time for breath +nor shelter, though the wind had no whit abated, but trod right on till +he reached the spot where the catastrophe which had been so near fatal +to him had occurred. "It was a narrow escape," mused he, looking down +upon the place, not without a slight shudder. "What odd things come into +the head when Death is whispering in the ear! If it had not been for my +fair guide, where should I have been by this time? Beneath the sea, for +certain. But what else? How strange it seems that if there is any +'else,' no one, from the beginning of time till now, of all the millions +who have experienced it, should have come back to tell us! And yet there +was a man who came back from the grave once. Who was he? I recollect his +picture by Haydon; his talk must have been better worth listening to +than that of most. Is nothing true that one hears or reads, I wonder? +Here is where I kissed her! I wouldn't kiss her again, if I had the +chance; I swear I would not. I am a good boy now--all morality, if not +religion--for they do say that hell is paved with good intentions--which +seems hard. If one is to be punished for one's wicked thoughts--even if +they do not bear fruit--it is surely but reasonable that one's good +ones--even if never carried into practice--should be set down on the +credit side of the ledger." + +With an exclamation of contempt or impatience, he turned from the dizzy +sight of cliff and sea, and shouldered his way through the wind-kept +doorway on to the open summit of the rock. It was a wild waste place +indeed, yet not without ample indications of having been inhabited in +days of old. Low but massive walls sketched out the ground-plan of many +a chamber, the respective uses of which could only now be guessed at. +But beneath one broken arch there was a heap of rude steps with a stone +something on it, which Richard rightly imagined had once formed an +altar. Man had worshiped there thirteen hundred years ago. Nay, not far +off, and in the very centre of this desolate hold, there was a +burial-ground, with a low wall of earth about it, which neither time, +nor the curious barbarism which marks our epoch, had much defaced. The +archaeologists had been there, of course, and discovered evidence which +had satisfied them of the presence of the remains of their +fellow-creatures; but with that they had been content. The dead had, for +the most part, been left undisturbed in their rocky graves, to await the +summons in the faith of which--and perhaps even for it--they had died. +For these were King Arthur's men (as Richard had read)--the warriors who +had helped the blameless king "to drive the heathen and to slay the +beast, to fell the forest and let in the sun." + +The lonely desolation of the place, and its natural sublimity, combined +with the recollection of his late deadly peril, tinged the young man's +thoughts with an unusual seriousness; and yet he could not restrain the +cynicism that was habitual to him whenever his attention was compelled +to solemn subjects. + +"Now, are these poor folks--whose creed must have been any thing but +orthodox, by all accounts--all in eternal torments, I wonder, or only +waiting to be so, for a few hundreds of years longer? Such was my +mother's friend, Joanna's, comfortable creed, and it is shared, as I +understand, by all the most excellent people. How much better (if so) +would it have been for them to have been born and cradled on this rock +as sea-gulls! Gad, to dwell here and fight for a king about whose very +existence posterity is to be in doubt in this world, and then to go to +the devil! What a nightmare view of life it seems! If, an hour ago or +so, things had turned out otherwise with _me_, I should have solved the +problem for myself. I almost wish I had. And yet it was not so when I +was clinging tooth and nail to the cliff yonder; and these folks would +not have died if they could have helped it, neither. There's something +ugly in black Death that disinclines man to woo her. This wind bites to +the marrow, and I'll go. I've seen Gethin now, and there's an end." He +turned, and walked as slowly as the blast would let him toward the gate. +"And yet, if it was warmer, and summer-time," continued he, "I should +like to sketch these things, or some of them, especially if Harry were +with me." He came out, and locked the door, and once more stood in the +shelter of it, with the key in his hand. "She'll be glad I went back for +this, and know that it was done for her sake. If she had but money, +now--this girl--and was a lady, and all that! Or if I could choose whom +I would!" He began to descend slowly, step by step; the furious gale +forgotten; his late escape from death unremembered; one thought alone +monopolizing his mind--the thought that monopolizes all men's minds (or +nearly all) at his age. It was here that his hat had blown off, and her +soft curls had played about his face; it was there that he had first +clasped her waist, and had not been rebuked. Then he fell to thinking of +all that had happened between them during the few hours that were +already an epoch in his life. Why had she looked so frightened at first +seeing him? Had he seemed to come upon her as her "fate," as some girls +say? He would ask her that some day--perhaps up yonder amidst the ruins. +He had not missed the look of annoyance which she wore when Solomon had +spoken to him so roughly, nor failed to couple it with the expressions +she had before made use of with reference to Coe the elder, and the +gratitude with which her father regarded his memory. This Solomon might +be a suitor who was backed by the old man, but certainly not encouraged +by Harry. Was she already engaged to him, tacitly or otherwise? It was +impossible, being what she was, that she should not have been wooed by +somebody. + +Richard Yorke was not one of those exacting characters who demand that +the object of their affections should never have attracted those of +another; he was even reasonable enough to have forgiven her (if +necessary) for having returned them, in ignorance of the existence of a +more worthy admirer in himself. There are many more varieties of Love +than even the poets have classified; and perhaps it is in despair of +dealing with this Proteus that we elders so often ignore him in our +calculations. + +The day was darkening by the time Richard reached the village. Around +the inn door were a group of miners, who stared at his bare head hard +enough, but gave way to him civilly. They were talking and laughing +loudly, and wiping their mouths with the backs of their hands. It was +evident that somebody had been "standing treat" in the narrow passage; +and leaning their elbows on the sill of the little bar window were more +miners, each with his pint pot of ale. + +"Here's luck to Trevethick and Coe," said one, "for a parting toast." + +"Ha, ha, that's good!" cried another, in appreciation of this commercial +epigram; "Trevethick and Coe; to be sure." + +"Trevethick and Coe, and may the copper last!" + +But one, emboldened by the liquor, or naturally more audacious than the +rest, put his head and shoulders through the open window, and, making a +trumpet of his two hands, whispered in a hoarse voice, audible to every +one: "And is it to be Coe and Trevethick also, Miss Harry--eh?" + +Then the window was slammed down with no gentle hand, and the men went +out laughing heartily, and for the first time leaving room for Richard +to pass in. He did not look toward the bar window, but, as though he had +heard nothing, walked quickly past it into the sitting-room, which had +been allotted to him. It was strange, since what he had just heard only +confirmed the suspicions which he had already entertained, that the +words should give him annoyance; but they certainly did so. What was +more natural than that this inn-keeper's daughter should be engaged to +marry her father's friend--a man apparently well-to-do, and with a +prospect of doing better? What could be more unreasonable than for Mr. +Richard Yorke, a young gentleman whose only hope in life was to marry a +girl--or an old woman, for that matter--with a good fortune, to be +irritated at such intelligence, especially after an acquaintance with +this "Miss Harry" of about three hours at most? After a minute or two of +reflection the idea seemed to strike even himself in the same light; for +he gave a short sharp laugh, and said what a fool he was, and then lit +his pipe. Even tobacco, however, that balm of hurt minds, did not +altogether soothe him. He could think of nothing but this young girl, +whose beauty had bewitched him, and to whose courage and presence of +mind he owed his life. He had sworn to himself--and there was no +necessity to repeat it--that he meant her no harm. Indeed, it would not +be less than she deserved to ask her to be his wife. Perhaps, if this +mine, in which her father had a share, should turn out well, she would +not be so bad a match, even in point of money; but to this he did not +attach much importance. He was indulging in a dream, which he fondly +imagined was unselfish and honorable to himself in a high degree. Quite +a virtuous glow seemed to mingle with his ardent passion; though the +fact simply was (as it often is in such cases) that, for a personal +gratification, he was prepared to barter his future prospects. He did +not doubt but that what he contemplated would be for the benefit of this +young girl; he must seem like an angel to her (for love does not always +touch us with the sense of unworthiness); as, indeed, by comparison with +this man Coe, he was. His mother would be a good deal "put out," it was +true, but then she was too fond of him to be angry with him for long, +far less to break with him. He was his own master, for some time to +come, at all events, for he had two hundred pounds in his pocket. + +What nonsense do the greatest philosophers sometimes discourse, when +their topic is Self-interest! It is likely enough that self-interest +actuates _them_, and in a supreme degree. When folks are by nature wise +and prudent--or if their tastes are studious, and their vices few--or +when, above all, the brain is seasoned, and the blood moves sluggishly +in the veins, then men do act for their own advantage, and keep their +eyes fixed on the main chance. But with most of us, especially when +young, self-interest, properly so called, is often but a feather's +weight in the balance of Motive. Revenge makes it kick the beam; and +Passion; and even momentary Whim. It was one of the arguments advanced +by Christian men in favor of slavery, that no man would ill-use his +slave, because it was his own property; as though the lust of cruelty in +a brutal nature were, while it lasted, not ten times as strong as the +lust of gain. There are moments when a man is ready to part with not +only his earthly prospects, but his hopes of heaven, rather than be +balked of an immediate satisfaction: that of striking his brother to the +heart, or growing rich by one stroke of fraud, or ruining forever the +woman that loves him best; and there are many men, in no such desperate +case, whose only guide is Impulse, and whose care for the morrow is +dwarfed to nothing matched with the gratification of to-day. These are +said to have no enemies but themselves, but they have victims; and, +though not apt for plots, are often more dangerous than the most +designing knaves. + +Pipe after pipe smoked Richard Yorke as he sat over the fire in the +deepening twilight, so deep in thought that it quite startled him, when, +suddenly looking up, he found that all was dark. Then he rang the bell, +and Hannah entered with the wished-for candles. + +"Is your master in?" + +"I'll see, Sir. Do you wish to see him?" + +"Yes. First bring me a bottle of sherry and two glasses, then ask him to +step in." + +The serving-maid obeyed; and presently there was a heavy step in the +passage, and in strode John Trevethick, a man of sixty years or so, but +straight as a pine, and strong as an oak. + +"Your servant, Sir," said he, in a gruff voice, and with no such +inclination of the head as landlords use. + +"Good-evening, Mr. Trevethick. I am afraid I'm putting you to some +inconvenience by coming to Gethin so many weeks before the usual time." + +"Nay, Sir; my house is open summer and winter." + +"Now I wonder is this the natural manner of this boor," thought Richard, +"or has he been already prejudiced against me by the other?--And an +excellent house it is, Mr. Trevethick; I little expected to find so good +a one down here, I promise you." + +"Well, I built it myself, Sir," said the landlord; "so it don't become +me to say much of that. It cost me a good bit of money, however; and +it's hard to get it back, when one's season only lasts for a month or +two." + +"Ah! I'm the first swallow that you've seen this year, I dare say. Well, +I hope I herald a lucky summer. Take a glass of your own sherry, will +you?" + +The landlord looked suspiciously at his guest: perhaps the phrase "your +own sherry" smote his conscience, knowing the price he paid for it, and +what it was, and what he meant to charge; but grunting: "Here's to you, +Sir," he filled his glass, and smacked his lips over it slowly. + +"Solomon has not set him against me," was Richard's conclusion. "The +graceful manner of this Cornish giant is natural to him.--You have a +fine castle here, Mr. Trevethick, and nobly placed. Indeed, I never saw +the like before." + +"So most folks say," answered the landlord. + +"There is not much left of it, however," said Richard, smiling. + +"Well, it'll last my time, at all events, and I dare say yours," was the +morose reply. + +"Indeed it will, and that of many a generation to come. It is seldom one +sees such massive walls. A good deal of trouble, however, seems to have +been taken to prevent people from running away with them, to judge by +this;" and he held up the key. + +"Well, the castle is mine, Sir--or, at least, I pay my rent for it; and, +I suppose, I can do what I like with my own. If there was no gate there, +do you think any body would pay me for viewing the place? Not they. Why, +there's some parties ain't even content with the key, but must have a +guide too, or else they buttons up their pockets." + +It was so impossible to misunderstand the bearing of this remark that +Richard burst out into a good-humored laugh; he was really pleased +because the landlord's hint assured him that he was in ignorance that he +had had a guide. "I shall certainly pay my footing, Mr. Trevethick, the +same as if I had had an attendant--of which, however, I should have been +glad at one or two places; the wind did take my hat, and very nearly the +rest of me. But what I meant by the trouble that was taken to secure +your ruins from intruders was with reference not to the door, but to the +key of it. Why, if it were a real castle, full of furniture, it could +not be more effectually guarded. You must have good lock-smiths +hereabout, if that's a specimen of their work." + +The icy landlord thawed again. + +"Well, Sir, the fact is, I made that key with my own hands." + +"You?" cried Richard, in affected astonishment. "Why, you must be a +mechanical genius. Look at the work! look at the wards!" and he +scrutinized them admiringly close to the candle. "Do take another glass, +Mr. Trevethick." + +"Nay, Sir; I've a friend in the parlor waiting for me," rejoined the +landlord, dryly. He appeared already to regret having given way to that +momentary feeling of self-esteem. + +"I wish _I_ had," observed Richard, smiling. "It's lonely work coming +down here by one's self, and finding nobody to speak to." + +There was a short pause, during which Richard was rapt in admiration of +the key. + +"Now, if his thick skin prove impervious to flattery," thought he, "then +will I fly my last shaft into his very gizzard." + +Mr. Trevethick's skin was quite compliment-proof, if an invitation into +the bar parlor was to be the evidence of its having been pierced. + +"You should come down in the summer-time, Sir," said he, coolly; "then +you will find lots of folks to talk with. At present I am afraid you +must put up with your own company." And the huge frame of the landlord +was already moving toward the door. + +"I am afraid so, indeed," said Richard, carelessly. "Parson Whymper +ought to have known better than to send me down here at such a time as +this." + +John Trevethick stopped at once, and Richard saw reflected in the glass +above the fire-place a look of intense interest. He could not have +supposed so phlegmatic a face was capable of so much expression. + +"Parson who, did you say, Sir? Whymper?" + +"Yes; an excellent friend of me and mine; the chaplain of Mr. Carew, of +Crompton. It was he who told me how I might fill my sketch-book with the +beauties of Gethin; and added, that I should have a hearty welcome from +one John Trevethick, if I gave his name." + +"And that you shall, Sir," cried the landlord, returning to the table, +and striking his broad palm upon it, to give emphasis to his words. "A +friend of Mr. Whymper's should be always welcome here. How is he, Sir? +And how is Mr. Carew?" + +"I have seen neither of them since I was staying at Crompton three +months ago or so," said Richard, coolly. "They were well enough then, +though the Squire was doing his best, as usual, to exhaust his +constitution and his purse; and the chaplain, as usual, also, was making +things as straight as he could, and putting the skid on where he dared. +But you know all about that, Mr. Trevethick, I dare say, almost as well +as I do. I am sorry you won't take another glass of wine." + +"I think I will, if you permit me to change my mind, Sir," said the +other, suiting the action to the word. "Now, the idea of your being so +intimate with Parson Whymper, and having staid at Squire Carew's! Why, +the Squire's my landlord, and owns all about here--leastway, short of +Dunloppel. It's unlucky that this copper should have cropped out just +beyond him, as it were." + +"There is no mine here belonging to him then, eh?" + +"Well, no, Sir; not, properly speaking, a mine, there ain't;" and the +well-practiced hand of the landlord shook as he put down the glass, so +that it clanked against the bottle. + +Richard Yorke laughed a short dry laugh, apparently at some reflection +of his own. + +"Well, I'm sorry you've got your friend, landlord, and therefore can not +have a chat with me; for it is evident we should find something to talk +about together." + +"And I'm sorry too, Sir. Though, if you wouldn't be too proud to come +into our bar parlor--but then I can scarcely ask a gentleman as has been +used to Crompton to do that." + +"Indeed, I shall be very pleased to come," said Richard, frankly. "I +have nothing to be proud of, I assure you; and if I had, why should I +not accept the company of an honest man?" + +"Very good, Sir. There's only me, and my daughter Harry, and this friend +of mine, Solomon Coe. If you'll please to walk this way." + +"Let's take the bottle with us, and then, perhaps, Mr. Coe will help us +to finish it." + +And bearing that token of amity in his hand, John Trevethick led the way +into the bar parlor. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE BAR PARLOR. + + +The bar parlor of the _Gethin Castle_ was a small snug apartment in the +rear of the house, and therefore exposed to the full fury of the +Atlantic winds, which were now roaring without, and enhanced, by their +idle menace, the comfort of its closely drawn red curtains, and its +ample fire, the gleam of which was cast back from a goodly array of +glasses and vessels of burnished pewter. Upon a well-polished oak +chest--the pride of the house, for oak was almost as rare at Gethin as +among the Esquimaux--stood a mighty punch-bowl; and on the mantel-piece +was a grotesque piece of earthen-ware, used for holding tobacco, about +which some long clay pipes and peacocks' feathers were artistically +arranged. A smell of nutmeg and lemons pervaded this apartment, and +pleasantly accorded with its almost tropical temperature; and the +contrast it altogether afforded to his own more stately but desolate +"private sitting-room," with its disused air and comfortless +surroundings, struck Richard very agreeably. On a chintz-covered sofa, +in the most retired corner of this parlor, sat Solomon Coe and Harry +Trevethick, and it was difficult to say in which of their countenances +the most astonishment appeared when the young painter presented himself +at the door. Harry's cheeks, which were not pale before, became crimson, +though she neither moved nor spoke. But Solomon rose, and, with a frown, +seemed to be asking of Trevethick the reason of this unexpected +intrusion. + +"This is a friend of Mr. Whymper's," said the landlord, setting down the +sherry on the table; "and therefore, I am sure, the friend of all of us. +That's my daughter Harry, Sir; and that" (and here he grinned) "is +Solomon Coe, a very intimate friend of hers--as you may see. We are a +family party, in fact, or shall be some day; so, pray, make yourself at +home." + +"I have seen Mr. Coe before," said Richard, frankly, and shaking that +gentleman's unwilling hand; "and, though he took me for a bagman, I bear +him no malice on that account." + +"A bagman! Lor, Sol, what could you ha' been thinking about?" laughed +Trevethick, grimly. "Why, this here gentleman has been stopping at +Crompton with the Squire! But you mustn't mind Sol, Sir; his mind ain't +free just Well, Harry, lass, why don't you get up and shake hands with +the gentleman?" + +"I have seen this young lady before, also," explained Richard. "It was +she who was good enough to get me the key of the castle, which I have +just returned, by-the-by, to your father," he added. + +Harry gave him a look which showed him that his second pilgrimage up the +rock was not unappreciated. + +"Did you see the chapel, Sir, and the tombs?" inquired she. + +"I hardly know, indeed," said Richard. "It was the climb itself that I +enjoyed the most, and shall never forget as long as I live." + +"Oh, but you must go properly over our ruins, young gentleman," said +Trevethick, with the air of a proprietor. "My girl here, or Solomon, +must show you them to-morrow, for they need a bit of explanation. Sol +knows all about them. Don't you, Sol?" + +"Oh yes; _I_ know," answered Solomon, doggedly; "but nobody won't go up +to the castle to-morrow, I reckon, with this sou'wester a-blowing." + +"It is a wild night, indeed," said Richard, putting aside the curtain, +and looking out through the shutterless window. "The clouds are driving +by at a frightful speed." + +"Ay, and it ain't only the clouds," said Trevethick, filling his pipe, +and speaking with great gravity; "the Flying Dutchman was seen off the +point not two hours ago." + +"By old Madge, I suppose?" observed Solomon, derisively. + +"Yes, by old Madge," retorted the landlord, sturdily. "She as knew our +life-boat was lost last year with all hands long before she drove into +Turlock Bay, bottom upward." + +"But how was that?" inquired Richard, with interest. + +"Well, Sir, it was this way," said Trevethick. "It was a stormy night, +though not so bad a one as this is like to be, and the life-boat had +gone out to a disabled Indiaman. She had been away three hours or more, +when, as I was sitting in this very parlor, in came Madge, looking +scared enough. She had been to Turlock on an errand for me. So, 'Sit +down,' says I, 'and take a glass, for you look as though the wind had +blown your wits away, old woman.' 'Tain't that, John Trevethick,' says +she; 'but I'm near frightened to death. I've seen a sight as I shall +never forget to my dying day. I have just seen our life-boat men--all +nine of 'em. The Lord have mercy on their souls!' 'Well, why not?' says +I. 'Why shouldn't you ha' seen 'em? They've got back sooner than we +hoped for--that's all.' 'Nay,' said she; 'but I met 'em coming out of +Gethin--away from home--the home they will never see again--all wet and +white like corpses. They're drowned men, as sure as you stand there, +John Trevethick.' And so it turned out, poor fellows!" + +"And did you tell any body of this before you knew that they were +drowned?" inquired Richard. + +"Ay, that's the point," muttered Solomon, approvingly. + +"No," said Trevethick. "I didn't believe the old woman, and I thought +her story would be very ill taken; so I kept it to myself. But it turned +out true for all that; the thing happened just as I say. John Trevethick +ain't no liar." + +"Of course you are stating what you believe to be the fact," said +Richard, in a conciliating tone; "I don't doubt that." + +"Just so; he's told it so often that he really does behave it," said +Solomon, laughing. "But what seems curious is, that it is always +Madge--purblind old woman, as wants to be thought a witch--as sees these +things--drowned sailors, and Flying Dutchmen, and so forth. I should +like to know who else has ever had the chance?" + +"Lots of folks," said the landlord, doggedly. + +"Well, _you_ been here these forty years," said Solomon, "have _you_ +seen 'em? And Harry here has been at Gethin all her life, has _she_ seen +'em?" + +There was an awkward silence. Harry had turned very pale--in terror, as +Richard thought, of the dispute between her father and Solomon becoming +serious. + +"That's naught to do with it," said Trevethick, sharply. "You're no +Gethin man, Solomon, or you wouldn't talk so. Why, didn't Madge describe +the very ship as was lost off Castle Rock, the night before we ever set +eyes on her? and wasn't it printed in the paper?" + +"In the next Saturday's paper: yes," replied Solomon, curtly. + +"Nay, I heard the old woman with my own ears," said Harry, gravely. +"There had been no wreck when she told me she had seen the schooner. +'The _Firefly_,' said she, 'will never come nearer home than Gethin Bay: +you mark my words.' That was twelve hours, ay, and more, before she +struck." + +"Forgive me for interrupting," said Richard; "but I don't understand +this matter. Is it supposed that a vessel announces her own destruction +beforehand?" + +"Sometimes," said Trevethick, gravely. "A ship is as well known here--if +she belongs to this part of the coast--as a house is known in the +Midlands. Well, if she's doomed, Madge--and it ain't only Madge +neither--will see her days before she comes to her end. This _Firefly,_ +for example, belonged to Polwheel, and had been away for weeks." + +"But still she was expected home?" interrogated Richard. + +"Ay, that's it," said Solomon, once more nodding approval. "The old +woman had that in her mind." + +"Why so?" argued Trevethick. "What was the _Firefly_ to her that she +should think she saw her drive into the bay, and break to pieces against +the rock out yonder? And why should she tell her vision to Harry?" + +"That certainly seems strange, indeed," said Richard, "as showing she +attached importance to the affair herself. It was a most curious +coincidence, to say the least of it. But what is this Flying Dutchman, +of which you also spoke? I did not know he ever came so far out of his +proper latitude as this." + +"He's seen before great storms, however," said Trevethick; "you ask the +coast-guard men, and hear what _they_ say. There's many a craft has put +out to her from Gethin, and come quite close, so that a man might almost +reach her with a boat-hook, and then, all of a sudden, there is nothing +to be seen but the big waves." + +John Trevethick had more to say to the same effect, to which Richard +listened with attentive courtesy; while at the same time he held to the +same skeptical view entertained by Solomon. Thus he won the good opinion +of both men; and of that of the girl he felt already assured. He +scarcely ever addressed himself to Harry, and as much as possible +avoided gazing at her. If the idea of his paying any serious attention +to her had ever been put into her father's mind, the intelligence that +he had been the friend and guest of Carew's had been probably sufficient +to dissipate it: the social position which that fact implied seemed to +make it out of the question that he should be Harry's suitor. It only +remained for him to disabuse Solomon of the same notion. This was at +first no easy task; but the stubbornness with which his rival resisted +his attempts at conciliation gave way by degrees, and at last vanished. +To have been able to make common cause with him upon this question of +local superstition was a great point gained. Solomon had a hard head, +and prided himself upon his freedom from such weaknesses; and he hailed +an ally in a battle-field on which he had contended at odds, five nights +out of every seven, for years. Harry, as we have seen, shared her +father's sentiments in the matter; and it was a great stroke of policy +in Richard to have espoused the other side. He would, of course, have +much preferred to agree with her--to have embraced any view which had +the attraction of her advocacy; but it now gave him genuine pleasure to +find his opposition exciting her to petulance. She was not petulant with +Solomon, but left her father to tilt with him after his own fashion. + +From the superstitions of the coast they fought their way to those of +the mines. Old Trevethick believed in "Knockers" and "Buccas," spirits +who indicate the position of good lodes by blows with invisible picks; +and, as these had more immediate connection with his own affairs than +the nautical phenomena, he clung to his creed with even greater tenacity +than before. So fierce was their contention that it was with difficulty +that Richard could put in an inquiry as to whence these spirits came who +thus interested themselves in the success of human ventures. + +"I know nothing of that," said Trevethick, frankly, "any more than I +know where that wind comes from that is shaking yonder pane; I only know +that it is there." + +"Nay, father, but _I_ know," said Harry, with a little blush at her own +erudition: "the Buccas are the ghosts of the old Jews who crucified our +Lord, and were sent as slaves by the Roman emperor to work the Cornish +mines." + +"Very like," said Trevethick, approvingly, although probably without any +clear conception of the historical picture thus presented to him. "It's +the least they could do in the spirit, after having done so much +mischief in the flesh." + +The contradiction involved in this exemplary remark, combined with the +absurdity of repentance taking the form of interest in mining +speculations, was almost too much for Richard's sense of humor; but he +only nodded with gravity, as became a man who was imbibing information, +and inquired further, whether, in addition to these favorers of +industry, there were any spirits who worked ill to miners. + +"Well, I can't say as there are," said the landlord, with the air of a +man who can afford to give a point in an argument; "but there's a many +things not of this world that happen underground, leastway in _our_ +mines, for Sol there is from the north, and it mayn't be the same in +those parts." + +"It certainly is not," interrupted Solomon, taking his pipe out of his +mouth to intensify the positiveness of his position. + +"I say," continued Trevethick, reddening, "that down in Cornwall here +there is scarce a mine without its spirit o' some sort. At Wheal Vor, +for example, a man and his son were once blown to pieces while blasting; +and, nothing being left of them but fragments of flesh, the engine-man +put 'em into the furnace with his shovel; and now the pit is full of +little black dogs. I've seen one of 'em myself." + +Solomon laughed aloud. + +Richard was expecting an explosion of wrath. The old man turned toward +him quietly, and observed with tender gravity: "And in a certain mine, +which Sol and I are both acquainted with, a white rabbit always shows +itself before any accident which proves fatal to man. It was seen on the +day that Sol's father sacrificed his life for mine." Then he told the +story which Richard had already heard from Harry's lips, while Solomon +smoked in silence, and Harry looked hard at the fire, as though--as +Richard thought--to avoid meeting the glance of her father's hereditary +benefactor. + +"You are right to remember such a noble deed as long as you live," said +Richard, when the old man had done. "My own life," added he, in a lower +tone, "was once preserved by one whom I shall love and honor as long as +I have breath." + +He saw the color glow on the young girl's cheek, and the fire-light +shine with a new brilliance in her eyes. Neither Trevethick nor Solomon +had caught his observation; at the moment it was made the former was +stretching out his great hand to the latter, moved by that memory of +twenty years ago, and, perhaps, in token of forgiveness for his recent +skepticism. + +"Then there's the Dead Hand at Wheal Danes, father," observed Harry, in +somewhat hasty resumption of the general subject. "That's as curious as +any, and more terrible." + +"Wheal Danes!" said Solomon. "Why, how comes that about, when nobody can +never have been killed there? It's been disused ever since the Roman +time, I thought?" + +"Yes, yes; so it has," answered Trevethick, impatiently. + +"But I thought you told me about it yourself, father?" persisted Harry. +"How you saw the Thing, with a flame at the finger-tops, going up and +down where the ladders used to be, and heard voices calling from the +pit." + +"Not I, wench--not I. That was only what was told me by other +folks.--Take another glass of your own sherry before supper, Sir; and +after that we will have a bowl of punch." + +The hospitalities of Mr. Trevethick were, in fact, profuse, and his +manner toward Richard most conciliatory. + +"We'll be glad to see you, Sol and I, in our little parlor, whenever you +feel in want of company," were his last words at parting for the night. +And, "Ay, ay, that's so," had been Solomon's indorsement. + +Harry had said nothing; but the tender pressure of his hand, when he +wished her good-night, had not gone unreturned, and was an invitation +more welcome than words. The events of the day, the conversation of the +evening, had given him plenty of matter for reflection; but the touch of +those soft fingers was more potent, and the dreams evoked by it +swallowed up all soberer thoughts. He sat up for hours that night, +picturing to himself a future altogether new to his imagination; and +when he went to bed it was not to rest. His excited brain was fed with a +nightmare vision. He thought that he was once more with Harry on the +castled rock; his lips were pressed to hers; his arm was around her +waist, just as they had been; but, instead of his slipping alone over +the precipice, they fell together; and as they did so--not without a +wild delight mingling with his despair--she was suddenly plucked away +from him, and, as he sank headlong down, down, he saw that Solomon Coe +had caught her in his arms, and, with her father, was looking down upon +him with savage and relentless glee! + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +SOLOMON'S REMINISCENCES. + + +There are wild places yet in the world, and primitive folk. Even in +England there are localities of which the phrase, "It is a hundred years +behindhand," still holds good; and so it was with Gethin. Its wind-swept +moors, its rock-bound coast, had inhabitants altogether differing from +the men of fields and farms; to Richard, a man of pleasure from the +town, they seemed a foreign race. They were rough in externals, but +kindly and genial at heart; given to hospitality, and, though good at a +bargain, by no means greedy of gain. Above all there were no beggars. +The poorest Gethin man would open a gate for you, or walk a hundred +yards out of his way to show you your road, without asking for, or even +expecting, a coin. They were, however, as delighted as surprised to get +it; and before the open-handed young artist had been a week in the place +he had demoralized it by his largesses. As, however, his smile and his +thanks always accompanied these presents, he was served more for love's +sake than the money's, and enjoyed a popularity which can not be +purchased, and which yet is impossible to be won by one who has nothing +to give. He had the reputation among these simple folks, who knew how to +be frugal themselves, of having a superfluity of wealth; his air and +manner showed he had been always used to be lavish (as indeed he had), +and nourished this delusion, which extended, though upon other grounds, +to the tenants of the little inn. + +John Trevethick and his friend Solomon would not have been much +impressed with the expenditure of a few pounds by an improvident youth; +but the former was well aware that the guests of Carew of Crompton were +almost without exception very wealthy men, and he judged of Richard's +social position accordingly. He had no idea that his landscape-painting +was any thing else than an amusement--as it was practiced by half the +young ladies and gentlemen who visited Gethin in the summer months; he +took him for an amateur; and if he had seen his sketches, and been a +judge of art, he would have been only fortified in his conclusion. He +liked the young fellow upon his own account, though not so much as his +handsome face and pleasant manners, combined with his desire to please, +caused others to do; for Mr. Trevethick was not at all impressionable in +such matters. Richard hated him in his heart for the scanty crop of +regard he seemed to get out of him, notwithstanding all his pains; he +had never made so continued an effort to make himself agreeable and with +so small a result; but his self-love would have been more deeply wounded +had he known that his own exertions would not have even gained him what +they did, had they not been seconded by a hidden ally in the landlord's +breast. Richard's desire to conciliate was fully reciprocated by +Trevethick, who wished above all things to make friends with the friend +of Parson Whymper; only conciliation was so much out of his line. The +old man and the young had absolutely nothing in common except their love +for Harry. + +Upon the other hand, John Trevethick and Solomon Coe were cast almost in +the same mould. Notwithstanding the former's superstition he was +intelligent and shrewd enough in practical matters, and had, indeed, +quite a genius for mechanics. Deprived of his underground occupation by +the catastrophe with which we are acquainted, he had set his wits to +work at home on the matters with which he had hitherto but physically +concerned himself; and the labor of his head had proved more lucrative +than that of his hand. He had invented several improvements in the +working machinery of the mine which had so nearly proved his tomb; these +had been adopted, with considerable profit to himself, in other places; +and the money thus acquired he had not frittered away (as is usual in +such cases) in speculative investments. In the interim between his +giving up his trade and his reaping the fruits of his inventions he had +tasted the bitterness of poverty, and that had made him very cautious. +But he had a small share in Dunloppel, which seemed likely to turn out +very profitable; and he had built the inn, the returns from which were +more than sufficient to support him--indeed, it was rumored that John +Trevethick had been laying by a pretty penny, and could hold his head +much higher if he pleased. His pleasures were certainly not expensive, +for they consisted in fancy iron-working, the results of which brought +him in a considerable sum; and in occasionally getting drunk, which, +being a publican, he could accomplish at the most reasonable figure. He +was a hard unlovable man, and interesting only as statistics may be said +to be as compared with literature--in a hard, practical way. If +superstitious, he was by no means religious; and, though honest, he was +grasping. He took time to resolve upon a matter; but, when once his +resolution was fixed, his will was iron, and his heart was stone. It was +certainly curious that one of Trevethick's character should have +entertained so long and freshly his sentiment of gratitude even to a man +that had saved his life at the expense of his own; but even this may +have had its roots in egotism. Had the person saved been his wife or his +daughter the feeling would not perhaps have been so enduring; and in +carrying it out, as he fully purposed to do, by bestowing Harry's hand +upon Solomon, he was certainly not uninfluenced by the fact that the +latter was, pecuniarily speaking, an excellent match. + +Like himself, his intended son-in-law was the architect of his own +fortunes; but he had built them up in a different way. His youth had +been spent in the coal-mines of the north; and, though no lucky stroke +of the pick can there make one rich, as it can in other underground +localities, his strength and skill had met with their full reward. And +what he had gained he had not wasted. Pound after pound he had laid by, +until enough had been saved for investment; and it was Solomon's boast +in after-years that he had never got less than ten per cent. for any of +it. It was all ventured on underground speculations, some of them +hazardous enough--but all had prospered; and here John Trevethick's +judgment, though the old man himself had not the courage to follow it, +had been of great advantage to him. Every thing he touched turned, if +not to gold, at least to tin or copper; and before the lode ceased to +yield Solomon had sold his shares at a good premium, and placed the +proceeds in another pit. He had sown, as it were, his money in the +earth, and reaped a golden harvest. And now Dunloppel, his last +venture, seemed likely to prove his best: and it was another strand in +the strong bond between himself and Trevethick that the latter had also +a share in that undertaking. There are some men with whom a common +pecuniary interest is the most binding tie of sympathy of which their +nature is capable; and never had the landlord of the _Gethin Castle_ +been more closely attached to his guest and son-in-law elect than at +this time, when Richard Yorke proposed to himself to part them; as +though a gilded summer skiff should thrust itself between two laden +coal-barges, and bid them budge. + +It was at least a week before Solomon Coe could be induced to open his +lips before Richard, beyond the utterance of a few pithy sentences; not +that the smouldering embers of jealousy had been fanned in the mean +time--for Richard had been prudence itself in his behavior to Harry--but +because the miner could not comprehend the young fellow, and therefore +distrusted him. The light and airy manners, which were as natural to +Richard as was John Trevethick's ponderous cunning or his own +self-satisfied reticence, seemed to Solomon mere affectation, and even +his appearance effeminate and dandified; but when he saw that he wore no +other air when conversing with the pitmen of Dunloppel--an expedition +undertaken with himself at Richard's special invitation--and marked how +actively he climbed the tall, steep ladders, and how fearlessly he +trusted himself to the rope, he acquitted him of such artful fopperies. +Of Richard's intelligence he had formed a good opinion from the time +when the latter had enlisted himself upon his side in the argument +concerning superstition; and it flattered his vanity to find so sensible +and accomplished a young fellow deferring to his opinion upon all +practical points, and apparently desirous of obtaining his views upon +them. + +There was one subject, the experience of his early years, upon which +Solomon was never averse to descant, could he once be got to talk at +all; and it was a certain token--as one, at least, of the company well +knew--that his prejudice against Richard was quite surmounted when +Solomon began to unfold to him, over their punch in the bar parlor, the +annals of his underground career. Often had he done so to Harry--like +another Othello (and almost as swarthy) narrating his adventures to his +Desdemona--but never had she been so pleased to listen as now, when she +needed but to seem to hear, and, without the penalty of reply, could +feed her eyes upon young Richard's listening face. It is hard when, in +the race for woman's favor, one has to waste one's breath in making the +running for one's rival. + +And yet the talk of Solomon Coe was well worth listening to. He told of +the great war which is always being waged by man beneath the earth +against the powers of Water, and Fire, and Foul Air, and of the daring +deeds he had seen wrought against them. He told of coal-pits that had +been on fire from time immemorial, above which no snow would lie, by +reason of the heat beneath, and where the grass of the meadows was +always green. He told of others which had been suddenly inundated by a +neighboring river, or by the waters from old workings, let in by a +single unlucky blow, whereby scores and scores of strong men were +overwhelmed, whose corpses floated about for months in the dark drowned +pit before their fellows above-ground could get at them. + +His speech was somewhat sullen and hesitating, and what he said was +interrupted by whiffs of smoke and sips of liquor; but the nature of the +subject was so absorbing that it needed no gifts of eloquence. It +interested Richard in spite of himself; and Solomon was not indifferent +to the flattery which the young artist's attention conveyed, and +scarcely needed the entreaties of Trevethick to persuade him to throw +off his native reticence. What he forgot, and had mentioned in former +narrations, the landlord supplemented; and when "Sol" became technical +and obscure the other performed the part of chorus or explainer. If the +former had been some gifted animal, and the latter its proprietor, he +could not have taken a greater pride in the exhibition of its talent +than did the landlord in these narrations. Now he would look at Richard, +and nod and wink, as though to bespeak his special attention to what was +coming; and now he would wave his pipe, like a dumb orchestra playing +slow music, to express the tremendous nature of a situation. Perhaps he +was genuinely impressed by these thrice-told tales--perhaps he was +endeavoring, by a feigned admiration for Sol's experiences and exploits, +to justify his choice of a son-in-law not altogether suited to his +Harry. To do the _raconteur_ justice, he was by no means so egotistic as +his aider and abettor, and Trevethick would express his regrets to +Richard that it was so hard to get Sol to dismiss generalities and talk +about himself. "It's on account of Harry being here, you see," explained +he behind his horny hand, but in a tone perfectly audible to the other +tenants of the bar parlor; "or else he would tell you how the timbering +of the pit once fell upon him, so as nothing was free but his head and +his left hand; and yet he never lost his wits in all his agony, but told +the men where to saw and what to do; but he don't like to boast before +the 'gal.'" + +Then Richard, taking the hint, inquired of Solomon whether any incident +particularly striking had ever happened to himself during his +underground experience; and Solomon replied, with affected carelessness; +"No, not as I know on; nothing particular." + +Then Trevethick broke in with, "What! not when you was shut up in the +seam at Dunston?" + +"Oh yes, to be sure," said Sol, as though the recollection of the +circumstance had only just occurred to him; "there was _that_, +certainly; but it was when I was quite a boy. I was not quite seventeen +when Dunston Colliery was drowned. The Gatton poured right in upon it, +and they have not got the water out of it in places to this day. It was +always said that the pit was being worked too near the river; but that +was little thought about by those as was most concerned, and it never +disturbed the head of a lad like me, of course. It was in the afternoon +of the 12th of December, a date as I am not likely to forget, when the +thing happened. Two mates--one old man and a middle-aged one--and myself +were at work in a heading together, when suddenly we heard a noise like +thunder. 'That's never blasting,' says one. 'The Lord have mercy on us,' +cries the other; 'it's the river come in at last!' For, as I say, the +risk was quite well known, though it was considered small, and made a +frequent jest of. Nothing that ever I heard was equal to that noise; the +waves in Gethin caverns here, during storm, are a whisper to it; the +whole pit seemed to be roaring in upon us. We all ran up the gallery, +which, fortunately for us, had a great slope, and crouched down at the +end of it. We heard the water pouring in and filling all the workings +beneath us, and then pouring in and filling ours. It reached our feet, +and left us but a very limited space, in which the air was compressed, +when the noise of the inundation ceased. There was a singing in our +ears, so that we could scarcely hear one another speak. We knew that the +whole mine had become a lake by that time, and that it would take months +to drain her, if she was ever drained. We knew that we were buried alive +hundreds of feet beneath the earth; and yet we did not quite lose heart. +There was this gleam of hope: supposing that the next gallery, which was +on a higher level than our own, was not also flooded, we could be got at +through the seam. We did not know the fact that it was more than sixty +feet of solid coal, and would have taken under ordinary circumstances at +least four weeks to dig through; we only knew that, if a door of escape +was to open any where, it must open there. We kept tapping with the +heels of our boots at equal intervals against this wall." + +"The miner's signal," explained the landlord, with a wave of his pipe. + +"We felt that if we were once heard, and if hard work could do it, that +our mates would save us yet; and we encouraged one another as well as we +could. But presently the oil in our lamps gave out, and we were left in +darkness; and then our hope grew faint indeed. We had knocked for +four-and-twenty hours unintermittingly without any reply. We did not +cease, however, to discuss the possibilities of escape. We knew that all +was being done for us above-ground that could be done; that the surveys +of the mine were well executed; and that it was known exactly where we +were, if we were alive at all. There were more than a hundred men +employed in the lower workings, and it was a certainty that not one of +them could have escaped death; the attention, therefore, of the +engineers would be concentrated upon those parts of the mine that might +possibly be left above water." + +"On the second night of our imprisonment we heard a distinct reply to +our signal; the old man who was of our company began to weep for joy, +though he was doomed, as it turned out, poor soul! never to see the +light. 'We shall be saved,' he said; 'do not fear.' We knocked again, +and again the reply was heard--they had found us out, and would never +relax their efforts to save us. 'God bless them!' said we all. We laid +our ears close to the rock, and presently heard the strokes of the pick, +but not very distinctly. When the other said he was afraid the rock was +thick, the old man cried out: 'No, it was not that; it was because we +were dull of hearing.' The fact was, that the seam was not only thick, +but very hard. It was strange, indeed, though sounds are easily +transmitted through rocks of considerable thickness, how our feeble taps +had been heard at all. Day after day, and each day a black night, went +on; every hour was to be the last of our captivity, according to the old +man; as for me, I was almost worn out, and heavy with sleep, but he was +in constant motion, knocking and listening. Then suddenly we heard a +splash in the water beneath us--he had lost his balance, slid down the +inclined plane, and been drowned. He never stirred a limb nor uttered a +cry. His fate discouraged and alarmed us two survivors exceedingly. If +help was coming, we now felt it would never come in time. We dug into +the shale with the handles of our lamps and with our fingers, to make +our position more secure. We did not venture to speak of our late +companion's fate to one another. Horror overwhelmed us, so enfeebled had +we become through famine and fatigue. We had devoured our leather belts, +and even crumbled the rotten wood of the timber-props in water, and +eaten that; but we were now consumed by thirst, which we dared no longer +quench. We were afraid to venture down as before for the water in which +the old man had sunk to death; and it was that which had kept us alive." + +"Don't forget about how you made a bucket of your boots, Sol," suggested +Trevethick, gravely. + +"Yes, at last we tied a string to a boot, and got the water up that +way," continued Solomon; "but our stomachs turned against it." + +"It was not so good as my punch," observed the landlord, +parenthetically, and emptying his steaming glass. + +"More dark days came and went, though, of course, we could not tell how +many; then, all of a sudden, we heard a human voice, inquiring: 'How +many are you?' 'We are three,' was our reply. We had not the courage +even then to own that one of us had already been taken; death seemed +still so near to us. The aperture which had thus let in the world upon +us was also very small." + +"And what was it you asked for first?" interrupted the landlord, with a +nod at Richard, as much as to say: "Listen now; this is curious." + +"What we wanted was light. 'Light above all things!' was our cry. But +our deliverers could give us but little of that, for they had scarcely +any themselves. They had been working in a narrow gallery, by means of +five inclined driftways, at each of which only one man could ply his +pick at a time, and where light and air could only be procured +artificially. The coal was carried out in baskets as fast as it was hewn +out: the atmosphere in which they thus toiled like giants, naked to the +waist, was almost suffocating; yet, under these conditions, they had +literally effected in four days, to save our lives, what it would have +taken them four weeks to do, had they been working by the piece for +wages. They had even been compelled to put up ventilators, and their +lamps would only burn when close to these. They gave us broth through a +tin pipe; but almost another day elapsed before the hole was large +enough for them to carry us through it in their arms." + +"And there was nobody else saved, was there?" inquired the landlord, +with a triumphant look. + +"There was not," said Solomon, expressing his tobacco smoke very slowly. +"Out of a hundred and thirteen men who had been caught by the flood in +Dunston, we two were the sole survivors." + +Many other stories of the like sort had Solomon to tell, and for not +one of them, was he indebted to his imagination. His experience of life +had been remarkable, and it had impressed itself upon his character. His +will was as strong as that of Trevethick, but he had less of caution; +and he was at the same time both plodding and audacious. + +It would not be well, thought Richard occasionally, to have either of +these men for an enemy; and he was right. Unhappily, it was impossible +to win Harry without a quarrel with, at least, one of them, and rather +than lose her he was prepared to defy them both. If he could but have +lifted a corner of the curtain that veils the future--well, even then, +so mad was he by this time with the love of her, that he would almost +have defied them still. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +SPRING-TIDE. + + +There is a beauty in woman that takes the stranger, and another the +changeful charm of which wins its way deeper and deeper daily into the +heart of man; but in the person of Harry Trevethick these two beauties +were combined. Richard thought he had never seen any face half so fair +as that which shone upon him through the mist on the first day when he +came to Gethin; and when he had dwelt there for weeks he was of the same +opinion still. Harry was innocent, tender-hearted, and gay, and so far +the expression of her features told you truth; but it also told you more +than that, which you must needs believe, though it was not the fact. Her +face was not the index of her mind in all respects; it was rather like +the exquisite and costly dial-plate of a time-piece the works of which +are indifferent. Her air was spiritual; her voice thrilled your being +with its sweet tone; her eyes were full of earnest tenderness; but she +was weak of purpose, vacillating rather than impulsive, credulous, and +given (not from choice, but fear) to dissimulation. That last fault +Richard willingly forgave her, since it worked to his advantage; and to +the others he would have been more than human had he not been blind. For +Harry loved him. She had never said so; he had never asked her to say +so; but it was taken for granted on both sides. They were thrown much +together, for Dunloppel--a treasure-house, which proved richer and +richer the more it yielded--monopolized the attention of both Trevethick +and Solomon; they were in high good-humor, and not at all disposed for +quarrel or suspicion. Harry had always been the mistress of her own +movements, and she went, as usual, whither she liked, and Richard went +with her. + +The spring was advancing, and brought its soft hues even to the barren +moors of Gethin, and bathed its gray rocks in sunshine. There was much +to see that was worth seeing, and who so fit as Harry to point out these +objects of attraction with which she had been familiar from her +childhood? They strolled along the beach to Polwheel, and she snowed him +how the harbor there had been silted up through the wrath of the +mermaids, or "merry maids," as she called them, still (under favorable +circumstances) sometimes seen sitting on the slate cliff ledges beneath +the clear blue sea. Far from ridiculing her superstitions, he led her on +to talk of them; he did not much mind what she talked about so long as +he could look at her and listen. + +"But why were the Polwheel mermaids so cruel, Harry? I always imagine +them bright and beautiful beings, with golden hair almost as long as +yours, and with nothing to do but to comb it." + +"That is so, when they are let alone," said Harry, simply; "but even the +weakest creatures love revenge, and will get it if they can." + +"And quite right too," interrupted Richard; "but for fear of that the +strong would be more uncivil even than they are." + +"Well, a mermaid was once cruelly treated by a Polwheel man--he fell in +love with her, and deserted her--and then her sisters choked up the +harbor bar." + +"But how did he come to court the mermaid? That must have been +difficult; though, if I saw you sitting under water yonder, I should +certainly dive, and try." + +"You would have no breath to make me pretty speeches then," said Harry, +demurely. "This mermaid was, however, a changed child. A Polwheel woman +was bathing her infant in the pool yonder beneath that arched rock, when +it suddenly gave a cry of joy, and leaped from her arms into the sea. +She thought it was drowned, but it came up the next instant more +beautiful and bright than ever. She did not herself know but that it was +her own child, but there were old folks in the town who knew that it was +in reality a mermaid's changeling. She grew up to be a lovely woman, and +the Squire of Polwheel at that time--for his race has died out +since--fell in love with her; he treated her very ill, and she died +broken-hearted, at Gethin, and was buried in our church-yard, where I +can show you the tomb." + +"And did no punishment overtake the scoundrel Squire?" + +"Yes. After a great revel one night, he was returning home by the sands, +and in the moonlight beheld a beautiful lady sitting by this same pool. +She was so like his dead love to look at that he was frightened at +first, but she smiled and beckoned to him, and then, clasping him in her +arms, leaped into the sea, and drowned him; and in the storm that arose +that night the merry maids filled up the harbor." + +"That was hard upon Polwheel," observed Richard, "though the Squire only +got what he deserved. He must have been a bad lot." + +"But the mermaid was very foolish to believe him," added Harry--"very." + +They visited the Fairy Bower, did these young people--the only spot +about Gethin where trees grew; a beautiful ravine, with a fall of water, +and a caverned cell beside it, where a solitary hermit was said to have +dwelt. Notwithstanding which celibate association, it had a wishing-well +besides, into which a maiden had but to drop a pin, and wish her wish, +and straightway the face of her future husband was mirrored in the +water. Through its clear depths you might see the bottom of the pool +quite paved with pins. + +"And does the charm always work?" asked Richard, laughing. "Try it +to-day." + +"No, no," answered Harry, gravely; "one must be quite alone for that, +and beneath the moonlight." + +On Morven Point, a grand old promontory, which pushed out many a yard to +meet the encroaching waves, and battled with long before they reached +the main land, they sat and watched the sunsets; looked down upon the +busy hive of men that worked upon the slate quarry beneath, or gazed +upon the ships that tacked and wore to make Turlock Haven. There was a +tower on this place, half ruined and with broken steps, up which they +climbed together on one occasion, and stood supporting one another upon +its dizzy top. There lay around them a splendid prospect of sea and +land, but they were looking into one another's eyes, and yet they did +not speak of that which was nearest to their hearts. It was a topic to +be avoided as long as possible. They only enjoyed these blissful +opportunities--they had only been permitted to thus stroll out together +alone and unsuspected--upon the tacit understanding that no such thing +as love could exist between them. If Harry had not plighted faith to +Solomon, her engagement to him tacitly existed nevertheless, and it was +under its aegis alone that they had been protected and indulged. It was +a part of the character of the young girl to persuade herself that she +was doing no harm so long as it was possible to entertain that delusion; +and it was all one to Richard what their love was called so long as it +_was_ love. Else, as they stood alone together in the noonday stillness, +his arm around her waist, as it had not been since that first afternoon +upon the castled rock, he must needs have told her why the heart that +pressed so close against her side was beating high. Just then, however, +he dared not. Suppose that, by any possibility, he had mistaken her +sentiments; suppose, that is, an extorted promise, or fear of her +father's anger, or what not, should compel her to deny his suit, and +cleave to Solomon; suppose even that her simplicity was such--and it was +in some things marvelously great--that she had accepted his affection as +that of a brother--a friend of her father's and of "Sol's"--but no; he +felt certain that she loved him; suppose, at all events, for whatever +reason, she was once again to reprove him for yielding to the temptation +of her lips, he felt that such a rebuke must of necessity finish all. +She could not forgive him twice, unless she gave him license to offend +forever. He dared not, therefore, speak directly of that which both were +thinking of; and yet he could not altogether ignore so sweet a subject. + +"That is the moor yonder, Harry, over which I first came to Gethin--how +long ago!" + +"Has the time, then, hung so very heavy on your hands?" asked she, +seriously. + +"No, Harry, no; on the contrary, I have never been so happy; but when +one has a new experience, however charming it may be, it seems to +dwindle down one's past to nothing. I have had two lifetimes, as it +seems to me--one elsewhere, and one here; and yet it is but six weeks +since I met you first, Harry, out yonder, gleaming like a sunbeam +through the fog." + +"I remember it well," said Harry, with a slight shiver. + +"But not to sigh about it, dear, I trust? You are not afraid of me +_now_, as you were then? Do you recollect how scared you were when I +called you back that day?" + +"Yes, well," answered the young girl, earnestly. "I had a reason for +being scared, though you would laugh at me if I told you what it was." + +"Do I ever laugh at you, Harry, when you would have me serious?" asked +Richard, reproachfully. "Come, tell me why you shrank from me--as you +can not to-day, dear, for, see, I have got you close--and why your large +eyes looked so wild and strange that I half thought you mad? Did you +take me for a ghost?" + +"No; but I had just seen what is far worse than any ghost. Did you not +mark how pale I got that same night? I thought I should have fainted +when I was asked" (it was Solomon who had put the question, but +Solomon's name was never mentioned between these two young people) "if I +had ever seen a spectre ship. I had seen one that very day--only a few +minutes before I met _you_--and on this very cliff." + +"Well, and what then?" said Richard, smiling. "Neither your father, nor +any one in whom you have an interest, goes to sea. The Flying Dutchman +did not concern you, I reckon, even if he did pay you a call." + +"You do not understand," said Harry, seriously; "it was not that at all. +But when the mists rise over Turlock sands, as they did that day, a +black, square-rigged vessel glides across them, which bodes ill to those +who see her; and _I_ saw her as plain as I see _you_." + +"But not so near," said Richard, fondly. + +"She was coming from Turlock to the quarry yonder--" + +"To fetch slates," interrupted the other--"nothing more likely." + +"Nay, not she; no craft would have attempted that in such weather; and, +besides, there was not a soul on board of her. She was sailing against +what little wind there was, and against the tide." + +"But even if this was so, Harry, what of it? What harm has come of it?" + +"Nothing as yet; nor was I greatly frightened at the time. That omen +bodes unhappiness to him or her who sees it, and I was already unhappy." + +"Because I was not here to comfort you, Harry. Well, that is remedied." + +She shook her head, and did not return the reassuring pressure of his +hand. "Listen!" she said. "This misery comes through the person whom he +who has seen the vision shall next meet; and I thought I knew who I +should meet on my way home--one from whom"--she sank her voice to a +whisper--"I already expected misery." + +"You mean--" began Richard, eagerly. + +"No matter whom I mean. It was not he who met me; that was _you_." + +The hand which he held in his was cold as ice; her face was pale; and +her limbs trembled under her. + +"This is folly, Harry dear. Am I likely to do you harm, to make you +miserable?" + +"I do not know," said she. "I sometimes think you are." + +He put the long hair back from her forehead, and gazed into her eyes, +which were now fast filling with tears. "I love you, Harry, with all my +heart," sighed he--"you know I do. And, though you are sometimes cold, +and at others seem as though you purposely avoided me, I think you love +_me_--just a little--too. Better, at all events, than the man with whom +you yourself have just confessed you expect nothing but misery." + +"Hush, hush!" moaned she. "If I said that, it was very wrong." + +"It was the truth, Harry. How could it be otherwise? He is not a lover +meet for such as you; he is twice your age, and rough and rude of speech +even as a suitor. Do you think he will be more tender when he is a +husband? He is no mate for you, Harry, nor you for him." + +Again she shook her head, with a slow mournful movement, as though less +in dissent from his statement than in despair of remedy. + +"What!" cried he, "because his father was your father's friend, does +that give him the right to be your husband?" + +The young girl answered only with her sobs. + +"Now tell me, darling--did you ever promise to be this man's wife in +words?" + +"Yes--no--I am not sure. Oh yes, I must be his; my father has set his +mind upon it. Nay, do not smile at that; you don't know what my father +is. He is not one to cross;" and, as if at the very thought of her stern +parent's wrath, she lifted up her head from Richard's breast, and looked +around in fear. + +"But suppose I win him to my side, sweet Harry?" + +"That you could never do," sighed she. "I tell you you don't know him." + +"Nay; but I think I do, dear; and, if I could show him that it was to +his own advantage to have me for his son-in-law, in place of--" + +"You would not persuade him," interrupted the young girl, firmly--"not +even if you were Carew of Crompton's heir." + +The words she had used were meant to express exhaustless wealth--for +with such was the owner of Gethin still credited in that far-away corner +of his possession--but they startled and offended Richard. "I may not be +Carew's heir," said he, haughtily; "but I have some power at Crompton, +and I can exert it in your father's favor." + +Harry shook her head. "He wants for nothing," she said, "that you can +give him. He is wealthier than you imagine. He has two thousand pounds +in notes, for which he has no use; they lie in the strong-box in my +room. But there, I promised not to speak of that." + +"I am not a burglar in disguise," said Richard, smiling, "and would make +your father richer rather than rob him. But why should he keep so large +a sum by him?" + +"I do not know; but there it is, locked with a letter padlock which he +made himself. No human being can open it, he says, who does not know the +secret." + +Richard was silent. Something else than love was occupying his thoughts, +though his fingers were making marriage rings for themselves of Harry's +golden hair. It is like entertaining angels unawares to find after one +has fallen in love that it is with an heiress. + +"Dear Harry," said he at last, "I think I shall take you from your +father's willing hands; I have good hope of it, and better since I have +heard you so despairing; but, at all events, you will be mine. Let me +hear those sweet lips say so. Promise me, promise me, my darling, that +you will be my wife." + +He caught and clasped her close, and she did not repulse him. + +"I dare not, Richard--I dare not promise you," she murmured. + +"But if your father gives me leave?" whispered he, his lips to her warm +cheek. + +She uttered a soft cry of passionate joy that told him more than a +hundred phrases of assent how dear he was to her, and hid her face upon +his breast. + +Oh happy hour, so bright, and yet so brief! Oh golden noon, already on +the verge of eve and blackest night! + +How often in the after-time did that fair and sunny scene recur to them, +a bitter memory; how often was that first kiss of love renewed by cruel +fancy and in mocking dreams, its sweetness changed to gall! + +Better for one--better, perhaps, for both--if, clasped in one another's +arms, they had fallen from that tall tower's top, and then and there had +ended life and love together! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +WORKING ON A PIVOT. + + +Never had Richard been in such high spirits as on the evening of that +day on which Harry had made confession to him of her love, and had +promised to be his wife should her father's consent be gained. It was +true that she had been far from sanguine upon the latter point; but +Richard had his reasons for being of a different opinion. It would be +better, every way, if he could obtain Trevethick's good-will; not that +he at all shared in the girl's dread of his anger, but because it really +seemed that if he married her from her father's roof he should be +fulfilling his mother's injunctions in making alliance with an heiress. +What with his two thousand pounds in gold, and his inn, and his lucky +mine, it was plain that the old man would have no despicable sum to +leave behind him; and yet, to do Richard justice, this only formed an +additional incentive to a project upon which, at all events, he had long +set his heart. He had resolved at all hazards to make the girl his wife. +His love for her was as deep as it was passionate; and now that he was +assured from her own lips of its being returned, his heart was filled +with joy, and spoke out of its abundance. It had been hitherto his habit +in that family circle round the bar-parlor fire to play the part of +listener rather than of talker. He had mainly confined himself to the +exhibition of an attentive interest in Solomon's stories, or in his +host's sagacious observations with respect to the investment of capital, +such as: "One couldn't be too cautious where one put one's money;" and, +"Where the interest was high the risk was great, and where it was low it +was not worth while to let it leave one's hand." Next to the subject of +local superstition, "investment" was the favorite subject of debate +between Trevethick and "Sol;" and Richard, whose ignorance insured his +impartiality, had been the judicious scale-holder between them. But +upon the present occasion it was the young artist who led the talk and +chose the matter. He told them of the splendors of Crompton and of the +marvelous prodigality of its owner, and they listened with greedy ears. +To vulgar natures, the topic of mere wealth is ever an attractive one, +and in the present instance there was an additional whet to appetite in +the connection of Carew with Gethin. He was naturally an object of +curiosity to his tenant Trevethick, and never before had the old man had +the opportunity of hearing at first hand of the eccentricities of the +Squire. In relating them Richard took good care to show by implication +on what intimate terms he stood with him, and hinted at the obligation +under which he had put him by throwing his park gate open so +opportunely. The impression which he left upon his audience, and desired +to leave, was, that Carew was indebted to him for having saved his life. + +"Then it is likely the Squire would do any thing for you that you chose +to ask him?" observed Trevethick, with the thought of his own debt to +Solomon's father doubtless in his mind. + +"Well, he certainly ought to do so," answered Richard, carelessly; "but, +on the other hand, it is not very probable that I shall put him to the +test." + +"Just so," returned Trevethick, sucking at his pipe; "you're independent +of the likes of him." + +"Altogether," was Richard's reply. + +The old man spoke no more, but sat in a cloud of smoke and thought for +the rest of the evening. Even when "Sol" rose up to go--Harry having +retired long since, for they kept very early hours at the Gethin +Castle--the landlord did not, as usual, accompany him, but mixed himself +another glass of his favorite liquor. As for Richard, it was not his +custom to seek his bed until after midnight; so Trevethick and he were +left to one another's company. It was an opportunity to which the latter +had been looking forward for many a day, but which he had never desired +so keenly as at that moment. + +"Are you likely to be at Crompton soon again?" inquired the landlord, +pursuing the subject of the evening's talk. + +"I have no intention of going there at present," returned Richard. "The +fact is, Mr. Trevethick, between ourselves, I am but a poor man in +comparison with many of those I meet there, and their ways and habits +are too expensive for me." + +"Ay! gambling and such like, I suppose?" observed the landlord, +cunningly. "It is 'Light come light go' with the money of that sort of +folk, I reckon." + +"Just so; and though my money comes light enough--that is, I have not to +earn it, since my mother makes me an allowance--I don't choose to risk +it at the card-table." + +"Quite right, quite right, young gentleman," answered the other, +approvingly. "But there are some prudent gentry even at Crompton, I +suppose. Parson Whymper, for instance, he don't gamble, do he?" + +"Certainly not; he is much too sagacious a man, even if he were rich +enough, to play; but for him, indeed, some say the Squire would have +come to the end of his tether before this. He manages every thing at +Crompton, as you know." + +"And yet Carew don't want money?" said the landlord, musing. + +"Well, I have been his guest," returned Richard, smiling; "and it is +scarcely fair of me to speak of his embarrassments. He does not +certainly want it so much but that he can still afford to indulge his +whims, Mr. Trevethick, if that's what you mean." + +"That's just what I did mean," said the old man, frankly. "Six months +ago or so I made a certain proposition to the Squire, which would have +been exceedingly to his advantage to accept--" + +"And not to yours?" interrupted Richard, slyly. + +"Nay, I don't say that, Sir," answered the other. "But it was one that +he ought to have been glad to accept in any case, and which it was +downright madness in him to refuse, if he wanted cash. It was a chance, +too, I will venture to say, that will never offer itself from any other +quarter. Mr. Whymper acknowledged that himself." + +"I know all about the matter, Mr. Trevethick: the Squire behaved like +the dog in the manger to you. He won't work the mine himself, nor yet +let you work it." + +"For mercy's sake, be quiet!" cried the landlord, earnestly, and looking +cautiously about him. "If you know all about it, you need not let others +know. What mine are you talking about? Give it a name--but speak it +under your breath, man." The old man leaned forward with a white moist +face, and peered into Richard's eyes as though he would read his soul. + +"Wheal Danes was the name of the place, if I remember right," said +Richard. "Carew has a notion that the Romans did not use it up, and that +it only wants capital to make it a paying concern. It is one of his mad +ideas, doubtless." + +Mr. John Trevethick was not by nature a quick appreciator of sarcasm, +but he could not misunderstand the irony expressed in Richard's words. + +"And is that what you came down to Gethin about?" inquired he, with a +sort of grim despair, which had nevertheless a comical effect. + +Richard could only trust himself to nod his head assentingly. + +"Well," cried the other, striking the table with his fist, "if I didn't +think you was as deep as the devil the very first day that I set eyes on +you! So you are Parson Whymper's man, are you?" And here, in default of +language to express his sense of the deception that, as he supposed, had +been practiced on him, Mr. Trevethick uttered an execration terrible +enough for a Cornish giant. + +"I am not Mr. Whymper's man at all," observed Richard, coolly. "Mr. +Whymper is my man--or at least he will be one day or another." + +"How so?" inquired the landlord, his eyes at their full stretch, his +mouth agape, and his neglected pipe in his right hand. "Who, in the +Fiend's name, are you?" + +"I am the only son and heir of Carew of Crompton," answered the young +man, deliberately. + +"You? Why, Carew never had a son," exclaimed Trevethick, incredulously; +"leastways, not a lawful one. He was married once to a wench of the name +of Hardcastle, 'tis true; but that was put aside." + +"I tell you I am Carew's lawful son, nevertheless," persisted Richard. +"My mother was privately married to him. Ask Parson Whymper, and he +will tell you the same. It is true that my father has not acknowledged +me, but I shall have my rights some day--and Wheal Danes along with the +rest." + +The news of the young man's paternity must have been sufficiently +startling to him who thus received it for the first time, and would, +under any other circumstances, have doubtless excited his phlegmatic +nature to the utmost; but what concerns ourselves in even a slight +degree is, with some of us, more absorbing than the most vital interests +of another; and thus it was with Trevethick. The ambitious pretensions +of his lodger sank into insignificance--notwithstanding that, for the +moment, he believed in them; for how, unless he was what he professed to +be, could he know so much?--before the disappointment which had befallen +himself in the overthrow of a long-cherished scheme. + +"Why, Mr. Whymper wrote me with his own hand," growled he, "that in his +judgment the mine was worthless, and that he had done all he could to +persuade the Squire to sell. And yet you come down here to gauge and +spy." + +"All stratagems are fair in war and business," answered the young man, +smiling. "Come, Mr. Trevethick; whatever reasons may have brought me +here, I assure you, upon my honor, that they do not weigh with me now, +in comparison with the great regard I feel for you and yours. If you +will be frank with me, I will also be so with you; and let me say this +at the outset, that nothing which may drop from your lips shall be made +use of to prejudice your interests. I have gathered this much for +myself, that Wheal--" + +"Hush, Sir! for any sake, hush!" implored the landlord, earnestly, and +holding up his huge hand for silence. "Do not give it a name again; +there is some one moving above stairs." + +"It is only Solomon," observed Richard, quietly. + +"I don't want Sol nor any other man alive to hear what we are talking +about, Mr. Yorke," answered Trevethick, hoarsely. "You have gathered for +yourself, you were about to say, that the mine is rich, and well worth +what I have offered for it." + +"And a good deal more," interrupted Richard. "Perhaps a hundred times, +perhaps a thousand times as much. We don't make so close a secret of a +matter without our reasons. We don't see Dead Hands, with flames of fire +at the finger-tips, going up and down ladders that don't exist, without +the most excellent reasons, Mr. Trevethick. What we wish no eye to see, +nay, no ear to hear spoken of, is probably a subject of considerable +private importance to ourselves. Come, we are friends here together; I +say again, let us be frank." + +Trevethick was silent for a little; he felt a lump rise in his throat, +as though nature itself forbade him to disclose the secret he had kept +so long and so jealously guarded. "I have known it for these fifty +years," he began, in a half-choking voice. "I found it out as a mere +lad, when I went down into the old mine one day for sport, with some +schoolmates. The vein lies in the lowest part of the old workings, at a +depth that we think nothing of nowadays, though it was too deep for the +old masters of the pit. I remember, as though it was yesterday, how my +heart leaped within me when my torch shone upon it, and how I fled away, +lest my school-fellows should see it also. I came back the next day +alone, to certify my great discovery. It is a good vein, if ever there +was one. The copper there may be worth tens of thousands, hundreds of +thousands, millions!" Never had the numeration table been invested with +such significance. Trevethick's giant frame shook with emotion; his eyes +literally glared with greed. + +"You have been there since?" observed Richard, interrogatively. + +"Often, often," answered the other, hoarsely; "I could not keep away. +But nobody else has been there. The place is dark and perilous; there +are rats, and bats, and eerie creatures all about it. And folks are +afraid, because of the Dead Hand and the Flame." + +"Your hand and torch?" + +"Yes. I did my best to keep the place my own; my thoughts were never +absent from it for a day. And when I had earned a little money I put it +by, and more to that, and more to that again, till I had got enough to +make a bid for the lease of the old mine. But Carew was under age; so +that fell through. I bided my time, and bid again; not much--not enough, +as I fondly thought, to excite suspicion--but still what would seem a +good price for a disused pit. Then I bid more and more; but Carew will +neither sell nor let; and my money grows and grows in vain. I tell you I +have laid by a fortune only to pour into his hand. It is ready for him +to-night; there would be no haggling, no asking for time--it would be +paid him in hard cash. How long, thought I, will this madman balk me +with his whim? He will die some day in his cups, or break his neck in +hunting, and I shall surely come in with my offer to his heir, and have +my way at last, and win my prize. But now, after all my patience and my +pains, I am overmatched by a Parson and a Boy." He spoke with uncommon +heat and passion--not complainingly. His face was dark, and his tone +violent, and even menacing. There was no mistake about his having +accepted his companion's invitation to be frank. + +"Mr. Trevethick," said Richard, gravely, "your disappointment would be +natural enough, if your long-cherished plan had really failed; but you +have misunderstood me altogether. I am grateful to you for confiding to +me the whole of what I had already guessed in part; and you shall have +no reason to repent your confidence. Your secret is safer now than it +has ever been; for from my lips Mr. Whymper shall never have his +suspicions with respect to Wheal Danes confirmed. I have been too long +your guest, I feel myself too much the friend of you and yours, to act +in any way to your disadvantage." + +Trevethick looked at him inquiringly, suspicion and disfavor glowing in +his dusky face. "But if your story is true, young gentleman, this mine +will be your own some day?" + +"It may, or it may not be, Mr. Trevethick. My father's intentions are +not to be counted upon, as you must be well aware, for twenty-four +hours. But if ever Wheal Danes is mine--" Richard hesitated a moment, +while the landlord devoured him with his eyes. + +"Well," cried he, impatiently, "what then?" + +"I am willing to make over to you, as soon as I come of age, by deed, +all interest that I may have in it--on one condition." + +"Make over Wheal Danes to me by deed! What! at my own price?" + +"For nothing; you shall have it for a free gift." + +"But the condition? What is it that you want of me that is not money?" + +"I want permission from you, Mr. Trevethick, to wed, that is--for I +would not speak of love without your leave--to woo your daughter." + +"To wed my daughter!" cried Trevethick, starting from his seat; "my +Harry!" + +"I say provided that my suit is not displeasing to her," answered +Richard, not without a tremor in his voice, for the old man's face was +terrible to look upon. Hatred and Wrath were struggling there with +Avarice, and had the upper hand. + +He rocked himself to and fro, then answered, in a stifled voice, "My +daughter's hand is already promised, young man." + +"It may be so, Mr. Trevethick, but not by her, I think; and that her +heart has not been given to the man you have designed for her is +certain. You may see that for yourself." + +"I tell you I have passed my word to Solomon Coe that she shall be his +wife," returned the other, gloomily, "and I am not one to go back from a +bargain." + +"One can only promise what is in one's power," urged Richard; "your +daughter's heart is not yours to give. In backing this man's suit you +have already redeemed your word to him. If he has failed to win her +affections--and I think he has--let me try my chance. I am a fitter +match for her in years; I am a gentleman, and therefore fitter for her, +for she is a true lady. I love her a thousand times as much as he. As +for Wheal Danes, I would give you twenty such, if I had them, for the +leave I ask for, and the end I hope for." + +It was curious to mark how the mere mention of the mine by name affected +the old man; his wrath, which seemed on the very point of explosion, was +checked and smoothed at once, like raging waves by oil; his brow, +indeed, was still dark and frowning, but he resumed his seat, and +listened, or seemed to listen, to Richard's impassioned pleading. His +genuine feeling made the young fellow eloquent, and gave a tender charm +to his always handsome face and winning tones. + +Perhaps even the unsympathetic Trevethick was really somewhat touched; +at all events, he did not interrupt him, but when he had quite finished +took out his watch, and said, in a softened tone: "The hour is late, Mr. +Yorke, and you have given me much to think about, to which I can not +reply just now. Your communication has taken me altogether by surprise. +I will answer neither 'Yes' nor 'No' at present. Good-night, Sir." He +nodded, which was his usual salute at parting; but upon the young man's +eagerly stretching out his hand, he took it readily enough, and gave it +such a squeeze with his giant fingers as made Richard wince. Then, +smiling grimly, he retired. + +As his heavy step toiled up stairs Richard perceived a slip of paper on +the floor, which had apparently fluttered out of the old man's +watch-case. Upon it were written the three letters, B, N, Z. As he held +it in his hand he heard the landlord's tread returning with unusual +haste, and had only just time to replace the paper, face downward, on +the sanded floor, before the other reappeared. + +"I have dropped a memorandum, somewhere," said he. "It is of no great +consequence, but--Oh, here it is!" He picked it up, and replaced it in +the hollow of his great silver watch. + +Richard, who was sitting where he had left him, looked up with a glance +of careless inquiry. "Good-night again, Mr. Trevethick." + +"Good-night, Sir." And again the landlord smiled in his grim fashion. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +BY MOONLIGHT. + + +Richard sat over the fire, revolving his late conversation with +Trevethick in his mind, and picturing to himself what would probably +come of it. Although the declaration of his love for Harry had been thus +suddenly made, it had not been made unadvisedly. Though he had not +expected the opportunity for stating it would have offered itself so +soon, he had planned his whole argument out beforehand, with Wheal Danes +for its pivot. And, upon the whole, he felt satisfied with its effect +upon his host. The latter had not surprised him (except by his +frankness) in his disclosure respecting the rich promise of the mine. +Richard's own observation, aided by the clew which Parson Whymper's few +chance sentences had given him, had convinced him that Wheal Danes was a +most coveted object in the landlord's eyes; and had it happened to have +fallen into his own hands, he did really suspect enough to have had it +searched for ore from top to bottom. Trevethick had therefore lost +nothing by his revelation (as his sagacity had doubtless foreseen), +while he had made a very favorable impression upon Richard by his +candor. Cornish giants, thought the latter, might be rude and brutal, +but duplicity was foreign to their character; it was not Blunderbore, +but Jack the Giant-killer, who dug pitfalls, and pretended to swallow +what he only put in a bag. + +Trevethick had certainly shown strong disfavor to the young man's suit, +backed though it was by such great pretensions; and it was evident that +but for his hold upon him with respect to the mine, Richard would not +have been listened to so patiently. However, his mouth had not been +peremptorily closed at once (as he had expected it would have been), +which was a great point gained, and the longer the old man took to think +about the matter the more likely was self-interest to gain the day with +him. Supposing Richard's representations to have been correct, he was +certainly "a better match" for Harry than Solomon was; and he had no +apprehension of their being refuted. Trevethick would in all probability +write to Mr. Whymper to inquire into the truth of them--but what then? +He would certainly make no reference to the mine; and as to Richard +being Carew's lawful son, had not the chaplain himself (whom he could +count on as a friend to say all that was to his advantage besides) +admitted that, in his eyes, he was born in honest wedlock? At all +events, there would be ample excuse for his having taken such a view of +the case; while, as to his prospects, he had frankly confessed that he +was, for the present, unacknowledged by the Squire. So long, in fact, as +he could keep up the pretense of influence, either present or +contingent, at Crompton, he felt his position with Trevethick tolerably +secure. In all this scheme of dark deceit his love for Harry was +interwoven like a golden thread, and amidst all his plots and plans her +glorious face would suddenly rise unbidden, and charm him from them. He +had long since resolved to win her, but the late avowal of her love for +him, and now his partial success to gain her father's favor, seemed to +have made her his own already. How beautiful she had looked that day +upon the tower, with the sunlight on her hair! How fresh and guileless +were her ways! Her very weaknesses were lovable, and the cause of love. +How touching was her simple faith in omens, and how pleasant to combat +it, his arm about her dainty waist, as though to protect her from the +shadow of harm! How pitiful her fear of her gruff father, and of this +Cornish Solomon; and how sweet to calm it, kissing her tears away! Once +more his loving arms embraced her--once more his lips touched her warm +cheeks--when a sudden noise awakened him from his dream of bliss. + +The parlor fire had long gone out. It was warm for the time of year; but +had it been otherwise he would not have replenished it. The candles, +too, had burned out, and the moon-beams were streaming through the +window; but had it been dark he would scarce have been aware of it. The +house had long ago been hushed in repose, and yet Richard felt certain +that he had heard a movement in the passage. + +A stealthy step, yet not that of thief or burglar; a fairy footfall, +rather, which was music to his ear. His heart leaped up to tell him that +on the other side of the door was Harry Trevethick. He held his breath, +and trembled--not for fear. Was it possible that, knowing he was sitting +there alone, she had come down of her own choice to bear him company? +Had her father told her something--some glad tidings which she could not +keep from her lover even for a night? Or, filled with sweet dreams of +him, as he of her, had she risen in her sleep, and been drawn +involuntarily toward him by the loadstone of love? But--hark! The bolt +that fastened the house-door was softly drawn, and the latch gently +lifted. What _could_ that mean? Why was she thus going forth alone, and +clandestinely, at midnight? His heart beat faster than ever. For an +instant all that he had read or heard from his wild companions, and what +he had himself believed until he came to Gethin, of the wiles and +inconstancy of woman, flashed upon his mind. Had he, bred in the town, +and familiar with all the ways of vice, been flattered and hoodwinked by +a country wanton? Impossible. For, though there were no virtue in the +world, he felt assured that Harry loved him, and him alone. She must be +walking in her sleep. Softly, but very swiftly, he left the parlor, and +hurried to the front-door. It was closed, but unfastened. He opened it, +and looked out. All was as light as day, and yet so different. Every +object in the street, every stone in the cottage opposite, stood out +distinct and clear, but bathed in a pale and ghostly atmosphere. The +distant murmur of the sea came to him like the sigh of one just freed +from pain. Nothing else was to be heard; no human tread disturbed the +midnight stillness; but along the winding road that led to Turlock he +caught the far-off flutter of a woman's dress. She was going at rapid +speed, and the next moment had turned the corner, but not before he had +recognized his Harry; and, closing the inn door softly behind him, he +started after her like an arrow from the bow. + +The scene of this pursuit was strange and weird enough, had Richard +possessed eyes for any thing but the object of it. The sky was without a +cloud, and the sea--which showed on its cold blue surface a broad and +shining path where the moon-beams lay--without a ripple. On shore there +was even less of motion. The bramble that threw its slender shadow on +the road moved not a twig. Nature, green and pale, seemed to be cast in +an enchanted sleep, and even to suspend her breathing. From the point +Richard had reached he could see the road stretching for a full mile, +like a white ribbon, save in the middle, where it dipped between high +banks. It led to Turlock only, but at this place a foot-path struck +across the fields to the Fairies' Bower. To his astonishment, though +indeed he had scarcely capacity enough for further wonder, Harry took +this path; he saw her climb the stile, and then for the first time look +round; he sank under the hedge, to hide himself; and when he cautiously +looked forth again the girl had vanished. But he knew whither she was +going now. He had assisted her across that very stile but a few days +ago; he had walked with her through the hazel copse, and skirted the +clear trout-stream by her side; and he could follow her now at utmost +speed, and with less caution, for the path was green and noiseless. He +could hear his heart beat--not from want of breath--as though in accord +with the silver treble of the stream, as he sped along. Through the +scanty foliage of the dell he saw her light dress gleam across the +wooden bridge, but he himself stopped beside it, peering through the +lattice of the branches upon her as she stood on the green bank of the +Wishing-Well. + +Never had moon-beams shone upon a sight more fair. Harry was attired as +she had been on the previous evening, except that she wore a shawl, +which also served her as head-gear, like a hood. This she now +unfastened, and taking out the pin that had joined it together, held it +above the well, which showed, as in a mirror, her leaning face and +curving form, her wealth of hair, her frightened yet hopeful eyes, and +the rise and fall of her bosom, filled with anxiety and superstitious +awe. She had come to test her future--to foresee her fate--at Gethin +Wishing-Well. For an instant she poised the pin, her lips at the same +time murmuring some simple charm--then dropped it into the well's clear +depths, and watched it fall. As she did so, another figure seemed to +glide upon the liquid mirror, at the sight of which she clasped her +hands and trembled. Superstitious as she was, Harry had only half +expected that her foolish curiosity would be actually gratified. Moved +by the avowal of Richard's love that morning, the obstacles to which +seemed to her so formidable, she had wished to see her future husband, +to know how fate would decide between him she loved and him whom her +father had chosen for her, and yet she was terrified now that that +which she had desired was vouchsafed her. She scarcely dared to look +upon yonder shadowy form, although its presence seemed to assure her of +the fulfillment of her dearest wish. It was the counterfeit presentment +of Richard Yorke himself; bareheaded, just as she had seen him last in +the bar parlor, but with heightened color, an eager smile, and a loving +gratitude in his eyes, which seemed to thank her for having thus +summoned him before her. The figure was at right angles from her own, +but the face was turned toward her. She gazed upon it intently, looking +for it to faint and fade, since its mission had been accomplished. She +even drew back a little, as though to express content, yet there was the +vision still, a glorious picture in its fair round frame of moss and +greenery. Supposing it should remain there (her pale face flushed at the +thought) indelibly and forever, to tell the secret of her heart to all +the world! Then a whisper, that seemed to tremble beneath its freight of +love, whispered, "Harry! Harry!" and she looked up, and saw the +substance of the shadow, her lover, standing upon the little wooden +bridge! + +Though Folly be near kin to Vice, she does not acknowledge the +relationship, and, to do Harry Trevethick justice, she would never have +made a midnight assignation with Richard in the Fairies' Bower. She was +more alarmed and shocked at the too literal fulfillment of her wish than +pleased to see him there. She shed tears for very shame. Whatever +reserve she had hitherto maintained, with respect to her affection for +him, had now, she perceived, been swept away by her own act. The scene +to which he had just been an unsuspected witness was more than +equivalent to a mere declaration of love: it was a leap-year offer of +her hand and heart. She had no strong-hold of Duty left to which to +betake herself, nor even a halting-place, such as coy maidens love to +linger at a little before they murmur, "I am yours." + +There was nothing left her but revilings. She poured upon him a torrent +of contumely, reproaching him for his baseness, his cowardice, his +treachery in tracking her hither, like a spy, to overhear a confession +that should have been sacred with him of all men. Whatever that +confession might have been--and, to say truth, so utterly possessed had +she been by her passionate hopes, her loving yearnings, that she knew +not what she had merely felt, what uttered aloud--she now retracted it; +she had no tenderness for eaves-droppers, for deceivers, for--she did +not know what she was saying--for wicked young men. Above all things it +seemed necessary to be in a passion; to be as irritated and bitter +against him as possible. The copiousness of her vocabulary of abuse +surprised herself, and she did not shrink from tautology. She only +stopped at last for want of breath, and even then, as though she knew +how dangerous was silence, she bemoaned herself with sobs and sighs. + +Then Richard, all tenderness and submission, explained his presence +there; showed how little he was to blame in the matter, and, indeed, how +there was neither blame nor shame to be attached to either of them; +spoke of his late interview with her father, gilding it with brightest +hopes, and cited the marvelous attributes of the Wishing-Well itself in +support of his position. He felt himself already her affianced husband; +the question of their union had become only one of time. She was +listening to him now, and had suffered him to kiss her tears away, when +suddenly she started from his embrace with a muffled cry of terror. Some +movement of beast or bird in the copse had made a rustling in the +underwood, but her fears gave it a human shape. What if Sol should have +followed them thither, as Richard had followed _her!_ What if her father +should have heard her leave his roof, as Richard had, or should miss her +from it--and--oh shame!--_miss him!_ "Home! home!" she cried. "Let me +go home." And she looked so wild with fright that he durst not hinder +her. Hardly could he keep pace with her along the winding path, with +such frantic speed she ran. At the stile she forbade him to accompany +her farther. + +"What! leave you to walk alone, and at such an hour, my darling?" It was +nearly two o'clock. + +"Why not?" she cried, turning upon him fiercely. "I am afraid of none +but you, and of those whom I should love, but of whom you make me +afraid." Then up the white road she glided like a ghost. + +Richard watched her with anxious eyes as long as he could, then sat upon +the stile, a prey to apprehensions. To what dangers might he not have +already exposed her by his inconsiderate pursuit! Suppose some eye had +seen them on their way, or should meet her now on her return! Suppose +her own fears should prove true, and her father had already discovered +their absence! His thoughts were loyally occupied with Harry alone; but +the peril to himself was considerable. It was impossible that he could +satisfactorily explain his companionship with the inn-keeper's daughter +at such a place and hour. The truth would never be believed, even if it +could be related. She had got home by this time; but had she done so +unobserved? Otherwise, it was more than probable that he should find two +Cornish giants waiting, if not "to grind his bones to make their bread," +at least to break them with their cudgels. In their eyes he would seem +to have been guilty of a deliberate seduction, the one of his daughter, +the other of his destined bride. Yet, not to return to Gethin in such a +case would be worse than cowardice, since his absence would be sure to +be associated with Harry's midnight expedition. He had hitherto only +despised this Trevethick and his friend, but now, since he feared them, +he began to hate them. Bodily discomfort combined with his mental +disquietude. For the first time he felt the keenness of the moonlit air, +and shivered in it, notwithstanding the hasty strides which he now was +taking homeward. Upon the hill-top he paused, and glanced about him. All +was as it had been when he set out; there was no sign of change nor +movement. The inn, with its drawn-down blinds, seemed itself asleep. The +front-door had been left ajar, doubtless by Harry; he pushed his way in, +and silently shut it to, and shot the bolt; then he took off his boots, +and walked softly up stairs in his stockinged feet. He knew that there +was at least one person in that house who was listening with beating +heart for every noise. + +The ways of clandestine love have been justly described as "full of +cares and troubles, of fears and jealousies, of impatient waiting, +tediousness of delay, and sufferance of affronts, and amazements of +discovery;" and though Richard Yorke had never read those words of our +great English divine, he had already begun to exemplify them, and was +doomed to prove them to the uttermost. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +RICHARD BURNS HIS BOATS. + + +It was strange enough that day after day and week after week went by +without John Trevethick making any reference to the application his +guest had made for his daughter's hand. His silence certainly seemed to +favor it; and the more so since, notwithstanding what he knew, he put no +obstacles in the way of the young people's meeting and enjoying each +other's society as heretofore. Perhaps he had too strong a confidence in +Harry's sense of duty, or in the somewhat more than filial fear in which +she stood of him. Perhaps Richard's prudent and undemonstrative behavior +toward the girl in the presence of others deceived him. But, at all +events, the summer came and still found Richard under the same roof with +Harry, and more like one of the family than ever. Tourists of the young +man's own position in life, and even of the same profession, began to +visit Gethin, and of course "put up" at the _Castle_, but he found +nothing so attractive in their company as to withdraw him from that +homely coterie in the bar parlor for a single evening. He was always +made welcome there by both his host and Solomon; and without doubt, so +far as the former was concerned, a less sanguine man than the young +landscape-painter might have considered that his suit was tacitly +acceded to. + +Even Harry herself--to whom her father's conduct was surprising +enough--had come at last to this conclusion. Only one thing militated +against this pleasant view of affairs--it was certain that the old man +had not yet opened his lips to "Sol" upon the matter. It was clear that +the miner still considered himself in the light of Harry's accepted +suitor. As a lover, he was fortunately phlegmatic, and did not demand +those little tributes of affection in the shape of smiles and whispers, +secret glances, silent pressures, which his position might have exacted; +but he would now and then pay her a blundering compliment in a manner +that could not be misinterpreted, or even make some direct allusion to +their future settlement in life, which embarrassed her still more. The +young girl, as we have hinted, was by no means incapable of +dissimulation, but she naturally revolted against having to support such +a _rôle_ as this, and would have even run the risk of precipitating what +might have been a catastrophe by undeceiving him. But Richard bade her +have patience. He had strong reasons, if they were not good ones, for +being well satisfied with the present state of affairs. In love, +notwithstanding much savage writing to the contrary, it is the woman who +suffers; it is she who is the small trader, who can least afford to +wait, while man is the capitalist. Richard saw no immediate necessity +for pressing the matter of his marriage, upon which his heart was, +nevertheless, as deeply set as ever. He would not (to do him justice) +have been parted from his Harry now for all the wealth of Carew. But he +was not parted from her, and he did not wish to risk even a temporary +separation by any act of impetuosity. Living was cheap as well as +pleasant at the _Gethin Castle_, and it was of importance to husband his +funds--to reserve as much of his resources as he could for the expenses +of his honey-moon. So far, and no farther, went his plans for the +future. He knew that his mother would not refuse to offer them a home, +even if his wife should come to him empty-handed; and the more he +humored the old man, and abstained from demanding a decision, when it +was clear the other preferred to procrastinate, the better favor he +would have with him, and consequently the better chance of gaining a +dowry with his daughter. Even if he should press matters, it was +probable, he reasoned, that Trevethick had no decisive reply to give +him. He had doubtless written to Mr. Whymper, and learned all that +Richard had already divulged to him--and no more; that is to say, that +he was, though an unacknowledged offspring of the Squire, in a very +different position, at all events, toward him than that of a mere +natural son. Trevethick could not have heard less--that is, less to his +advantage--or he certainly would not have kept silence for so long. + +Such was the state of affairs at Gethin. Harry with her two suitors; her +father with his two expectant sons-in-law, each of whom had more or less +of reason for his expectation. Though Richard might be satisfied with +it, it was clear it could not last forever--nor for long. The day on +which the change took place, though it was in no wise remarkable in +other respects, he never forgot: every incident connected with it, +though disregarded at the time, impressed itself upon his mind, to be +subsequently dwelt upon a thousand times. It might have been marked in +the hitherto sunny calendar of his life as the "Last day of Thoughtless +Gayety. Here Love and Pleasure end." + +It was fine weather, and there were more tourists at the inn than could +be accommodated, so Richard had given up his private sitting-room to +their temporary use. This, however, did not throw him more in Harry's +society than usual, since their presence naturally much occupied her +time. He had not, indeed, seen her since the mid-day meal which he had +taken in the bar parlor; but she had promised, if she could get away, to +call for him at a certain spot where he had gone to sketch--the +church-yard on the hill. The attraction of the castled rock was such +that few visitors sought the former spot, notwithstanding its +picturesque and wild position. How the church maintained itself on that +elevated and unsheltered hill, despite such winds as swept it in the +winter, was almost a miracle: but there it stood--as it had done for +centuries--gray, solitary, sublime. It was of considerable size, but +small in comparison with its God's-acre, which was of vast extent, and +only sparsely occupied by graves. The bare and rocky moor was almost +valueless; it is as easy for one duly qualified to consecrate a square +mile as an acre; and the materials of the low stone wall that marked its +limits had been close at hand. In one or two spots only did the dead lie +thickly; where shipwrecked mariners--the very names of whom were unknown +to those who buried them--were interred; and where the victims of the +Plague reposed by scores. Even Gethin had not escaped the ravages of +that fell scourge; and, what was very singular, had suffered from it +twice over; for, on the occasion of an ordinary burial having taken +place many generations after the first calamity, in the same spot, the +disease had broken forth afresh, and scattered broadcast in the little +hamlet ancient death. The particulars of the catastrophe, so +characteristic of this home of antique legend and hoary ruin, were +engraven on a stone above the spot, which had never since been +disturbed. + +In a lone corner, as though seeking in its humility to be as distant +from the sacred edifice as possible, was a quaint old cross. It was +probably not so old by half a dozen centuries as the grave-mounds on the +rock where the ruined castle stood, but it seemed even older, because +there were words cut in its stone in a tongue that was no longer known +to man. Seated on the low wall beside it, Richard was transferring to +his sketch-book this relic of the past in his usual intermittent +manner--now gazing out upon the far-stretching sea, here blue and +bright, there shadowed by a passing cloud; now down into the village, +which stood on a lower hill, with a ravine between. He had seen the +post-cart come and go--for it came in and went out simultaneously at +that out-of-the-way hamlet, where there was no one to write +complainingly to the papers concerning the inefficiency of the mail +service--and it was almost time for Harry to come and fetch him, as she +had appointed. But presently the reason for her absence made itself +apparent in the person of her father. It was not unusual for old +Trevethick, at the close of the day, to call at the cottage in the +ravine, which the guide to the ruin inhabited in the summer months, and +see how business was doing in that quarter. If he had no eye for the +picturesque, he had a very sharp one for the shillings which were made +out of it; and Richard was not surprised to see the landlord descending +the opposite hill. "This will keep Harry at home; confound him!" +muttered the young man to himself, and then resumed his occupation. As +there was now no one to watch for, he worked with more assiduity, and +with such engrossment in his subject that he was first made conscious +that he was not alone by the sudden presence of a shadow on his +sketch-book. He looked up, not a little startled, and there was John +Trevethick standing beside him, his huge form black against the sun. + +"You may well be frightened, young gentleman," were his first ominous +words; "it is only a guilty conscience that starts at a shadow." + +Richard _had_ a guilty conscience; and yet the remark that was thus +addressed to him, unconciliatory, if not directly hostile, as it was, +rather reassured him than otherwise. + +Trevethick's presence there, for he had never made pretense of seeking +Richard's society for its own sake--was of evil augury; his tone and +manner were morose and threatening; his swarthy face was full of pent-up +wrath; and yet it was obvious to the other that the secret was yet safe, +the divulging of which he had most cause to fear. Had it been otherwise +there would have been no mere thunder-cloud, but a tornado. "The post +has brought some ill news from Crompton," was what flashed across the +young man's brain; and the thought, though sufficiently uncomfortable, +was a relief compared with that he had first entertained, and which had +driven the color from his cheeks. + +"I have no cause to be frightened, that I know of, either of you or any +other man, Mr. Trevethick," observed Richard, haughtily. + +"I hear you say so," was the other's grim reply; "but I shall be better +pleased to hear you prove it." + +"Prove what?" + +"Two things--that you are not a bastard, nor a pauper." + +Richard leaped down from the wall with a fierce oath; and for a moment +it really seemed that he would have flung himself against his gigantic +opponent, like a fretful wave against a rock of granite. + +Trevethick uttered an exclamation of contempt. "Pick up your +sketch-book, young man, or one of those pretty pictures will be spoiled +by which you gain your bread. You've acted the fine gentleman at Gethin +very well, but the play is over now." + +"I don't understand you, Mr. Trevethick. If you must needs be insolent, +at all events, be explicit. You have miscalled me by two names--Bastard +and Pauper. Who has put those lies into your mouth, the taste of which +you seem to relish so?" + +Trevethick reached forth his huge hand, and seized the other's shoulder +with a gripe of steel. It seemed to compress bone and sinew as in a +vice; the arm between them was as a bar of iron. Richard felt powerless +as a child, and could have cried like a child--not from pain, though he +was in great pain, but from vexation and rage. It was maddening to find +himself thus physically subjugated by one whom he so utterly despised. + +"Keep a civil tongue in your head, cock-sparrow," growled the giant, +"lest I wring your neck. You're a nice one to talk of lying; you, with +your tales of son and heirship to the Squire, and your offers of +copper-mines for the asking! Who told me how I had been fooled? Why, +Carew himself! You thought I should write to the parson, eh?" + +Richard certainly had thought that he would have written to the parson, +but he strove to look as calm and free from disappointment as he could, +as he replied: "It was quite indifferent to me to whom you wrote, Mr. +Trevethick. There was only one account to give of my affairs; and it was +the same I had already given to you. I told you that my father did not +choose to acknowledge me for the present, and I have no doubt that your +questioning him upon the matter has made him very bitter against me; the +more so because he is well aware that he is fighting against the truth; +he knows that he was married to my mother in a lawful way, and that I am +the issue of that marriage. It is true that technical objections have +been raised against it, but his own conscience warns him that they are +worthless. Mr. Whymper will tell you the same." + +"Never you mind Mr. Whymper," said the landlord, gruffly, but at the +same time relaxing his grasp upon the young man's shoulder; "the parson +needs all his cleverness to take care of himself in this matter, and +will have no helping hand to spare for you. The Squire is in a pretty +temper with you both, I promise you. Here's his letter, if you'd like to +see what he says of you in black and white; not that there's much white +in it, egad!" + +It was a custom of the Squire of Crompton, unconsciously plagiarized +from the Great Napoleon, to let all letters addressed to him in an +unfamiliar hand answer themselves. They were not destroyed, but lay for +weeks or months unopened, until the fancy seized him to examine their +contents. He made, it was true, a gallant exception in the case of those +whose superscription seemed to promise a lady correspondent; but that +had not been the case with the communication from Trevethick, and hence +the long interval that had elapsed before it was attended to. +Trevethick's business letters had hitherto, as was the case with all +tenants of Crompton estate, been addressed to the chaplain only, so that +he was unaware of this peculiarity of Carew, and had naturally construed +his silence into a tacit admission of the truth of Richard's statement. + +If force of language and bitterness of tone could have made up for his +previous neglect, the Squire's letter was an apology in itself. It was +short, but sharp and decisive. "The grain of truth," he wrote, "among +the bushel of lies that this young gentleman has told you is, that he +was once a guest under my roof--I forget whether for two nights or +three. He will never be there again--neither now nor after I am in my +box" (this was the Squire's playful way of alluding to the rites of +sepulture). "He has no more claim upon me than any other of my +bastards--of whom I have more than I know of--and in fact less, for I +may have deceived their mothers, whereas his played a trick on me. As to +his expectations from me, I can only tell you this much, that I expect +he will come to be hanged; as for interest, whatever he may have with my +son of a she-dog of a chaplain, he has none with me; and as for money, +so far as I know, he is a pauper, and likely to remain so as long as he +lives." There were other sentences spurted from the volcano of the +Squire's wrath, but to the same effect. + +"A nice letter of recommendation, truly, and from his own father, of the +young gentleman who asked me for my daughter's hand!" growled +Trevethick. "You ought to be thankful to get out of Gethin with whole +bones. If 'Sol' was to come to know of what you asked of me, I would not +answer for even so much as that, I promise you." + +"'Sol' might have known of it had you not chosen to keep it from him, +for reasons best known to yourself," said Richard, quietly. "You have +taken some time to make up your mind between us." + +Trevethick winced; for the promise of the young man's interest with +respect to Wheal Danes had, in fact, been the bait which had tempted him +to temporize so long. He had never meant to give his daughter to +Richard; but he had hoped to reap an advantage, present or future, out +of the implied intention; nor did he know even yet in what relation +Richard stood with Parson Whymper. + +"At all events, it's made up now," answered the landlord, curtly. + +"This letter has caused you to decide against me, then?" + +"That letter? Well, of course it has. Not that there ain't a heap of +other reasons; but that one's enough, I should think, even for you." + +"It is just such a letter as I should have expected Carew to pen," +observed Richard, coolly, "and does not alter the facts of the case as I +stated them to you one whit. That my father is furious with me is clear +enough; that is, because he is in the wrong, and feels it. He is angry, +you see, even with Mr. Whymper, because he knows that his view of my +case is such as I described to you. I confessed from the first that my +interest at Crompton was a contingent one. You are treating me with +great injustice, Mr. Trevethick." + +"What! Have you so much brass left as to say that? You, that have asked +my permission to pay court to my daughter, under the pretense that you +were a fine gentleman, independent at present, and the heir-presumptive +to one of the richest commoners in the kingdom! How durst you do it? You +vagabond! you scoundrel!" + +"You will be sorry for having said those words some day," said Richard, +hoarsely; he was choking with rage, and yet it was necessary to restrain +himself. He felt that this man would presently forbid him his +house--would separate him from his Harry forever; and that would be like +tearing out his heart-strings. Always audacious, there was nothing that +he was not now prepared to say or do to avert this. "I tell you, Mr. +Trevethick, this letter is full of lies, or rather it is written by a +madman. I am not a bastard; I am not a pauper. I have an independence of +my own, though, indeed, it is small compared with my expectations. My +mother makes me a good allowance. I am a gentleman, and I have a right +to be listened to by any man, when I ask leave to be his daughter's +lover." + +"Let us leave alone your gentility, Sir, and your mother's allowances," +sneered the landlord, "since there is no means of gauging either the one +or the other. As for your independent property--I don't believe you have +a hundred pounds in the world; but it is easy enough to prove that I am +mistaken there. Let me see the money down. Show me your three or four +thousand pounds in gold, or notes that I know, for I must needs be +particular with so clever a young gentleman; notes of the Bank of +England, or of the Miners' Bank at Plymouth. Let me hold them in my +hand, and then I shall feel that you are speaking the truth. At present, +I tell you fairly, that if I saw a check of yours, I should look upon it +as so much waste paper until I also saw it honored." + +"Three thousand pounds is a large sum, Mr. Trevethick," said Richard, +thoughtfully. + +"Let us say two, then," returned the landlord, mockingly. "Sell out two +thousand pounds of this independent fortune of yours, that has been +invested in the Deep Sea Cockle Mine, or in debentures of the Railway in +the Air. Let me see but two thousand pounds, Mr. Richard Yorke, and +then--and not before--may you open your lips to me again respecting my +daughter Harry." He turned upon his heel with a bitter laugh; while +Richard, as white as the sketch-book he still held in his hand, remained +speechless. A perilous thought had taken possession of his mind--a +thought that it would have been better for him to have dropped down +there dead than to have entertained, but it grew and grew apace within +him like a foul weed. Had his life of selfish pleasure angered the +long-suffering gods, and, having resolved upon his ruin, were they +already making him mad? He ran after the old man, who did not so much as +turn to look behind him, though he could not but have heard his rapid +steps. "Mr. Trevethick, I will do it," he gasped out. + +"Do what?" said the other, contemptuously, striding on. "Go hang +yourself, or jump off Gethin rock into the sea?" + +"I will get you the money that you speak of--the two thousand pounds. +You shall have it in your hand, and keep it for that matter, if you +please." + +"What?" Unutterable astonishment stared out from the landlord's face. +For the first time since the receipt of Carew's letter he began to +discredit its contents. If this young fellow had really the immediate +command of so large a sum, there was probably much more "behind him." He +must either have a fortune in his own right, or if Carew had settled +such a sum of money on him, he must have had a reason for it--the very +reason Richard had assigned. And if so, Wheal Danes might be his to +dispose of even yet. But Trevethick was not the man to hint a doubt of +his foregone conclusions. "You have not got this money in your pocket, +have you?" said he, with a short dry laugh. + +"No, Sir; but I can get a check for it from my mother, in course of +post." + +"A check!" cried the other, contemptuously, all his suspicions returning +with tenfold force. "I would not give one penny for such a check." + +"I will get it changed myself, Mr. Trevethick, at Plymouth. The post has +gone, but I will write to-morrow, and within the week--" + +"You shall not stay here a week, nor another twenty-four hours," roared +Trevethick. "I have been made a fool of long enough. I will not listen +to another word." + +But he did listen, nevertheless. No longer hampered by vague fears and +difficulties, with which he knew not how to grapple, but with a distinct +plan of operations before him, Richard's eloquence was irresistible. +Deceit, if not habitual with him, had been practiced too often to lack +the gloss of truth from his ready tongue. He actually had a scheme for +procuring the sum in question, and when he possessed confidence himself, +it was rarely, indeed, that he failed to inspire it in others. For the +second time, the landlord of the _Gethin Castle_ found himself in doubt; +he was staggered by the positiveness of the young man's assertions, and +by the force and flow of his glowing words. In spite of himself, he +began once more to think that he might have been mistaken in condemning +him as an impostor, after all; as Richard had said, Carew _was_ scarcely +sane, and when excited by wrath, a downright madman. His resolves, too, +were as untrustworthy and fickle as the winds. Trevethick felt tolerably +convinced that the money would, at all events, be forthcoming; and the +sum--large in itself--seemed the earnest of much more. Last, but not +least, there were the possibilities in connection with the mine. If he +broke altogether with Richard, and turned him out of his house outright, +might not his first act be to reveal to Parson Whymper, in revenge, all +that he knew about Wheal Danes! + +"Well, well, you shall stay at Gethin, then, till your check comes, +young gentleman," said he, in a tone that was meant to be conciliatory. +"I don't wish to be uncivil to any man, and certainly not to one who has +been my guest so long. But you will keep yourself _to_ yourself, +if you please, in the mean time. The bar parlor will no longer be open +to you, until you have proved your right to be there. And I don't mean +to promise any thing certain by that, neither; but what with your fast +talking and fine speaking I'm all in a buzz." + +Honest John Trevethick did not, indeed, know What to think, what to +believe, or what to propose to himself for the future. His brain, +unaccustomed to much reflection, and dulled by pretty frequent +potations, was fairly muddled. Most heartily did he wish that this young +landscape-painter had never set foot in Gethin; but yet he could not +make up his mind to summarily eject him. Upon the whole, he was almost +as glad to temporize in the matter as Richard was himself. + +In point of fact, Richard Yorke had won the battle, and was for the +present master of the field; but what a struggle it had been, and at +what a loss he had obtained the victory, you might have read in his +white face and haggard eyes. As to whether it would be possible to hold +the advantage he had gained was a problem he had yet to solve. He had +committed himself to a policy which might--nay, very probably +would--succeed; but if it should fail, there would be no escape from +utter ruin. He had burned his boats, and broken down the bridge behind +him. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +ON THE BRINK. + + +For four more days, Richard Yorke continued at the _Gethin Castle_--to +outward appearance, in the same relation with the landlord and his +family as before, but in reality on a totally different footing. +Trevethick had not found it practicable to exclude his late guest from +the bar parlor; he could not do so without entering into an explanation +with its other tenants, which he was not prepared for, or without +devising some excuse far beyond his powers. Notwithstanding his bluff +ways, he could tell a lie without moving a muscle; but he was incapable +of any such ambitious flight of deceit as the present state of affairs +demanded. He had, indeed, no aptitude for social diplomacy of any kind, +and suffered his change of feeling toward the young landscape-painter to +appear so plainly that even the phlegmatic Solomon observed it. He was +rather pleased than otherwise to do so. He had acquiesced in the +hospitality with which Richard had been treated, but without the +slightest sympathy with it; and, in fact, he had no sympathies save +those which were connected with his personal interests. It was evident +enough that his father-in-law elect had had some reasons of his +own--probably in relation to the property he held under Carew--for +conciliating this young gentleman; and "Sol" had taken it for granted +they were good, that is, substantial, ones. If these reasons no longer +existed, the sooner this young gentleman was got rid of the better. It +was true he had behaved himself very civilly; but his presence among +them had been, on the whole, oppressive. "Sol" rather chafed at +Richard's social superiority, though it was certainly never intruded, +and, at all events, he preferred the society of his own class, among +whom he felt himself qualified to take the lead. But the idea of +jealousy had never entered into his mind. In his eyes Richard was a mere +boy, whose years, as well as his position in life, precluded him from +any serious intentions with respect to Harry, whom, moreover, Solomon +regarded as his betrothed. If he had been married to her, he would +certainly have forbidden her "gadding about" so much with this young +fellow; but at present she was under her father's rule, and the old man +knew very well what he was about. He was glad that there now seemed a +prospect, to judge from the latter's manner, that the lad's intimacy +with Harry, and the family generally, was about to end; but it might +have lasted six months longer without "Sol's" opening his mouth about +it, so prudently had Richard played his cards--so irreproachably behaved +"before folk." + +Solomon went, as usual, daily to look after affairs at Dunloppel, but +Trevethick remained within doors, under pretense that the influx of +guests, which was in fact considerable, demanded his presence. He took +care that Richard and Harry should have no opportunity of meeting alone +throughout the day; while in the evening he sat in almost total silence, +sucking his pipe, and frowning gloomily--a wet blanket upon the little +company, and the source of well-grounded terror to his daughter Harry. + +Richard had told her how the matter stood; protested that he could get +the money; and argued that when that was done, her father could have no +excuse for forbidding his suit. But she knew the old man better than he, +and trembled. + +On the fifth day Richard received a letter, inclosing a check for two +thousand pounds upon a London bank, from his mother, and, with an air of +quiet triumph, showed it to his host. + +"That is worth nothing here," observed Trevethick, coldly; "for all I +know, the bank may not exist, or she may have no account there." But it +was plain he was surprised, and disappointed. + +"Notice has been sent to Plymouth, as I am here informed," said Richard; +"so that I can get the check changed there, if you are still +dissatisfied; which, you must pardon me for saying, I do not think you +really are. Come, take my hand, and allow that you have behaved +ungenerously. You're a man of your word, I know. This proves to you I am +at least no pauper. I claim the right which you agreed to grant on that +condition, to ask your daughter's hand, and demand of you to leave her, +at all events, to grant it if she pleases. I affirm, once more, the +truth of all that I have told you as regards myself. I am Carew's only +son, begotten in lawful wedlock. He will acknowledge as much himself +some day, even though he should delay it to his dying hour. If ever I +come to possess it (and I think I shall), Wheal Danes shall be yours, +without the payment of a shilling. Even now, I do not offer myself +empty-handed. This is the sum that you yourself agreed I should show +myself possessed of; but there is more where this comes from. I ask +again, then, give me my fair chance with Harry: let her choose between +me and this man Coe." + +This was a wily speech; for Richard was recapitulating the very +arguments which were presenting themselves to the old man's mind. True, +he had promised his daughter to Solomon, and would much rather have had +him for a son-in-law; but there were unquestionably great advantages in +the position of this other claimant. Trevethick was not quite the slave +to gratitude which he had professed himself to be, with respect to Coe's +father. He did feel sincerely grateful; but he had himself exaggerated +the feeling, with the very intention of making Harry understand that her +fate was fixed. He had not been blind to the fact, that from the first +she had never regarded "Sol" with favor as a suitor, and it was still +possible to break off the match without disgrace, upon the ground of her +disinclination to it. Above all, perhaps, he was actuated by the +apprehension that Richard, if refused a hearing, would disclose the +secret of Wheal Danes, and wreck the scheme upon which his heart had +been set for near half a century. One word from him would divert the +unsuspected wealth, over which he had so long gloated in anticipation, +into another's hand. But he did not like the young man better for the +precious knowledge which he alone shared with him; far otherwise; he +hated him for it, and, without being a murderer in his heart, would have +gladly welcomed the news that his mouth was closed forever by death. + +"I wish such or such a one was in heaven," is a common expression, the +meaning of which is of still more general acceptation. The idea, in +fact, has doubtless flitted across the minds of most of us, though few, +let us hope, would help to realize it; for, notwithstanding its +agreeable form, it is not a benevolent aspiration. The reception of the +individual in question into the realms of bliss has less interest with +us than his removal from the earth's surface, and, consequently, from +our path upon it. We may be very civil toward this person, and we often +are; but we seldom desire him for a son-in-law. John Trevethick did not. +But still less did he desire his open enmity; the longer, at all events, +the declaration of war could be deferred the better. + +"Come," urged Richard; "I am only demanding the redemption of your +promise--one," added he, precipitately, "that it lies in your own power +to redeem." + +"The conditions, Mr. Yorke, have not yet been fulfilled," said +Trevethick, pointing to the check. "I must see that money in +bank-notes." + +He had not the least doubt of the genuineness of the document; but his +objection would at least give him the respite of another day or two, and +a respite seemed almost a reprieve. + +"As you will," answered Richard, with a faint smile. "It is a matter of +perfect indifference to me, and only costs me a journey to Plymouth. If +you will be so good as to let me have some vehicle to take me as far as +Turlock, I will pack my carpet-bag and start at once." + +The landlord nodded, and withdrew without a word. + +Left to himself, the smile faded from Richard's face, and was succeeded +by a look of the utmost dejection and disappointment. All had been going +so well up to that very last moment, and now all remained to be done, +just as though nothing had been done at all. The dangerous path that he +had marked out for himself had to be trodden from first to last, at the +very moment when he had seemed to have reached his journey's end by a +safe short-cut. He knew that it was the smallest grain of suspicion, if +not the mere desire to procrastinate, that had turned the scale in +Trevethick's mind, and imposed this task upon him. The genuineness of +the check had been _almost_ taken for granted--entire success had been +missed, as it were, by a hair's-breadth. And now he was as far from it +as ever. Had he been but a little more earnest, or a little more +careless in his own manner, all might have been well. The obstacle that +intervened between him and his desire still stood there, though only by +an accident, as though, after he had fairly blown it into the air, it +had resettled itself precisely in the same spot. + +Richard felt like some offender against the law who had been foiled in +an ingenious scheme by the stupidity rather than the sagacity of him he +would have defrauded; or, rather, like one who has been brought to +justice by misadventure--through some blunder which Fate itself had +suggested to his prosecutor. He was filled with bitterness and +mortification, and also with fear. This miscarriage now imposed a +necessity upon him, which he had contemplated, indeed, but never looked +fairly in the face; he had always hoped it might be evaded. The only +alternative that presented itself was to give up his Harry; this swept +across his mind for a single instant--a black shadow that seemed to +plunge his whole being in night--then left it firmly set upon its +perilous purpose. + +He did not seek to see her before he left; he could not trust himself so +far even as to turn his head and wave her a good-by, as he started from +the inn door, although he felt that she was watching him from an upper +window. He was afraid of the anxiety that consumed him being visible to +those loving eyes. She knew upon what errand he was going, but not the +dangers of it. But he spoke cheerfully to Trevethick, who stood beneath +the porch with moody brow, and testily found fault with horse and +harness. + +"The master's in a queer temper to-day, Sir," was the driver's remark, +as they slowly climbed the hill out of the village. + +"So it seems," answered Richard, absently. + +The road they traveled was the same on which he had pursued Harry on +that eventful night, now months ago; every object recalled her to +him--the ruined tower on the promontory, the Fairies' Bower in the glen; +but they suggested less of love than of the peril that, for love's sake, +he was about to undergo. When they reached the point where he had met +her first, on the margin of the moor, now bright with gorse and heather, +and with its gray rocks sparkling in the sun, an overwhelming melancholy +seized him. Was it possible that the omen which had alarmed her simple +mind was really in the course of fulfillment? Was he, indeed, fated to +be the cause of misfortune to her he loved so well? If evil should +befall him, it was only too certain that it would include her in its +consequences. + +"You seem a cup too low, Mr. Yorke," said the driver, wondering at the +young man's unusual silence; for his habit was to be brisk and lively +with every body. + +"We'll remedy that when we get to Turlock," answered Richard, +good-naturedly, "by taking a glass of what you will together." + +Accordingly, when they reached the little town, and while the +post-horses were getting ready which were to take him on the next stage +of his journey, Richard called for some liquor. + +"Here's your good health, Sir," said the man, and added, in a roguish +whisper, "and our young missus's too, Sir." + +"By all means," said Richard, coolly. "But why couple hers with mine?" + +"Well, Sir, it do come natural like, somehow," said the man, becoming +suddenly stolid, on perceiving that his remark was by no means relished. +"I suppose it's seeing you so much about together; but I meant no +offense." + +"I am sure of that," said Richard. It was on the tip of his tongue to +pursue the subject, but he restrained himself. If he had already given +occasion for gossip, he did not wish to provide fresh fuel for it in his +absence from Gethin. + +When a mile or two away from Turlock he produced the check which was the +apparent cause of his irksome journey, and tearing it into minute +fragments, scattered them out of the window. + +Upon the second day he arrived at Plymouth, but too late for +banking-hours, and drove to an hotel. He had had little to eat upon his +journey, yet he now sent his dinner away almost untasted; on the other +hand, though it was unusual with him to take much wine, he drank a +bottle of Champagne and some sherry, then lit a cigar, and strolled out +of doors. It was a beautiful evening; and he sauntered on the Hoe, +gazing upon that glorious prospect of sea and shore which it affords, +without paying regard to any thing, although all was as new as fair. His +mind, however, took in every object mechanically, and often presented +them to him again in after-years, just as it did that summer scene upon +the ruined tower. Was it laying in provision for itself against the +time, now drawing so nigh, when his physical eyes should have no more of +such fair sights to feed upon? Or was the circumstance only such as +attends all great changes and crises of our lives; for is not every +feature of the face of Nature, upon the eve of any vital event, thus +engraven on our recollection? Do we not note the daisies on the lawn +forever, when for one instant we look out upon it from the darkened room +wherein our loved one lies a-dying? + +It presently grew too late for the ordinary signs and tokens of life; +but Richard still paced to and fro, and gazed upon the darkening waters; +he saw the light leap out upon them from the distant Eddystone, and from +the craft in harbor, and from the houses that were built upon its +margin: blue and red, and white and yellow. + +There was one large vessel a great way off that he had not hitherto +observed, but which now became conspicuous by its green light. Richard, +vaguely interested in this exceptional beacon, inquired of a +miserable-looking man, who had in vain been offering his services as +cicerone, what it signified. + +"Well, Sir, them colors as the ships show all mean something different; +the red is from the floating powder-magazine, and the yellow is--" + +"I said the _green_ light," broke in Richard, with his usual impatience +of prolixity. "What is that vessel _there_, I say?" + +"Oh, that's the convict ship, Sir; they say she is waiting until after +the 'sizes, to take the drab-jackets to Portland." + +Richard nodded, and threw the man a shilling; then walked hastily away +into the town. The night was mild, but his teeth chattered, and he shook +in every limb. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE MINERS' BANK. + + +As, though Richard had fasted long, he could not eat, so, though he was +fatigued with the travel of the last two days, he could not sleep. He +turned from side to side upon his pillow throughout the weary night, and +strove to lose himself, and shut out thought, in vain, even for an +instant. He got up and paced the room; and, when the streaks of dawn +began to show themselves, drew up the blind, and looked forth. It was a +very different scene from that he had been accustomed to contemplate at +Gethin. In place of the waste of ocean, specked by a sail or two, whose +presence only served to intensify its solitary grandeur, the +thick-peopled city lay before him. But as yet there were no tokens of +waking life; the streets were empty, the windows shrouded, and a steady +drizzle of rain was falling, which gave promise of a wretched day. Even +when the morning advanced, it was difficult to make out the individual +buildings; but he had had the Miners' Bank pointed out to him on the +previous day, and he thought he recognized it now. It was there that the +business which he had proposed to himself was to be effected, and he +gazed at it with interest. The wisest of us are simple in some things, +and though so knowing in the ways of the world--that is, of _his_ +world--Richard knew nothing of banks whatever, and wondered whether he +would have any difficulty in carrying out his object. He could not +foresee any; it seemed to him that the banking folks would be glad to +oblige him in the matter in question, since, if there was any advantage, +it would be on their side. But there were six hours yet before he could +perform this business, and since sleep was denied him, how was he to +pass the time? There was a large book upon the drawers, which he had not +hitherto observed, with the royal arms stamped upon it, and the name of +the hotel inscribed beneath them. It did not look like a devotional +work, but it was the New Testament--a work that was very literally new +to Richard Yorke. He had seen it, of course, often; was acquainted by +hearsay with its contents, and had joked about them. It is the easiest +book in the world to make jokes upon, which, perhaps, accounts for its +being so favorite a subject of ridicule with foolish persons. Shakspeare +is also easy to make fun of, but the _soupçon_ of blasphemy is in that +case wanting, which, to many, forms the chief charm of witty converse. +Richard looked at it as a dog looks at a stick; but he took it up, and +opened it at random. "Having no hope, and without God in the world." + +He was not a believer in sortilege. If the text he had chanced upon had +been ever so applicable to his own condition, it would have made but +little impression upon him, and this was not very pertinent in its +application. He was by no means without hope. He had come to Plymouth +full of hope, though disappointed at its not having been already +exchanged for certainty. He had good hope of inspiring John Trevethick +with confidence in his social position, and consequently of obtaining +his consent to marry the woman who had now become indispensable to his +happiness. He had even some hope of yet inheriting a portion of his +father's great estate. He could not be accused of spiritual ambition. +Any other sort of hope than that of being in a position to enjoy himself +thoroughly had never entered into his mind. Just now, however, he was +far from enjoying himself; he was a prey to anxiety, and any opportunity +of forgetting it was welcome to him. Not without an effort to be +interested, therefore, he reflected upon these words, which seemed +rather to have been spoken in his ear aloud than merely to have caught +his eye. He had already shut the book with contemptuous impatience, but +he found himself, nevertheless, repeating: "Having no hope, and without +God in the world," and pondering upon their meaning. He wondered at +himself for taking the trouble to do so; but if he didn't do that, his +thoughts would, he knew, be even less pleasantly occupied; so he let +them slip into this novel channel. How _could_ a man be without God in +the world, if God was every where? as he had somewhere seen or heard +stated, and which he believed to be the fact. It was one of the +objections against the Bible, was his peevish reflection, that it was +self-contradictory in its assertions, and unmistakably distinct only in +its denunciations of wrath. Here was a case in point, and one which +might justly be "taken up" by a fellow, if it was worth while. As for +himself, he was no skeptic. Exeter Hall might have clasped him to her +breast (and would) upon that ground. He was accustomed to use the name +of the Creator whenever he wished to be particularly decisive; but for +any other purpose he had never named it with his lips. Even as a child, +his mother had never taught him to do so. She had never spoken to him on +religious subjects except in humorous connection with the Heads of the +two Churches to which her first husband had belonged--Emanuel Swedenborg +and Joanna Southcott. If the expression "without God in the world" meant +the living in it without the practice of religion, it certainly did have +an application to himself, but also to every one else with whom he was +acquainted. Of course he had known people who went to church--young men +of his own age, whom their parents compelled to do so, and who envied +him the liberty he enjoyed in that respect; and the poor folks at Gethin +went to chapel. But, even, there, shrewd fellows like Trevethick and +Solomon did not trouble themselves to do so. True, Harry went! But then +women, unless they were uncommonly clever, like his own mother, always +did go to hear the parsons. Parsons, as a rule, were hypocrites. He had +met one or two of them in town under circumstances that showed they had +really no more "nonsense about them" than other people, but in the +pulpit they were bound to cant. Look at Mr. Whymper, for instance--the +best specimen of them, by-the-by, he had ever known--who could doubt +that his mind was wholly set upon the main chance? To what slights and +insolences did he submit himself for the sake of feathering his own +nest; and how he had counted upon that fat living, of which the Squire +had so cruelly disappointed him! Talk of religion! why, there was Carew +himself, with thirty thousand a year, and did not spend a shilling of it +on religion! True, he kept a chaplain, but only as a check upon his +steward, to manage his estate for him. If there was really any thing in +it, would not a rich man like him have put aside a portion of his +wealth, by way of insurance--insurance against fire?--and here Richard +chuckled to himself. + +It was all rubbish, these texts and things. He would dress himself, and +go out and take a walk, although it was so early. He had already heard +sounds in the house, as though somebody was astir; so he rang the bell. +It was answered by a sleepy and disheveled personage, whom he scarcely +recognized for the sleek "night chamberlain," whose duty it was to watch +while others slept, and who had given him a bed-candle not many hours +before. + +"What! still up, my man?" said Richard, gayly. + +"Yes, Sir. The morning mail has but just come in; we had a passenger by +it. I put him in the room under you; but he seemed a quiet one, and I +didn't think he'd 'a disturbed you." + +"He did not," said Richard. "I have been awake all night, and never so +much as heard him. Can I have some hot water?" + +"Not yet, Sir, I'm afraid; there's no fire alight at present. I can get +you some brandy-and-soda, Sir." + +"No, no," answered Richard, smiling; "I sha'n't want that; and as for +the hot water, I can do without it; but, now you're here, just tell me, +for I am quite a stranger to your town, isn't that high roof yonder," +and he pointed to the object in question, "the Miners' Bank?" + +"Yessir, that's it. Ah, if the morning was but a little finer, you would +have a lovely view from this here window--half the town and a good slice +of the harbor! There's a splendid building out to the left there, if the +clouds would but lift a little. That's the County Jail, Sir." + +"Indeed," said Richard, carelessly, and turned away. "Just take my boots +down with you, as I shall want them as soon as you can get them +cleaned." + +The man did as he was bid. Directly he had left the room, Richard pulled +down the window-blind, and staggered to a chair. Perhaps want of food +and sleep had weakened him; but he sat down, looking very pale and +haggard, like one who has received a sudden shock. Why should one man +have answered him last night, "the convict ship," and now this fellow +have pointed out the jail? It was only a coincidence, of course; but if +there was ever such a thing as an evil augury, he had surely experienced +it on those two occasions. "This is what comes of burying one's self at +Gethin," thought he, smiling faintly at his own folly. "If I staid there +much longer, I should begin to believe in mermaids and the Flying +Dutchman." Jail! Why, if the very worst should happen, the matter would +only require to be explained; he was in no real peril from the law, +after all. Indeed, the very revelation which he most dreaded would only, +by exposing the true state of affairs, precipitate his happiness. +Trevethick would then be as eager as himself to hasten Harry's marriage. + +Thus he reasoned until something of equanimity returned to him. Then he +attired himself, buttoning his frock-coat carefully over his chest, and +went down stairs. As he reached the next landing, a gentleman emerged +from the room immediately beneath his own, like himself, fully dressed, +and carrying his hat and great-coat. He was a small stout man, with +bushy red whiskers, a good-natured face, and little twinkling black +eyes. With a civil bow he made way for Richard to pass him, and then +followed him down stairs into the coffee-room. It was a huge apartment, +and quite empty except for their two selves. Most persons meeting in +such a Sahara would have exchanged a salutation; and Richard, gregarious +by nature besides, being eager to divert his thoughts, at once entered +into conversation. + +"You are the gentleman who arrived by the mail this morning, I +conclude," said he, "otherwise you would scarcely keep such early +hours." + +"Just so, Sir," answered the other, smiling. "I thought it was not worth +while to go to bed, but just gave myself a wash and brush up; and here I +am, sharp-set for breakfast." + +It was plain this man was not a gentleman, but Richard cared very little +about that. He would have talked to the waiter, in default of any other +companion. + +"Well, I have been to bed," said Richard, smiling, "though something I +took at dinner disagreed with me, and kept me awake all night. Do you +mean to say you are not going to take any horizontal refreshment at +all?" + +"Well, no; I had some sleep in the coach, and a very little of that +article does for me. If you eat and drink enough, as I do, it is +astonishing how well you can get on without rest." + +"Indeed," said Richard. "I should like to see the substitutes you take +for what I have always found an indispensable necessity. Suppose we have +breakfast together, and you shall order it." + +"But not pay for it," stipulated the stout gentleman, in a tone that you +might take as either jest or earnest. "We'll go shares in that, eh?" + +"Unless you will allow me to be your host, we will certainly go shares," +said Richard, wondering to himself whether in all Gethin so great a boor +as this could be found above-ground or beneath it, or making his +business on the waters, but rather amused nevertheless. + +"I don't like misunderstandings," explained the little man, "nor yet +obligations. It's not that I grudge my money, or have not as much of it +as I want, thank Heaven!" + +"Then you've got more than any body else I know," said Richard, +laughing; "and I am acquainted with some rich men too." + +"I dare say, Sir; you are a rich man yourself, I hope. You look like a +young gentleman with plenty of money in your pocket." + +At any other time Richard would not have been displeased by such an +observation, which was, moreover, a perfectly just one. He looked from +head to heel like a young man of fortune, and had been brought up as +idly and uselessly as any such; but now he blushed and felt +uncomfortable; and his fingers, in spite of himself, sought that +breast-pocket which he had so carefully buttoned up, as though his +companion's observation had had a literal and material meaning. + +"Do you know Plymouth?" asked he of the stranger, by way of turning the +conversation. + +"Perfectly. Indeed, I live here; but I did not wish to arrive at home at +such an unseasonable hour as the coach comes in. If, as a resident, I +can be of any service to you, pray command me. But you don't eat, Sir." + +Richard, indeed, was only playing with a piece of toast, while eggs and +ham and marmalade were disappearing with marvelous rapidity down the +throat of his companion. + +"I am not like you," he answered. "Want of sleep produces want of +appetite with me. With respect to Plymouth, you are very good to offer +me your hospitality, but--" + +"Services, Sir--services while in the town, I said," observed the little +man. "Let us have no misunderstanding, nor yet obligation; that's my +motto. Now, what can I do for you, short of that?" + +"Well, I shall not greatly tax your prudence," rejoined Richard, this +time laughing heartily, "though you must certainly be either a Scotchman +or a lawyer, to be so anxious to act 'without prejudice.' The only +information I have to ask of you is, at what time the bank opens; for I +have got some business to do there, which I want to effect as soon as +possible, and then be off." + +"The bank! Well, there's more than one bank in Plymouth," observed the +little man, scraping up the last shreds of marmalade on his plate. "They +open at different hours." + +"The Miners' Company is the one I want to go to." + +"That opens at nine, Sir. It's on my way home, and I shall be glad to +show it you." + +"Thank you; but it was pointed out to me last night," said Richard, +stiffly; for he preferred to effect the business which he had on hand +alone. "It is still raining. What do you say to a cigar in the +smoking-room?" + +"With pleasure, when I have just written three words to tell my people +of my arrival," answered the stranger; "however, I can do that as well +there as here." + +And so eager did he seem for Richard's society that he had pen and paper +brought into the hotel divan, and from thence dispatched his note. + +"Take one of my cigars," said Richard, good-naturedly, offering his +case. + +"No, no," replied the little man, shaking his head, and looking very +grave; "you know my motto, Sir." + +"A cigar," urged Richard, "is one of those things that one can accept +even from a stranger without that sense of obligation from which you +shrink so sensitively. Seriously, my good Sir, I shall feel offended if +you refuse me this small favor." + +"Sooner than that shall be, Sir, I'll take your cigar," said the little +man. He held it up to the light, and sniffed at it with great zest. +"This is no common brand, I reckon." + +"Well, it is better than you will get out of the waiter's box, I dare +say," answered Richard, smiling; for his cigars, like every thing else +he had about him, were of the best. + +"Now I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll put this in my pocket, if you'll +allow me, young gentleman, for a treat when I get home. After an early +morning breakfast, I generally prefer a pipe;" and he produced one +accordingly from his pocket. + +The room was melancholy to the last degree, being lit only from a +sky-light; relics of the last night's dissipation, in the shape of empty +glasses and ends of cigars, were still upon the small round tables; +while a two-days-old newspaper was the only literature of which the +apartment could boast. + +"This place and hour would be dull enough, Sir, without your society," +observed Richard, genially. "I don't think I was ever up so early in my +life before, nor in such a den of a place." + +"It's reckoned a good inn, too, is the _George and Vulture_; but the +life of a hotel, you see, don't begin till later on in the day." + +"That's a pity," said Richard, laughing, "as I sha'n't have the +opportunity of seeing it at its best. I hope to be away by 9.30, or 10 +at latest." + +"Ah," said the little man, "indeed!" His words were meaningless enough, +but there was really a genuine air of interest in his tone. He was a +vulgar fellow, no doubt; but Richard rather liked him, mainly because it +was evident that the other was captivated by him. He had laid himself +out to please John Trevethick and his friend Solomon for the last six +months, without success, yet here was a man who had evidently +appreciated him at once. If he was but a bagman, or something of that +sort, it was only the more creditable to his own powers of pleasing; and +his vanity--and Richard was as vain of his social attractions as a +girl--was flattered accordingly. In his solitude and wretchedness, too, +the society of this stranger had been very welcome. + +"I am sorry," said Richard, when they had passed some hours together, +and it was getting near nine o'clock, "that I am obliged to leave +Plymouth so soon. It would have given me great pleasure if you could +have come and dined with me; though, indeed, I fear I have already +detained you from your family. It was the act of a good Samaritan to +keep me company so long, and I thank you heartily." + +"Don't mention it, Sir--don't mention it," said the little man, quite +huskily. "I have only done my duty." + +This courteous sentiment made Richard laugh. "Your duty to your +neighbor, eh?" said he. "Well, I must now wish you good-by;" and he held +out his hand with a frank smile. "Perhaps we may meet again some day." + +"Perhaps so, Sir," said the other, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, +and accompanying him into the hall. + +At the hotel door Richard called a fly, as it was now raining heavily. +"Shall I take you as far as the bank," said he, "since your road home +lies that way? or is even that little service contrary to your motto?" + +"I have got to see to my luggage," answered the other, evasively. + +"Well, good-by, then." + +"Good-by." + +The vehicle rattled down a street or two, then stopped before a building +of some pretension, with a tall portico and a flight of stone steps +before it. Another fly drove up at the same moment, but it did not +attract Richard's attention, which was concentrated upon the business he +had in hand, and made his heart beat very fast. He pushed his way +through the huge swinging door, and found himself in a vast room, with a +large circular counter, at which clerks were standing, each behind a +little rail. He had never been inside a bank before, and he looked +around him curiously. On the left was an opaque glass door, with +"Manager's Room" painted on it; on the right was an elevated desk, from +which every part of the apartment could be commanded; the clerk who sat +there looked down at him for an instant as he entered, but at once +resumed his occupation. Every body was busy with pen and ledger; men +were thronging in and out like bees, giving or receiving sheaves of +bank-notes, or heaps of gold and silver. Richard waited until there was +a vacant place at the counter, then stepped up with: "I want to +exchange some Bank of England notes, please, for your own notes." + +"Next desk, Sir," said the man, not even looking up, but pointing with +the feather of his quill pen, then scratching away again as though he +would have overtaken the lost time. + +There was a singing in Richard's ear as he repeated his request, and +fumbled in his breast-pocket for the notes; then a silence seemed to +fall upon the place, which a moment before had been so alive and noisy. +Every pen seemed to stop; the ring of the gold, the rustle of paper, +ceased; only the tick of the great clock over the centre door was heard. +"Thief, thief! thief, thief!" were the words it said. + +"How much is there?" inquired the clerk, taking the bundle of notes from +Richard's hand; and his voice sounded as though it was uttered in an +empty room. + +"Two thousand pounds," said Richard. "Is there any difficulty about it? +If so, I can take them elsewhere." + +But the clerk had got them already, and was beginning to put down the +number of each in a great ledger. Richard had not calculated upon this +course of procedure, and had his reasons for objecting to it. + +"80,431, 80,432, 80,433," read out the clerk aloud, and every soul in +the room seemed listening to him. + +"That will do," said another voice close to Richard's ear, and a light +touch was laid upon his arm. Scarlet to the very temples, he looked up, +and there stood the little red-whiskered man from whom he had parted not +ten minutes before. A very grave expression was now in those twinkling +black eyes. "I have a warrant for your apprehension, young man, upon a +charge of theft," said he. + +"Of theft!" said Richard, angrily. "What nonsense is this?" + +"Those notes are stolen," said the little man. "Your name is Richard +Yorke, is it not?" + +"What's that to you?" said Richard. "I decline--" + +Here the door of the manager's room was opened, and out strode Solomon +Coe, with a look of cruel triumph on his harsh features. "That's your +man, right enough," said he. "He'd wheedle the devil, if once you let +him talk. Be off with him!" + +The next moment Richard's wrists were seized, and he was hurried out +between two men--his late acquaintance of the hotel and a +policeman--down the bank steps, and into a fly that stood there in +waiting. + +"To the County Jail!" cried Solomon, as he entered the vehicle after +them. Then he turned to the red-whiskered man, and inquired fiercely, +why he hadn't put the darbies on the scoundrel. + +"Never you mind that," was the sharp reply. "I'm responsible for the +young gentleman's safe-keeping, and that's enough." + +"Young gentleman! I am sure the young gentleman ought to be much obliged +to you," replied Solomon, contemptuously. "Young felon, you mean." + +"Nobody's a felon until after trial and conviction," observed the little +man, decisively. "Let's have no misunderstanding and no obligation, Mr. +Coe; that's my motto." + +Here the wheels began to rumble, and a shadow fell over the vehicle and +those it held: they were passing under the archway of the jail. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +LEAVING THE WORLD. + + +What wondrous and surpassing change may be in store for us when the soul +and body have parted company none can guess; but of all the changes of +which man has experience in this world, there is probably none so great +and overwhelming as that which he undergoes when, for the first time, he +passes the material barrier that separates guilt from innocence, and +finds himself in the clutches of the criminal law. To be no longer a +free man is a position which only one who has lost his freedom is able +to realize; the shock, of course, is greater or less according to his +antecedents. The habitual breaker of the law is aware that sooner or +later to the "stone jug" he must come; his friends have been there, and +laughed and joked about it, as Eton boys who have been "swished" make +merry with the block and rod, and affect to despise them; the situation +is, in idea at least, familiar to him; yet even he, perhaps, feels a +sinking of the heart when the door of the prison-cell clangs upon him +for the first time, and shuts him from the world. The common liberty to +go where we will is estimated, while we have it, at nothing; but, once +denied, it becomes the most precious boon in life. How infinitely more +poignant, then, must be the feelings of one thus unhappily +circumstanced, to whom the idea of such a catastrophe has never +occurred; who has always looked upon the law from the vantage-ground of +a good social position, and acquiesced in its working with complacence, +as in something which could have no personal relation to himself! + +Thus it was with Richard Yorke when, for the first time, he found +himself a prisoner in the hands of Mr. Dodge, the detective, and his +blue-coated assistant. For the time he felt utterly unmanned, and might +have even fainted, or burst into tears, but for the consciousness that +Solomon Coe was sitting opposite to him. The presence of that gentleman +acted as a cordial upon him; the idea that he owed his miserable +position to that despised boor wounded him to the quick, but at the same +time gave him an outward show of calmness: he could not have broken down +before that man, though he had been standing beneath the gallows-tree. +Despondency would have utterly possessed him but for hate and rage--hate +of his rival and all who might be concerned in this catastrophe, and +rage at the arrest itself. For, though he had not the consciousness of +innocence to support him, he had no sense of guilt. He had had no +intention of absolutely stealing Trevethick's money; and yet he foresaw +how difficult it would be to clear himself of that grave charge. He also +looked back, and perceived for the first time the magnitude of the folly +which he had committed. He felt no shame for it as a crime--he had not +principle enough for that; but he recognized the extent of the +imprudence, and its mad audacity; yet he was mad and audacious still. He +had been brought up as much his own master as any youth in England, no +matter how rich or nobly born; he had never known control, nor even +(except during those few days at Crompton) what it was to control +himself; and he could not realize the fact that he might actually come +to share the fate of common thieves; to wear a prison garb; to be shut +up within stone walls for months or even years; no longer a man, but a +convict, known only by his number from other jail-birds. He did not +think it could even come to his standing in the felon's dock, subject to +the curious gaze of a hundred eyes, the indifferent regard of the stern +judge, the--In the midst of these bitter thoughts, which were indeed +disputations with his fears, the fly had stopped at the jail gate, and +Mr. Dodge, with a cheerful air, observed: "We must get out here, if you +please, Mr. Yorke." + +Richard hesitated; he was mistrustful of his very limbs, so severely had +the sight of those stone walls shaken him. + +"Your young friend does not seem much to like the idea of lodging here," +said Solomon, with a brutal laugh. + +"That is fortunate," answered the detective, dryly, "since he will not +have to do so. In my profession, Mr. Coe, we hold it a mean trick to +kick a man when he is down.--This way, Sir, if you please." For, at the +sound of Solomon's voice, Richard was up and out in a moment. "It is +merely a form that you have to go through before we go before the beak." + +"A form?" asked Richard, hoarsely; "what form?" + +"We shall have to search you, Sir; that's all." + +"That's all," echoed Solomon, with a grin. + +Richard's face changed from white to red, from red to white, by turns. + +"Mr. Coe will stay where he is," said Dodge, peremptorily, as he led the +way into a little room that opened from the gate-keeper's parlor. + +"I thank you for that, Mr. Dodge," said Richard, gratefully. + +"Not at all, Sir. If you have any thing of a compromising nature about +you--revolvers or such like--that's my business and the beak's, not +his.--Officer do your duty." + +Richard was searched accordingly. He had no revolver; but what +astonished himself more than it did the searcher was that a cigar was +found loose in his breast-pocket. + +"Why, this must be the one that I gave to you this morning, Mr. Dodge." + +"Just so, Sir. I put it back again as we came along. You know my motto. +When you come to be your own master again--which I hope'll be soon--then +I'll smoke it with you with pleasure; they'll keep it for you very +careful, you may depend upon it, and baccar is a thing as don't spoil. +That's a pretty bit of jewelry now--_that_ is." Mr. Dodge's remark +referred to a gold locket, with the word "Harry" outside it, written in +diamonds; and within a portrait of her, which he had executed himself. +"That's a token of some favorite brother, I dare say?" + +"Yes," said Richard. "Might I keep that, if you please; or, at all +events, might I ask that it should not be shown to the man in yonder +room? It's my own, Mr. Dodge," added he, earnestly, "upon my word and +honor." + +"No doubt, Sir; no doubt. There's no charge against you except as to +these notes. I must put it down on the list, because that's the law; but +you can keep it, and welcome, so far as I am concerned; though I am +afraid the Cross Key folks will not be so very easy with you." + +"The Cross Key folks?" + +"Well, Mr. Yorke, it's no use to hide from you that you will be sent to +Cross Key; that's the nearest jail to Gethin, I believe. I am afraid the +beak will be for committing you; the sum is so large, and the case so +clear, that I doubt whether he'll entertain the question of bail. You +have no friends in Plymouth, either, you told me." + +"None," said Richard, sadly; "unless," he added, in a whisper, "I can +count you as one." + +"Officer, just fetch a glass of water," said Dodge; "the prisoner says +he feels faint.--Look here, young gentleman," continued he, earnestly, +as soon as they were alone, "this is no use; I can do nothing for you +whatever, except wish you luck, which I do most heartily. I am as +helpless as a baby in this matter. I can only give you one piece of good +advice: when the beak asks if you've any thing to say, unless you have +something that will clear you, and can be proved--you know best about +that--say, 'I reserve my defense;' then, as soon as you're committed, +ask to see your solicitor; send for Weasel of Plymouth; your friends +have money, I conclude. Hush! Here's the water, young man; just sip a +little, and you'll soon come round." + +Not another word, either then or afterward, did Mr. Dodge exchange with +his prisoner. Perhaps he began to think he had acted contrary to the +motto which was his guide in life in the good-will he had already shown +him. Perhaps he resented the favorable impression that the attractions +and geniality of his acquaintance at the hotel had made upon him as +unprofessional. At all events, during their drive from the jail to the +office where the magistrate was sitting--it was not open at the hour +when Richard had been arrested, or he would have been searched +there--Mr. Dodge seemed to have lost all sympathy for his "young +gentleman," chatting with the officer quite carelessly upon matters +connected with their common calling, and even offering Mr. Coe a pinch +from his snuff-box, without extending that courtesy to Yorke. Nay, when +they were just at their journey's end, he had the want of feeling to +look his prisoner straight in the face, and whistle an enlivening air. +The melody was not so popular as it has since become, or perhaps Mr. +Dodge had doubts of his ability to render it with accuracy, but, as if +to inform all whom it might concern what it was that he was executing, +he hummed aloud the fag-end of the tune, keeping time with his fist upon +his knee, "Pop goes the weasel, pop goes the weasel." + +Richard understood, and thanked him with his eyes. He had no need, +however, to be reminded of the good-natured detective's word of advice. +The ignominy which he had just undergone had had the effect of revealing +to him the imminence as well as the full extent of the peril in which he +stood. Henceforward he could think of nothing--not even revenge--save +the means of extricating himself from the toils which every moment +seemed to multiply about him. The time for action was, indeed, but +short; if he was ever (for it already seemed "ever") to be free again, +the means must be taken to deliver him at once. The assizes would be +held at Cross Key--he had heard the Gethin gossips talk of them, little +thinking that they would have any interest for him--in three weeks. +Until then, at all events, he must be a prisoner; beyond that time he +would not, dared not, look. + +Within ten minutes Richard Yorke stood committed to Cross Key Jail. + +He followed his friend's counsel in all respects. But the messenger +dispatched for Mr. Weasel returned with the news that that gentleman was +out of town; he was very busy at that season--there were other folks in +difficulties besides our hero, urgent for his consolation and advice as +to their course of conduct before my Lord the Judge. Mr. Dodge, however, +assured Richard, upon taking leave, that he would dispatch the attorney +after him that very night. + +The road to Cross Key was, for many miles, the same which he had lately +traveled in the reverse direction; yet how different it looked! He had +been in far from good spirits on that occasion, but how infinitely more +miserable was he now! The hills, the rocks, the streams were far more +beautiful than he had ever thought them, but they mocked him with their +beauty. He longed to get out of the vehicle, and feel the springy turf, +the yielding heather, beneath his feet; to lave his hands in the +sparkling brook, to lie on the moss-grown rock, and bask in the blessed +sun. Perhaps he should never see them any more--these simple everyday +beauties, of which he had scarcely taken any account when they were +freely offered for his enjoyment. He looked back on even the day before, +wherein he had certainly been wretched enough, with yearning regret. He +had at least been a free man, and when should he be free again? Ah, +when! He was, as it were, in a prison on wheels, guarded by two jailers. +Escape would have been hopeless, even had it been judicious to make the +attempt. His only consolation was, that Solomon Coe was no longer with +him to jeer at his dejected looks. He had started for Gethin with the +news, doubtless as welcome to Trevethick as to himself, of the +prisoner's committal. What would Harry say when she came to hear of it? +What would she not suffer? Richard cast himself back in his seat, and +groaned aloud. The man at his side exchanged a glance with his +companion. "He is guilty, this young fellow." "Without doubt, he's +booked." They had their little code of signals for such occasions. + +The day drew on, and the soft sweet air of evening began to rise. They +had stopped here and there for refreshments, but Richard had taken +nothing; he had, however, always accompanied his custodians within doors +at the various halting-places. He was afraid of the crowd that might +gather about the vehicle to look at the man that was being taken to +prison. There was nothing to mark him as such, but it seemed to him that +nobody could fail to know it. He welcomed the approach of night. They +still traveled on for hours, since there was no House of Detention at +which he could be placed in safety on the road; at last the wheels +rumbled over the uneven stones of a little country town; they stopped +before a building similar, so far as he could see by the moonlight, to +that to which he had been taken at Plymouth: all jails are alike, +especially to the eyes of the prisoner. A great bell was rung; there was +a parley with the keeper of the gate. The whole scene resembled +something which Richard remembered to have read in a book; he knew not +what, nor where. A door in the wall was opened; they led him up some +stone steps; the door closed behind him with a clang; and its locks +seemed to bite into the stone. + +"This way, prisoner," said a gruff voice. + +Door after door, passage after passage; a labyrinth of stone and iron. +At last he was ushered into a small chamber, unlike any thing he had +ever seen in his life. His sleeping-room at the keeper's lodge at +Crompton was palatial compared with it. The walls were stone; the floor +of a shining brown, so that it looked wet, though it was not so. His +jailer-chamberlain pointed to a low-lying hammock, stretched upon two +straps between the walls. "There, tumble in," he said; "you will have +your bath in the morning. Look alive!" + +Richard obeyed him at once. "Good-night, warder," said he. + +"Night!" grumbled the other; "it's morn-in'. A pretty time to be +knockin' up people at a respectable establishment. If you want any +thin'--broiled bones, or deviled kidneys"--for the man was a wag in his +quaint way--"ring this 'ere bell. As for the other rules and regulations +of her Majesty's jail, you'll learn them at breakfast-time." + +The door slammed behind him. + +How the doors _did_ slam in that place! And Richard was left alone. If, +instead of the metal ewer of water that stood by his bed-head, there had +been a glass of deadliest poison, he would have seized it greedily, and +emptied it to the dregs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE LETTER LOOK. + + +On the day that Richard left Gethin, which was itself an incident to +keep the tongues of its gossips wagging for a good week, another +occurrence took place in that favored neighborhood, and one of even more +absorbing interest--the workings of Dunloppel were suspended. This, of +course, was not a wholly unexpected catastrophe. The new vein, after +giving an exceedingly rich yield for some months, had of late, it was +whispered, evinced signs of exhaustion, although the fact was not known +that for several weeks the undertaking had been carried on at a loss. +Neither Trevethick nor Solomon, who were the principal proprietors, was +the sort of man to play long at a losing game, or to send good money +after bad; so, for the present, the pit was closed. But Solomon believed +in Dunloppel; contrary to his custom, he had not disposed of a single +share when the mine was at a premium, and his stake in it was very +large. + +Only a few minutes after Richard had departed for Plymouth with his +check, Solomon returned to the inn with thoughtful brow. + +Trevethick was moodily smoking his pipe in the porch, still balancing +the rival claims of his sons-in-law elect, and dissatisfied with both of +them. He did not share Solomon's hopes, and he detested losing his money +above every thing. "Well, you've packed off all those fellows, I hope, +that have been eating me out of house and home for these three weeks?" + +"I've closed the mine, if that's what you mean," said Solomon. "But" (he +looked cautiously up at the windows of the inn, which were all open--the +guests were out in search of the picturesque, and Harry was on the +tower, straining her eyes after Richard) "I want to have a word with you +in private, Trevethick." + +"Come into the bar parlor, then," grunted the landlord, for he did not +much relish the idea of a confidential talk with Solomon just then, +since it might have relation to a matter about which he had not fully +made up his mind to give him an answer. + +"Is that young painter fellow out of the way, then?" asked Solomon. "We +have never had a place to ourselves, it seems to me, since _he_ came to +Gethin." + +"Yes, yes, he's far enough off," answered Trevethick, more peevishly +than before, for Sol's remark seemed to foreshadow the very subject he +would fain have avoided talking about. "He's gone to Plymouth, he is, +and won't be back these five days." + +"Umph!" said Sol. If he had said, "I wish he would never come back at +all," he could not have expressed his feelings more clearly. + +"Well," growled Trevethick, when they were in his sanctum, and had shut +the door, "what is it now? Bad news, of course, of some sort." + +It was a habit with Trevethick, as it is with many men of his stamp, to +have a perpetual grievance against Providence--to profess themselves as +never astonished at any bad turn that _It_ may do them--and, besides, he +was on the present occasion desirous of taking up a position of +discontent beforehand, so that the expected topic might not appear to +have produced it. + +"No; it's good news, Trevethick," said Solomon, quietly--"the best of +news, as it seems to me; and I hope to bring you over to the same +opinion." + +"He's got some scheme for marrying Harry out of hand," thought the +harassed landlord. "How the deuce shall I put him off?" + +There was not the slightest excuse for doing so; if Solomon had been of +a less phlegmatic disposition, he might have married her a year ago, +young as she was. "Read this," said he, producing a letter from his +pocket, "and tell me what you think of it. It's old Stratum's report +upon the mine." + +"Ay, ay," said Trevethick, diving into his capacious pocket for his +silver spectacles. As a general rule, he was wont to receive all such +reports with discredit, and to throw cold water upon Sol's more sanguine +views; but it was several minutes before he could get himself into his +normal state of dissatisfied depression, so much relieved was he to find +that his daughter was not to be the topic of the conversation. + +"Here's the plan," continued Solomon, "which accompanied the letter. I +got it just after I dismissed the men; and, upon my life, I'd half a +mind to set them on again. But I thought I'd just have a talk with you +first." + +"Ay," said Trevethick--"well?" He was quite himself again now--crafty, +prudent, reticent; about as unpromising a gentleman to "get on with," +far less get the better of in a bargain, as a Greek Jew. But Solomon was +quite accustomed to him. + +"Stratum feels confident about the continuation of the lode, you see; +and also that the fault is not considerable. We shall not have to sink +fifty feet, he thinks, before we come on the vein again." + +"He _thinks_" said Trevethick, contemptuously. "Is he ready to sink his +own money in it?" + +"It's no good asking him that," said Solomon, coolly, "because he's got +none. But I have always found Stratum pretty correct in his judgment; +and, as for me, I believe in Dunloppel. The question is, shall I go on +with it single-handed, or will you go shares?" + +"If it's so good a thing, why not keep it yourself, Sol?" + +"Because my money is particularly well laid out at present, and I don't +want to shift it." + +"That's just the case with mine," said Trevethick, from behind the plan. + +"I thought you might have five hundred pounds or so lying idle, that's +all," returned the other. "I'd give six per cent. for it just now." + +"Oh, that's another thing. Perhaps I have. I'll see about it." + +"If you could get it me at once, that would be half the battle," urged +Solomon. "There are some good men at the mine whom I should not like to +lose. If I could send round to-night to tell them not to engage, +themselves elsewhere, since they're opening so many new pits just now, +that would be a relief to my mind." + +"Very good; you may do that, then. I'll write for the money to-morrow." + +So blunt, straightforward, and exceedingly unpleasant a man as John +Trevethick was, ought to have been the very incarnation of Truth, +whereas that last observation of his was, to say the least of it, +Jesuitical. There was no occasion to write to any body for what he had +got above stairs, locked up in his private strong-box. But he did not +wish all the world to know that, nor even his _alter ego_, Solomon Coe. + +Trevethick, although a close-fisted fellow, was no miser in the vulgar +sense. He kept this vast sum at hand, partly because he had no +confidence in ordinary securities, and partly because he wished to be in +a position, at a moment's notice, to accomplish his darling scheme. If +Carew should happen to change his mind, it would be because he was in +want of ready money, and he would be in mad haste to get it. His +impatience on such occasions brooked no delay on the score of advantage; +and the man that could offer him what he wanted, as it were, in his open +hand, would be the financier he would favor in preference to a much less +grasping accommodator, who might keep him waiting for a week. It was not +so much the tempting bait of ready money that caught the Squire as the +fact of his wishes being obeyed upon the instant. He had not been used +to wait, and his pride revolted against it; and many a time had a usurer +missed his mark by not understanding with how great a bashaw he had to +deal in the person of Carew of Crompton. Trevethick was aware of this, +and indeed the chaplain had given him a hint to keep the proposed +purchase-money within easy reach, in case the Squire's mood might alter, +or his necessities demand his consent to what Mr. Whymper honestly +believed to be a very advantageous offer. Otherwise, Trevethick was not +one to keep a hoard in his house for the mere pleasure of gloating over +it. He had not looked into his strong-box for months, nor would he have +done so now, but for this unexpected demand upon it. It was safe enough, +he knew, in his daughter's room; and as for its having been opened, that +was an impossibility; the padlock hung in front of it as usual, and it +would have taken a man half a lifetime to have hit upon its open sesame +by trial. He was justly proud of that letter lock, which was his own +contrivance, invented when he was quite a young man, and had been +perforce compelled to turn his attention to mechanics, and he considered +it a marvel of skill. It was characteristic in him that he had never +revealed its secret even to his daughter. Indeed, with the exception of +Harry, nobody at Gethin--save, perhaps, Hannah, when she dusted her +young mistress's room--had ever set eyes upon it, nor, if they had, +would they have understood its meaning. + +It was therefore without the slightest suspicion of its having been +tampered with, that, an hour or two after the conversation just +narrated, Trevethick repaired to his strong-box, with the intention of +taking from it the sum of money required by Solomon. The padlock was +like a little clock, except that it had the letters of the alphabet +round its face instead of figures, and three hands instead of two; this +latter circumstance insured, by its complication, the safety of the +treasure, but at the same time rendered it useless--unless he broke the +box open--to the possessor himself if by any accident he should forget +the letter time at which he had set it; and accordingly Trevethick was +accustomed to carry a memorandum of this about with him; even if he lost +it, it would be no great matter, for what meaning would it convey to any +human being to find a bit of paper with the letters B, N, Z upon it? +Harry, as we have said, was out of the house, so his daughter's room was +untenanted. He went to a cupboard, and took down the box from its usual +shelf, with the same feeling of satisfaction that an old poet recurs to +his first volume of verse; he may have written better things, and things +that have brought him more money, but those spring leaves are dearest to +him of all. So it was with Trevethick's spring lock. He adjusted the +hands, and the padlock sprang open; he lifted the lid, and the box was +empty; the two thousand pounds in Bank of England notes were gone. + +He was a big bull-necked man, of what is called (in the reports of +inquests) "a full habit of body," and the discovery was almost fatal to +him. His face grew purple, the veins in his forehead stood out, and his +well-seasoned head, which liquor could so little affect, went round and +round with him, and sang like a humming-top. He was on the very brink of +a fit, which might have "annihilated space and time" (as far as he was +concerned), "and made two lovers happy." But the star of Richard Yorke +was not in the ascendant. The old man held on by the shelf of the +cupboard, and gradually came to himself. He did not even then comprehend +the whole gravity of the position; the sense of his great loss--not only +of so much wealth, but of that which he had secured with such toil, and +laid by unproductively so long for the accomplishment of his darling +purpose--monopolized his mind. Who _could_ have been the thief? was the +one question with which he concerned himself, and the answer was not +long delayed. It was the coincidence of amount in the sum stolen with +that which Richard had gone to Plymouth to realize, that turned his +suspicions upon the young artist. Why, the scoundrel had fixed upon that +very sum as the test of his possessing an independence for a reason that +was now clear enough: it was the exact limit of what he knew he could +lay his hand upon. But how _did_ he know?--or, rather (for the old man's +thoughts were still fixed upon the mechanical mystery of his loss), how +did he open the padlock? Then there flashed upon his mind that incident +of his having dropped the memorandum out of his watch-case in the bar +parlor in Richard's presence, and the whole affair seemed as clear as +day. It was Richard's intention to change the notes at Plymouth for the +paper of the Miners' Bank, or for gold, and then to exhibit it to him in +its new form as his own property. He did not believe that the young +artist intended to steal it; but he was by no means less furious with +him upon that account--quite otherwise. He piqued himself upon his +caution and long-headedness, and resented every deception practiced upon +him even more than an injury. Moreover, he felt that but for Solomon's +unexpected request for the loan the plan would have succeeded. In all +probability, he would not have discovered his loss until it had been too +late--he would not have known how to refuse the young man leave to +become his daughter's suitor; and once his son-in-law, he could scarcely +have prosecuted him for replacing two thousand pounds' worth of +bank-notes in his strong-box by notes of another kind. Exasperated +beyond all measure as Trevethick was, it did credit to his sagacity that +even at such a moment he did not conceive of Richard Yorke as being a +common thief. But he concluded him to be much worse, and deserving of +far heavier punishment, as a man that would have obtained his daughter +under false pretenses. He went down stairs, taking the box with him, to +seek his friend. Solomon had just returned from the cottage over the +way, where he had been giving orders to one of the best miners to still +hold himself engaged at Dunloppel, and had bidden him tell others the +same. He was in high spirits, and was twirling about in his large hands +Mr. Stratum's diagnosis of the mine. + +"You may put that away and have done with it," said Trevethick, +hoarsely; "I have no money to lend you for that, nor nothing else. This +box held two thousand pounds of mine, but it's all gone now." + +"Two thousand pounds!" exclaimed Solomon, too amazed at the magnitude of +the sum to realize what had happened to it. "Two thousand pounds in a +box!" He had always suspected that the old man kept something in a +stocking-foot, and had often rallied him upon his unnecessary caution +with respect to investments; but this statement of his appeared +incredible. + +"What does it matter if it was twenty thousand, when I tell you it's +gone," said Trevethick, sullenly. "That limb of the devil, Yorke, is off +with every shilling of it." + +"Do you mean to say _he's_ stolen it?" inquired the other, even more +astonished than before. + +"He's taken it to Plymouth with him, that's all." + +Solomon Coe was a man of action, and prompt in emergencies, but for the +moment he was fairly staggered. He had no liking for Richard, but such a +charge as this appeared incredible; it seemed more likely that the old +man had repented of his late offer of the loan of five hundred pounds, +and had invented this monstrous fiction to excuse himself. + +"Where was the box kept?" asked Solomon, dryly. + +For a moment or two Trevethick was silent. + +"It is as I suspected," thought the other; "the old man is making up the +story as he goes on." + +But the fact was that this question had gone to the very root of the +matter, and opened Trevethick's dull eyes wide. In his chagrin at his +loss (though he did believe it would be temporary), and irritation at +his sagacity having been set at naught, he had overlooked the most +serious feature of the whole catastrophe. How had Yorke come to the +knowledge that the strong-box was kept in Harry's room? and under what +circumstances had he obtained access to it? + +"Where's Harry?" exclaimed Trevethick, starting up with a great oath; +for it flashed upon him that she had fled with Richard. "Where's my +daughter?" + +"I saw her in the village just now," said Solomon, "talking to old +Madge. She had been for a stroll out Turlock way, she said. But what's +the use of vexing _her_ about the matter? Women are much best kept in +the dark when one don't want things to be talked about. The more quiet +you keep this story, the more chance you'll have of getting your money +back, you may depend upon it. It was in notes, of course?" + +"Yes, in notes," answered the other, with a vacant look, and drumming on +the table with his right hand. + +"Come, come, Trevethick, you must keep your head," remonstrated Solomon. +"I'll act for you quick enough, if you'll only supply me with the means. +It's a great loss, but it should not paralyze a man. You've got a +memorandum of the numbers of the notes?" + +"Yes, yes; I have somewhere." + +"Well; go and fetch it, while I order out a horse. I can get to Plymouth +before wheels can do it, and shall catch this scoundrel yet. He'll be +going there to change the notes, I reckon?" + +"Yes, yes," said Trevethick; "he'll be at the _George and Vulture_; so +he said." + +"Good," replied Solomon. "I'll get a warrant from old Justice Smallgood +on my way. Rouse up, man, rouse up; you shall have your money back, I +tell you, and see this rascal lagged for life into the bargain." + +"If I could only get him hanged!" answered the old man, fiercely--"if I +could only get _him_ hanged, Sol, I'd let the money go, and welcome!" + +Solomon stared after him, as he left the room and tramped up stairs in +search of the list of notes, with a ludicrous expression of wonder. In +_his_ eyes, no revenge at present seemed worth so extravagant a price. +But Trevethick had his reasons, or thought he had, for this excess of +hate; his slow-moving yet powerful nature resembled the python--it was +exceedingly tenacious when its object was once grasped, and it was apt +to glut itself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +A HARD ALTERNATIVE. + + +Solomon had ridden off, and was half-way to Turlock before Trevethick +felt himself sufficiently collected to summon Hannah, and bid her send +for her young mistress. He could not go in search of her himself and +speak what he had to ask: no bird of the air must carry her reply, no +wind of heaven breathe it, if it was such as he feared. There must be no +"scene" in public to let loose the gossips' tongues. He sat in the bar +parlor, with his huge head leaning on his hands, brooding over his +wrongs, and waiting for her--for the daughter by whose wicked +connivance, as he thought, he had been despoiled of his hard-earned +gains. He did not reproach himself for having thrown her so much with +Richard, in order that the latter might be kept in good-humor, and apt +to forward his plans as to Wheal Danes. He "wondered at their vice, and +not his folly." As to there being any thing beyond a flirtation between +the young people, he did not suspect it; but even as matters were, he +was bitterly enraged against Harry, and would have strangled Richard out +of hand if he could have got near him. It was evident to him that this +fellow had been courting his daughter, though he knew she was plighted +to another, and had wormed out of her the secret of his hoarded wealth. +Six months ago she would not for her life have dared to tell what she +knew he wished to hide; and now this young villain had wound himself so +cunningly about her that she had no will but his, and had even helped +him to rob her own flesh and blood. His heel was on that serpent's head, +however, or would be in a day or two, and _then_--The old man ground his +teeth as though his enemy were between them. + +"Well, father, here I am; Hannah said you wanted me." + +Harry's voice was as calm as she could make it, but her young limbs +trembled, and her face was very pale. + +[Illustration: "SHE DRAGGED UPON HIS ARM."] + +"Come here--nearer!" cried Trevethick, hoarsely, seizing her by the +wrist. "Do you know that you are the only creature but two--but one, I +may say, for gratitude ain't love--that I have ever loved in this +world--that I have worked for you, planned for you, and for you only, +all my life?" + +"Yes, father; and I am very grateful for it," answered she, +submissively. + +"No doubt," sneered the old man; "and the way you show how much you feel +it, the way you show your duty and your love to your father in return, +is to put a thief--a lying, cheating thief--in the road to rob him!" + +"You must be mad, father!" exclaimed Harry, in blank amazement. "I know +no thief!" + +"You know Richard Yorke, you wicked, wanton wench!" interrupted +Trevethick, passionately. "And how could _he_ have heard of yonder box +except through you? Of course you'll lie; a lie or two is nothing to one +like you. But here's the proof. The padlock has been opened, the money +taken. Who did it? Who could have done it, except him, or you?" + +"As I am a living woman, father, as I hope for heaven," answered Harry, +earnestly, "I did not do it, and I do not know who did." + +"You didn't, and you don't! The thing's incredible. Reach here that +Bible." He still held her by the wrist. "You shall swear that, and be +damned forever! What! you never told that villain where my money lay?" + +"I did tell Mr. Yorke that, father. Pray, pray, be patient. It was long +ago; we were talking together about I know not what, and it slipped from +me that you kept money in a strong-box. That was all." + +"All," said the old man, bitterly, and flinging her arm away from him, +the wrist all black and bruised with his angry clutch. "What more, or +worse, could you have told than the one secret I had bid you keep? You +told him the exact sum, too, I'll warrant? Two thousand pounds!" + +"Yes, father, I did. It was very wrong, and I was very sorry directly I +had done it. But I knew the secret would be safe with a gentleman like +Mr. Yorke." + +"A gentleman! A cheat, an impostor, a common rogue!" + +"Oh no, oh no, father!" + +"But I say 'yes.' To-morrow he will have the handcuffs on him! What! +Have you tears for him, and none for me, you slut! Perhaps you _showed_ +him where the box was kept, as well as told him! Did you, _did_ you?" + +There was something in Harry's frightened face that made her father rise +and lock the door. + +"Speak low!" said he, in an awful voice; "you have something to tell me. +Tell it." + +"Only that I love him, father--oh, so much!" pleaded Harry, +passionately. "Indeed, indeed, I could not help it! I tried to love Sol, +because you wished it, but it was no use; I felt that even before +Richard came. We walked every day together for weeks and weeks, and he +was so different from Sol, so bright and pleasant, and he loved me from +the first, he said. He told me, too, that you had listened with favor to +his suit, or, at all events, had not refused to listen--that there was +good hope of your consenting to it, and without that hope he knew he +could not win me. I only promised to be his on that condition. Speak to +me, father; pardon me, father! Don't look at me so. He never meant to +thieve, I am sure of that. You asked of him some warrant of his wealth, +some proof that he could afford to marry me. You would not have done +that had you set your face utterly against him. And I think--I +fear--though Heaven is my witness that I knew nothing of it until now, +that he took this money only to bring it back to you again, and win your +favor. It was an ill deed, if he has really done it, which even yet I do +not credit; but it was done for my sake; then for _my_ sake, father, +pity him, pardon him!" She had thrown herself upon her knees beside the +old man's chair; her long hair had come unfastened, and trailed upon the +sanded floor; her hands were clasped in an agony of supplication. No +pictured Magdalen ever looked more wretched or more beautiful. + +"You have more to tell?" said the old man, harshly. + +She shook her head, and uttered a plaintive moan. + +"Then _I_ have," continued he. "You say you love this man; now _I_ hate +him! I do not regret that he has robbed me, since, by that act, he has +placed himself in my power, and I mean to use it to the uttermost; but +for his cozening me to my face, as he has done so long, and for his +smooth, false ways, and for his impudent tales, which I had half +believed, and for his audacious attempt to pluck you from the hand for +which I had designed you, I _hate_ him. I tell you," cried out the old +man, fiercely, "if this villain had fifty lives, and the law would help +me to them, I would exact them all! If he stood here, I would brain him +with yonder staff; and if my curse could follow him beyond the grave--as +my vengeance shall to the grave's brink--he should perish in eternal +fire! _Hate_ him? I almost hate you for having loved him; and if I +thought you would dare to cross me further by holding to him now, I'd +drive you from my door this very hour. You will never see him more; but +I shall, once. This mouth shall witness against him to the uttermost; +these ears shall hear the judge pronounce on him his righteous doom." + +"No, no," gasped the young girl, faintly. "If you do not hate me yet, I +pray you to unsay those words. When you curse Richard, father, you are +cursing you know not whom." She dragged upon his arm, and brought his +ear down to the level of her mouth, and whispered in it. + +The old man started to his feet, and pushed her from him with a hideous +oath; then made as though he would have unlocked the door and thrown it +wide, to drive her, as he had so lately threatened, from his roof. But +there was a noise of many feet and chattering and laughter in the +passage without, which showed that some of the tourist guests had just +come in. Only a plank intervened between that little knot of giddy +pleasure-seekers, with their jokes and small-talk, and the father and +daughter in their agony. + +"Mercy! mercy!" cried the wretched girl. + +Trevethick clapped his hand upon her little mouth, with, "Hush, fool! +hush!" and she felt thankful that he called her by no worse name. + +"Forgive me--pity--pardon," murmured she. + +"Listen!" said he, in a stem whisper. "Obey me now, you wicked, wanton +slut, or I proclaim your shame before them all; one minute will decide +your fate! Be stubborn, and you shall go forth through yonder door, +discarded, friendless, infamous, to beg your bread, or win it how you +will; be tractable, and even yet you shall have a father and a home. +Make choice, and quickly; and having made it, be you sure of this, that +it shall hold. Do you hear me, trollop?" + +"I hear! I hear!" she murmured, shuddering. "I will obey you now, and +ever." + +"Then marry Solomon Coe--at once--within the month." + +"Oh, father, mercy!" + +His fingers were on the door, and the key grated in the lock. + +"The sea-air makes one famish," said a gay voice outside. + +"It's lucky," laughed another, "for there is sure to be nothing for +dinner but the inevitable ham and eggs." + +In another instant the final barrier between herself and public shame +would have been withdrawn by that relentless hand. + +"I promise--I promise--spare me!" cried the unhappy girl, and fell +fainting on the floor. + +The old man drew a long, deep breath, and wiped his forehead. His +victory had not been lightly won. He lifted his daughter up and carried +her to the sofa; then raised the little clumsy window, rarely opened, +and propped it with a stick, so that the breeze might blow upon her +tear-stained cheek. How white and worn and emptied of all joy it looked! +As he gazed upon her, a touch of pity stole into her father's face. He +poured out a little spirits in a glass, and put it to her lips. "Take a +sup of this, and you'll be better, child." + +She opened her heavy eyes, and shook her head. + +"You said you would have mercy, father, if I promised?" + +"Yes, yes; all shall be forgotten. We will not even speak of it to one +another." + +"And you will pardon _him_? You will not hurt my Richard?" + +"Your Richard!" + +"Yes, for he was mine once. You will not bear witness against him before +the judge? Is he not punished enough in losing me? Am _I_ not punished?" + +"Silence!" exclaimed the old man, in a terrible voice. His hand, +trembling with passion, had struck against the strong-box, and at its +touch his wrath broke out in flame. "That man is dead to you henceforth! +You gave your promise without conditions. Moreover, his fate is in the +hands of the law, and not in mine." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +AN UNEXPECTED GUEST. + + +Six days had come and gone since her lover's departure from Gethin, but +no tidings of him had reached Harry's ears. Solomon had returned on the +second day, and been closeted with her father for some hours, doubtless +in consultation about Richard; but not a word had been spoken of him, in +her presence, by either. She dared not mention him to her father, and +still less could she apply for information to his rival, her now +affianced bridegroom. How much, or how little, her father had disclosed +concerning him to Sol she did not know; but the latter had evidently +closed with the terms which she had in her late strait accepted on her +own part. The bans had been put up in the church upon the hill, and in a +month she would be this man's wife. She had been congratulated upon the +coming event by all the neighbors. Some had slyly hinted--little +guessing the pain they gave to that sore heart--at her late "goings-on" +with that young gentleman-painter; they had almost suspected at one time +that he would have supplanted her old flame; but they were glad to see +matters as they were. Solomon was a steady, sagacious man, as every body +knew, and would get on in the world; and what he gained he would not +waste in foolish ways. Such an old friend of her father's, too. Nothing +could be more fitting and satisfactory in all respects. Solomon, +notoriously a laggard in love, was likened to the tortoise, who had won +the race against the hare. + +To have to listen to all this well-meant twaddle was misery indeed. +Perhaps, upon the whole, good honest dullness does unknowingly inflict +more grievous wounds than the barbed satiric tongue. + +To think, to picture to herself the condition of her lover--deplorable, +she was convinced, from the grim satisfaction upon Solomon's face when +he first came back--was torture. She could not read, for her mind fled +from the page, like breath from a mirror; there was nothing for it but +occupation. She busied herself as she had never done before with the +affairs of the house, which afforded some excuse for escaping from Sol's +attentions, naturally grown somewhat pressing, now that his wedded +happiness was drawing so near. The _Gethin Castle_ was not, however, +very full of guests. It had been wet for a few days, and rain spoils the +harvest of the inn-keeper even more than that of the farmer. One night, +when it was pouring heavily, and such a windfall as a new tourist was +not to have been expected by the most sanguine Boniface, a lady arrived, +alone, and took up her quarters in the very room that Richard had +vacated. Trevethick himself was at the door when she had driven up and +asked with some apparent anxiety whether she could be accommodated. She +was wrapped up, and thickly veiled, but he had observed to his daughter +what a well-spoken woman she was, and an uncommon fine one too, though +her hair was gray. She had inquired whether there were any letters +waiting for her, addressed to Mrs. Gilbert; but there was no letter. + +Harry took in the new arrival's supper with her own hands. It was the +time when she would otherwise have been expected in the bar parlor, to +sit by Solomon's side, and feel his arm creep round her waist, more +hateful than a serpent's fold. A fire had been lit in the sitting-room, +on account of the inclement weather, and Mrs. Gilbert was standing +beside it with her elbow on the mantel-piece. She watched Harry come in +and out, without a word, but the expression of her face was so +searching and attentive that it embarrassed her. Under other +circumstances she would certainly have delegated her duties to Hannah, +but to evade Solomon's society she would have waited on the Sphinx. She +brought in each article one at a time, and when there was nothing more +to bring inquired deferentially whether there was any thing else that +she could do for the lady. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Gilbert, gravely; the voice was soft, but the manner +most earnest and impressive. "I want five minutes' talk with you; can I +have it secure from interruption?" + +"Certainly, madam," answered Harry, trembling, she knew not why. + +"Close the door, girl. Come nearer, and away from the window; we must +not be overheard." + +Harry was constitutionally timid, and it struck her that this poor lady +was not in her right mind. She hesitated. The other seemed to read her +thoughts. + +"I am not mad, child," said she, sorrowfully, "though I have trouble +enough to make me so. You are the daughter of the landlord of this inn, +I think?" + +"Yes, madam." + +"And I am the mother of Richard Yorke." + +She was standing in the same position, and had spoken coldly and as +sternly as such a voice as hers could speak, when something in the young +girl's face caused her whole manner to change. With a sudden impulse she +turned toward her, and held out both her arms; and Harry threw herself +into them with a passionate cry, and sobbed as though her heart would +break. + +"Hush! hush!" whispered the other, tenderly; "we must not weep now, but +act!" + +But the girl still sobbed on, without lifting up her face. Tears had +been strangers to her heated eyes for days, and she had longed in vain +for one sympathizing breast on which to lay her head. "I have been his +ruin," she murmured; "but for me he would never have done wrong. How +you, who are his mother, must hate me!" + +"No, Harry, no!" answered the other, putting aside those rich brown +locks, and gazing upon the fair shut face attentively. "I do not wonder +at his loving you; for such beauty as yours many a man would lose his +soul! I did hate you until now. But you love my Richard truly, as I see; +and we two can not afford to be enemies. We must work together for his +good to avert the ruin of which you speak, for it is imminent. He has +sent me to you, for he can not come himself. He is in prison, Harry!" + +"In prison! O Heaven, have mercy!" + +She sank down on her knees, and covered her face with her hands. + +"Yes, Harry, think of it. Our Richard, so bright, so dear, within prison +walls! He may pass his life there for what he has done for your sake, +unless you help him." + +"Help him? I would die for him!" + +"Calm yourself. Sit down. To grieve is selfish where one can do better; +when all is lost it is time enough for that. All _will_ be lost a +fortnight hence, unless we bestir ourselves. Hush! I hear a step in the +passage. Who is that?" + +"It is Sol, madam--Solomon Coe." + +"The man you are to marry, is it not?" + +A stifled groan was the girl's reply. + +"I can not speak what I have to say here," said the other, thoughtfully. +"Is there no other place? Stay. I can be ill--overfatigued with my +journey--and you will come and tend me in my own room presently. That +can be managed, can't it?" + +"Yes, madam, yes." + +"Then wipe your eyes--be a brave girl. Think of Richard, and not of +yourself--think of him, when yonder boor is clasping the hand that once +rested in his--think of him, when those alien lips press yours at +parting, and be strong! If I were in your place, he would find that I +had not deserted him in his trouble." + +"Desert him, madam? I? Oh, never!" + +"To be weak is to desert him, girl--to let yonder man and your father +suspect that any friend of Richard's is beneath this roof is to desert +him--to weep when there is need to work is to desert him. Did I not tell +you I was his own mother; and yet _I_ shed no tears! Look up, and learn +your lesson from me." + +The faces of the two women were indeed in strong contrast--the younger, +yielding, feeble, despairing; the elder, calm, patient of purpose, and +inflexible. Her cheeks were plump, and radiant with health; her form +erect and composed; her eyes, indeed, betrayed anxiety, but it was from +want of confidence in the person she addressed, not in herself; the +white hair seemed to fitly crown that figure, so full of earnestness and +firmness. + +"I will do my best," cried the young girl, "though I know I am but weak +and foolish. Pity me, and pray for me. I am going to the torture, but I +will be resolute. Tell Hannah--the servant-maid--that you wish me to +attend you in your room. Send for me soon, for mercy's sake! How I long +to know how I can help our Richard!" + +As she left the room Mrs. Gilbert's face grew dark. "A fool! a dolt!" +she muttered, angrily. "How could he risk so much for such a stake! Oh, +Richard! Richard!"--her voice began to falter at that well-loved +name--"was this to have been the end of all my hopes? What fatal issue, +then, may not my fears have end in! my beautiful, bright boy! The only +light my lonely life possessed! to think of you as like yourself, and +then to think of you as you are now!" She looked around her on the +sordid walls, the vulgar ornaments upon the mantel-piece, the wretched +ill-chosen books; then listened to the splash of the rain in the unpaved +street. "And this was Paradise, was it, my poor boy, because this girl +dwelt in it! I ought to have known that there was danger here. His +letters few and short and far between, his patient tarrying in so wild a +place, should have been enough to warn me. But not of this; in no +nightmare dream could I have conceived this unimaginable peril. Ah, me! +ah, me!" She sat down at the untasted meal, and strove to eat. "I must +be strong, for Richard's sake," she murmured. But she soon laid down her +knife and fork to muse again. "This Trevethick is a hard, stern man, I +see. There is no hope in his mercy. The only path of safety is that +which the lawyer pointed out; but will this puling girl have the heart +and head to tread it? Will she not faint, as she nearly did just now, +and lose her wits when my Richard most requires them? And then, and +then?" As if unable to continue such reflections, she rose and rang the +bell, which Hannah answered. + +"Bring me a bed-candle, girl; I will seek my room at once; and please +ask Miss Trevethick to look in upon me before she retires herself, for I +feel far from well." + +"Yes, ma'am." Hannah thought within herself that the new arrival looked +uncommon fresh and well considering her years, and that her young +mistress had far more need of rest and "looking to" than she; but, +nevertheless, she gave the message; and Harry, at her usual time for +going to rest, repaired to the new-comer's room accordingly. + +"Are they gone to bed, those men?" inquired Mrs. Gilbert, anxiously, as +soon as the door was closed. + +"No, madam; my father and Solomon always sit up together now till late." + +"Ay; plotting against my boy, I doubt not. Well, let us, then, +counterplot. Who sleeps on either side of this room?" + +"No one, madam. Both rooms are empty at present; the last visitor, +except yourself, left us this evening." + +"And the servants?" + +"They have retired long ago up stairs." + +"That's well. Sit here, then, close to me, and listen. You know that +Richard is in prison, placed there by your father and that other man on +a false charge. They know as well as I or you that he had no intention +of committing the crime of which he stands accused, and yet they both +mean to swear the contrary." + +"Oh, madam, they will surely not do that!" + +"But I say 'Yes;' they want revenge upon him. I know them better than +you, who have known them all your life; or perhaps you say they will +not, because you hope so. Is it possible," she broke forth, impatiently, +"that in such a strait as this, girl, you can encourage such delusions! +You are like the fool in the Scripture, of whom it is written, that +though thou shouldst bray him among wheat with a pestle, yet will not +his foolishness depart from him." + +"I know I am not like you, madam," answered Harry, piteously. "Richard +has often told me how wise and brave you are; but yet my love for him is +as great as yours can be. Whatever you think fit that I should do to +help him, that shall be done. Trust me; it shall, indeed." + +"That's well said, girl. Be you the hand, and I the head, then, of this +enterprise, and we shall conquer yet. I say again, that if they could, +these men would swear my Richard's life away. They might as well do that +as what they mean to do, and deprive him of his liberty; cast him for +years into prison, and herd with the worst and basest of mankind; to +work under a task-master with irons on. Do you understand, girl, what it +is to which, unless we can hinder them, these wretches would doom him?" + +"Yes, yes, I do," she murmured, shuddering. "It is horrible, most +horrible! God help us!" + +"We must help ourselves," answered Mrs. Gilbert, sternly. + +"Yet God is surely on our side, and for the truth, madam. If they swear +falsely--" + +"You must swear also," interrupted the other, angrily; "you must meet +them with their own weapons, if you would defend the innocent against +them. As it is, the law is with them, and will prove the instrument of +their vengeance. The notes were found upon his person; he strove to +change them, that he might pass their substitutes more easily. He +counted upon your father not missing them from his strong-box until it +was too late. The case is clear against him that he stole them." + +"Great Heaven!" cried Harry, clasping her hands in agony; "and yet he +did not mean to steal them." + +"Of course not; nay more, he did _not_ steal them, for _you gave them to +him_." + +"_I_ gave them to him? Nay, I never did." + +"You did--you did, girl; you acquiesced in his plan for obtaining your +father's consent to your engagement; you undertook to supply him +temporarily with the money requisite to establish his pretensions as a +man of fortune. Or, if you did _not_"--and here her voice assumed an +intense earnestness--"your Richard, the man you pretend to love, will be +a convicted felon--a prisoner for all the summer of his life, and for +the rest an outcast!" + +Harry was silent; her hands were pressed to her forehead, as though to +compel her fevered brain to think without distraction. "I see, I see," +she murmured, presently; "his fate hangs upon my word. 'So help me, +God,' is what I have first to say, and then say _that_!" + +"Why not?" rejoined the other, stoutly. "Will not these men, too, call +God to witness what they know to be a lie? Will not _He_ discern the +motive that prompts _you_--desire to see a wronged man righted, the +innocent set free--and the motive that prompts _them_--malicious hate? +Or do you deem the all-seeing eye of Heaven is purblind? I tell you +this, girl, if I were in _your_ place, and the man I loved stood +_justly_ in such peril, I would swear a score such oaths to set him +free! Yet here, with justice on your side and truth, and Heaven itself, +you hesitate; you shrink from uttering a mere form of words, the spirit +of which is contrary to the letter, and for conscience sake, forsooth, +will let your lover perish! _Your_ lover! yes, but you were never _his_, +although he thinks so. I will go hence, and tell him that you refuse to +speak the thing that alone can save him from life-long wretchedness; I +will go and tell him that the girl for whose sake he has brought this +load of ruin on himself will not so much as lift it with her little +finger! You fair, foul devil, how I hate you!" She drew herself up to +her full height, and regarded the wretched girl with such contemptuous +scorn that even in her abject misery she felt its barb. + +"I have not earned your hate," said Harry, with some degree of firmness, +"if I have earned your scorn; nor is it meet that you should so despise +me, because I fear to anger God." + +"And man," added the other, with bitterness. "You fear your father's +wrath far more than Heaven's." + +That bolt went home: the unhappy girl did indeed stand in greater terror +of her father than of the sin of perjury; and the idea of affirming upon +oath what she had but a few days before so solemnly denied to him was +filling her with consternation and dismay. Still the picture that had +just been drawn of the ruin that would assuredly befall her Richard, +unless she interposed to save him, had more vivid colors even than that +of Trevethick's anger. Let him kill her, if he would, after the trial +was over, but Richard should go free. + +"I will do your bidding, madam," said she, suddenly, "though I perish, +body and soul." + +"You say that now, girl, and it's well and bravely said; but will you +have strength to put your words to proof? When I am gone, and there are +none but Richard's foes about you, will you resist their menaces, their +arguments, their cajolements, and be true as steel?" + +"I will, I will; I swear it," answered Harry, passionately; "they shall +never turn me from it. But suppose they prevent me from leaving Gethin, +from attending at the trial at all?" + +"Well thought of!" answered Mrs. Gilbert, approvingly; "she has some +wits, then, after all, this girl. As for their forbidding you to give +evidence, however, Mr. Weasel, who is Richard's lawyer, will see to +that. You will be subpoenaed as a witness for the defense. You will say, +then, that it was you who opened the strong-box, and took out the notes, +and gave them into Richard's hand." + +"But how could I open the letter padlock?" + +"Good, again!" answered the other; "you have asked the very question for +which I have brought the answer. Now, listen! Have you access to your +father's watch at times when he does not wear it?" + +"Yes; he does not always put it on--never on the day he goes to market, +for instance. He comes back late, you see." + +"Just so; and sometimes, perhaps, not altogether sober. Very good. Now, +you once opened that watch from curiosity, and saw a paper in its case +with B N Z upon it. Those letters formed the secret by which the lock +was opened. You tried it, just in fun at first, and found they did. Do +you understand?" + +"I do," said Harry. + +"You will not forget, then, what you have to say; or shall I +recapitulate it?" + +"There is no need," groaned Harry. "I shall remember it forever, be sure +of that, and on my death-bed most of all." With a wearied look on her +wan face, and a heavy sigh, the young girl rose to go. "Good-night, +madam. We need not speak of this again to-morrow, need we?" + +"Surely not, child. My mission here is done. The rain is falling still, +and that will be a sufficient excuse for my departure. I had a sick +headache to-night--remember that--but it will be better after a night's +sleep." + +"Do you sleep?" asked Harry, simply. "Ah me, I would that _I_ could +sleep!" + +"Of course I do. Is it not necessary for Richard's sake that I should be +well and strong? I could weep all night and fast all day, if I let my +foolish heart have its own will. It is easy enough to grieve at any +time; one has only to think to do that. Sleep, child, sleep, and dream +of him as he will be when you have set him free; then wake to work his +freedom. I will tell him that you will do so. Press your lips to mine, +that I may carry their sweet impress back to him. One moment more. Do +not get your lesson by heart, lest they should doubt you; but hold by +this one sentence, and never swerve from it: 'I gave Richard Yorke the +notes with my own hand.' That is the key which can alone unlock his +prison-door. Good-night, good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +MR. ROBERT BALFOUR. + + +An author of sensitive organization has always a difficulty in treating +the subject of prison life. If he avoids details, the critics do not +ascribe it to delicacy, but to incompetence; if, on the other hand, he +enters into them, they nudge the elbow of the public, and hint that this +particular phase of human experience is his specialty--that he "ought to +know," because he has been "through the mill" himself. This is not kind, +of course; but the expression, "a little more than kin and less than +kind," is exceedingly applicable to the critic in relation to his humble +brother, the author. We will take a middle course, then, and exhibit +only just so much of Cross Key as may be seen in a "justice's visit." + +Twenty years ago, the system of treatment of prisoners before trial +incarcerated in her Majesty's jails was not so uniform as it now is. In +some they were permitted few privileges not enjoyed by the convicts +themselves; in others a considerable difference was made between the two +classes. The establishment at Cross Key leaned to the side of +indulgence. Its inmates who were awaiting their trial were allowed to +wear their own clothes; to write letters to their friends without +supervision (though not without the suspicion of it on their own part); +and to mingle together for some hours in a common room, where that +unbroken silence which pervades all our modern Bastiles, and is perhaps +their most terrible feature, was not insisted upon. In this common room +Richard Yorke was sitting on the afternoon following his incarceration. +The principal meal of the day had been just concluded, and himself and +his fellow-guests were brooding moodily over their troubles. The +platters, the block-tin knives, so rounded that the most determined +self-destroyer could never job himself with them into Hades, and the +metal mugs had been removed, and their places on the narrow deal table +were occupied by a few periodicals of a somewhat depressing character, +though "devoted to the cultivation of quiet cheerfulness," and by a +leaden inkstand much too large to be swallowed. The prisoners--upon the +ground, perhaps, of not needing the wings of liberty for any other +purpose--were expected to furnish (from them) their own pens. There were +but half a dozen of these unfortunates; all, with two exceptions, were +of the same type--that of the ordinary agricultural criminal. Ignorant, +slouching, dogged, they might have fired a rick, or killed a keeper, or +even--sacrilegious but unthinking boors--have shot a great man's +pheasant. They did not make use of their privileges of conversation +beyond a muttered word or two, but stared stupidly at the pictures in +the magazines, wondering (as well they might) at the benevolent faces of +the landlords, clergymen, and all persons in authority therein +portrayed, or perhaps not wondering at them at all, but rather pondering +whether Bet and the children had gone into "the House" or not by this +time, or whether the man in the big wig would be hard upon themselves +next Wednesday three weeks. + +One of these two exceptions was, of course, our hero, who looked, by +contrast with these poor, simple malefactors, like a being from another +world, a fallen angel, but with the evil forces of his new abode already +gathering fast within him. His capacities for ill, indeed, were ten +times theirs; and the dusky glow of his dark eyes evinced that they were +at work, though they did but ineffectually reflect the hell of hate that +was beginning to be lit within him. It flamed against the whole world of +his fellow-creatures, so mad he was with pride and scorn and rage; his +hand should be against every man henceforth, as theirs was now against +him; his motto, like the _exeunt_ exclamation of the mob in the play, +should be: "Fire, burn, slay!" He was like a spoiled child who for the +first time has received a severe punishment--for a wonder, not wholly +deserved--and who wishes, in his vengeful passion, that all mankind +might have one neck in common with his persecutor, that (forgetting he +is no Hercules) his infant arms might throttle it off-hand. The love +which he still felt for Harry and his mother, far from softening him +toward others, rather increased his bitterness of spirit. They, too, +were suffering wrong and ill-treatment, and needed an avenger. His fury +choked him, so that he had eaten nothing of what had been set before +him, and he now sat leaning with his elbows on the bare boards, staring +with heated eyes at the blank wall before him, and feeding on his own +heart. + +"This is your first time in quod, I guess, young gentleman," observed a +quiet voice beside him. + +Richard started. He had thrown one contemptuous glance upon the company +when they first assembled, and had decided that they possessed no more +interest for him than a herd of cattle; buried in his own sombre +thoughts, he had lost consciousness of their very presence, as of that +of the warder, who was pacing up and down the room with monotonous +tread. But now that his attention was thus drawn to his next neighbor, +he saw that he differed somewhat from the rest; not that he was more +intelligent-looking--for, indeed, there was a reckless brutality in his +expression which the others lacked--but there was a certain resolution +and strength of will in his face, which at least told of power. But it +was the tone of voice, which, coming from such a man, though it was a +gruff voice enough in itself, had something conciliatory and winning in +it, that chiefly attracted Richard. Perhaps, too, the phrase "young +gentleman" flattered his vanity. We can not throw off all our weaknesses +at a moment's notice, no matter how stupendous the crisis in our +fortunes, any more than, though our boat be sinking under us, we can +divest ourselves of our clothes with a single shrug; and sympathy and +deferential respect had still their weight with Richard Yorke. Perhaps, +too, his nature had not yet even got quit of its gregariousness, and he +was not sorry to have his acquaintance sought, though by this hang-dog +thief. + +"I have never been in prison before, if that is what you mean," returned +he, civilly. + +He who asked the question was a stout-built, grizzled fellow, of about +fifty years. He was dressed like a well-to-do farmer, but his accent +smacked of London rather than the country; and his hands, Richard +observed, were not so coarse and rough as might be expected in one used +to manual labor, though his limbs and frame were powerful enough for the +most arduous toil. His gray eyes looked keenly at Richard from under +their bushy brows, as he propounded a second inquiry: + +"What are you in for? Forgery or embezzlement, I reckon--which is it?" + +"Neither," answered Richard, laconically, a bitter smile parting his +lips in spite of himself. + +"Well, now, that's curious," observed the other, coolly. "If it was not +that you were sent here with the rest of us, and not shut up by +yourself, I should have guessed 'Murder' outright, for you were looking +all that a minute ago; and since it could not be murder, I thought it +must be one of the other two." + +"I don't know what I am here for," said Richard, gloomily, "except that +the charge is false." + +"Oh, of course," rejoined the other, with a grim chuckle; "it's always +false the first time, and as often afterward as we can get the juries to +believe us. I'm an old hand myself, and my feelings are not easily +wounded; but I have never yet disgraced myself by pleading guilty. It's +throwing a chance away, unless you are a very beautiful young woman who +has put away her baby, and that I never was, nor did." + +"Beauty in distress mollifies the court, does it?" inquired Richard, +willing to be won from his own wretchedness by talk even with a man like +this. + +"Mollifies!--yes, it makes a molly of every body. I have known a judge +shed tears about it, which he is not bound to do unless he has the black +cap on--that always set him going like an onion. Why, I've seen even an +attorney use his pocket-handkerchief because of a pretty face in +trouble; but then she was his client, to be sure. Talking of attorneys, +you'll have Weasel, of course?" + +Richard nodded an affirmative. + +"Quite right. I should have him myself, if there was a shadow of a +chance; but, as it is, it's throwing good money out o' winder. I wish +you better luck, young gentleman, than mine is like to be; not that you +want luck, of course, but only justice." + +Richard did not relish this tone of banter, and he showed it in his +look. + +"Come, come," said the other, good-humoredly, "it is a pity to curdle +such a handsome face as yours with sour thoughts. Let us be friends, for +you may be glad of even a friend like me some dirty day." + +"It is very likely," answered Richard, bitterly. "I see no fine days +ahead, nor yet fine friends." + +"I hope you will see both," answered the other, frankly. "The first time +one finds one's self provided for so extra careful as this," with a +glance at the iron bars across the low-arched windows, "the prospect +always does seem dark. But one learns to look upon the bright side at +last. Is the figure very heavy that you're in for? Excuse my country +manners: I don't mean to be rude, nor do I ask the question from mere +curiosity; but you don't look like one to have come here for a mere +trifle." + +"The amount in question is two thousand pounds." + +"No whistling there!" cried the warder, peremptorily, for the "old hand" +had not been able to repress an expression of emotion at this +announcement. He looked at Richard with an air of self-complacency, such +as a gentleman of the middle classes exhibits on suddenly discovering +that he has been in familiar converse with a person of title, or a small +trader on being brought into unexpected connection with a merchant +prince. The gigantic character of the "operation" had invested this +young man with an increased interest in the stranger's eye. + +"That's a great beginning," said he, admiringly, "and could scarcely +have happened with a poor devil like me. One requires to be born a +gentleman to have such opportunities. Now, I don't mind telling _you_" +here he sank his voice to a whisper, and looked cautiously about him, +"that I was forty years of age before I ever got such a haul as yours. +I've done better since, but it's been up-hill work, for all that." + +"It doesn't seem to have been very hard work," said Richard, with a +meaning glance at the other's hand. + +"Well, no, I can't say as it's been hard; a neat touch is what is wanted +in my profession." + +"Why, you're not a pick--" Richard hesitated from motives of delicacy. + +"A pickpocket? Well, I hope not, Sir, indeed," interrupted the other, +indignantly. + +"Then what _are_ you?" said Richard, bluntly. + +As a coy maiden blushes and hangs her head in silence when asked the +question which she is yet both proud and pleased to answer in the +affirmative, so did Mr. Robert Balfour (for such was the name of our new +acquaintance) pause and in graceful confusion rub his stubble chin with +his closed fist ere he replied: "Well, the fact is, I have been in the +gold and precious stone line these thirty years, and never in the +provinces until this present summer, when I came down here, as a Yankee +pal of mine once put it, 'to open a little jewelry store.'" + +"With a crowbar?" suggested Richard, with a faint smile. + +"Just so," said the other, nodding; "and it so happened that yours +truly, Bob Balfour, was caught in the very act." + +"And what term of punishment do you expect for such a--" + +"Such a misfortune as that?" answered Mr. Balfour, hastening to relieve +Richard's embarrassment. "Well, if I had got the swag, I +should--considering the testimonials that will be handed in--have been a +lifer. But since I did not realize so much as a weddin' _ring_, twenty +years ought to see me through it now." + +Twenty years! Why, this man would be over seventy before he regained his +liberty! + +"Great Heaven!" cried Richard, "can you be cheerful with such a future +before you! and at the end of it, to be turned old and penniless into +the wide world!" + +A genuine pity showed itself in the young man's look and tone. A minute +before he had thought himself the most wretched of human beings; yet +here was one whose fate was even harder, and who met it without +repining. Community of trouble had already touched the heart which he +had thought was turned to stone. + +"Are you sorry for me, young gentleman," inquired the convict, in an +altered voice, "you who have got so much trouble of your own to bear?" + +"I am, indeed," said Richard, frankly. + +"You would not write a letter for me, though, would you?" inquired the +other, wistfully. "I should like to tell--somebody as I've left at +home--where I am gone to; and the fact is, I can't write; I never +learned how to do it." + +A blush came over Bob Balfour's face for the first time; the man was +ashamed of his ignorance, though not of his career of crime. "If it's +too much trouble, say so," added he, gruffly. "Perhaps it was too great +a favor to ask of a gentleman born." + +"Not at all," said Richard, hastily, "if the man will bring us pen and +paper." + +"Hush! the _officer_, if you please," said Balfour. "They like to be +'officered,' these gentry, every one of them. Some friends of mine +always addresses 'em as 'dogs;' but that's a mistake, when they has to +watch you." + +Mr. Robert Balfour spoke a few respectful words to the warder, and the +requisite materials were soon laid upon the table. Richard dipped his +pen in the ink, and waited for directions. "It's only a few words," +muttered Mr. Balfour, apologetically, "to my old mother. Perhaps you +have a mother yourself, young gentleman?" + +"I have." He had written to her guardedly the previous day, before he +left Plymouth, to tell her the same sad news which he was now, as he +supposed, about to repeat for another, and to urge her to repair to +Cross Key at once. + +Mr. Balfour beat softly on the table with his forefinger for a moment, +and then, as though he had found the key-note of the desired +composition, dictated as follows: + + "MY DEAR MOTHER,--When this comes to hand, I shall have took your + advice, and started for the New World. There's a ship a-sailing + from Plymouth in a day or two, and my passage in her is booked. I + didn't like to come back to town again, for fear I should change my + mind, and turn to the old trade. The post is queer and doubtful, + they tell me, in these far-away parts; but you shall hear from me + whenever I have an opportunity. All as is mine is yours, remember; + so, use it. I have no need of money myself, for there's a place + being kept for me, out yonder, in the carpentering line. Hoping + this finds you well, as it leaves me, I am your dutiful son, ROBERT + BALFOUR." + +"Then you don't tell her any thing about what's happened to you?" said +Richard, wonderingly. + +"Why should I? The poor soul's over seventy, and will never see me +again. It's much better that she should have a pretty picture to look at +than such a reality as this; ain't it?" + +"Well, I suppose it is." + +This delicate feeling on the part of Mr. Balfour jarred upon Richard. +_He_ had taken no pains to break the news of his imprisonment to _his_ +mother; on the contrary, he had painted the wretchedness of his +position, with a view to set forth the urgent necessity for help, in its +most sombre colors. Of course there was a great difference in the two +cases, an immense difference; but still he resented this exhibition of +natural piety, as contrasting unpleasantly with his own conduct. + +The other, however, had no suspicion of this. His thoughts, just then, +were far away; and the subject of them gave an unwonted softness to his +tone as he observed: "I thank you for this, kindly, young gentleman. +Here's the address--Earl Street, Spitalfields. It's her own house; and +she will have enough, and to spare, while she lives, thank the Lord! +Well, that's done with; and if Bob Balfour can do you a good turn for +it, he will. Hello, you're wanted." + +"Richard Yorke!" repeated the warder, loudly. "Can't you hear?" + +Richard had heard well enough; but the idea that it was his mother who +had come to see him had for the moment unmanned him; he well knew how +proud she had been of him; and how was he to meet her now, disgraced, +disheartened, in prison, a reputed thief! But the next instant he +reflected that her arrival could not be possibly looked for for some +days; perhaps it was Trevethick, who had, in the mean time, learned all, +and was come to announce his willingness to withdraw from the +prosecution; perhaps Harry herself was with him; perhaps-- + +But there was no time for further prognostication; a second warder was +at the door, beckoning impatiently, and Richard rose at once. The dull +faces of the rest were all raised toward him with a malign aspect; they +feared that some good news was come for him, that they were about to +lose a companion in misfortune. Only one held out his hand, with a "Good +luck to you, young gentleman; though I never see you again, I shall not +forget you." + +"Silence there!" cried the officer in charge, as Richard passed out into +the stone passage. "You ought to know our ways better than that, +Balfour." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +ATTORNEY AND CLIENT. + + +In a hall of stone stood a room of glass, and in that room the inmates +of Cross Key Jail were permitted to have access to their legal advisers. +They were not lost sight of by the jealous guardians of the place, one +of whom perambulated the hall throughout the interview; but though he +could see all that passed, he could hear nothing. Mr. Weasel of Plymouth +was very well known at Cross Key as being a frequent visitor to that +transparent apartment, and those prisoners whom he favored with his +attentions were justly held in high estimation by the warders, as +gentlemen who, though in difficulties, had at least some considerable +command of ready money. He was waiting now, with his hat on (which he +always wore, to increase his very limited stature), in this chamber of +audience; and so withered up he looked, and such a sharp, shrunk face he +had, that Richard, seeing him in the glass case, might have thought him +some dried specimen of humanity, not alive at all, had he not chanced to +be in the act of taking snuff; and even that was ghostly too, since it +produced the pantomimic action of sneezing without its accompanying +sound. + +"Mr. Richard Yorke, I believe?" said he, as soon as they were shut up +within the walls of glass, "I am glad to make your acquaintance, Sir, +though I wish, for your sake, that it happened in another place. You'll +excuse my not offering you my hand." + +Richard drew back his extended arm and turned crimson. + +"Don't be offended, Sir," said the lawyer; "but the fact is, the +authorities here don't like it. There are some parties in this place who +employ very queer legal advisers; and in shaking hands, a file or a +gimlet, and a bit of tobacco, are as likely to pass as not. That warder +can see every thing, my dear young Sir; but he can no more hear what we +say than he can understand what a couple of bumble-bees are murmuring +about who are barred up in a double window. We can therefore converse +with one another as much without reserve as we please, or rather"--and +here the little man's eyes twinkled significantly--"as _you_ please. +What I hear from a client in this ridiculous place is never revealed +beyond it, except so far as it may serve his interests. If Mr. Dodge (to +whose favor, as I understand, I owe this introduction) has told you any +thing concerning me, he will, I am sure, have advised you to be quite +frank and candid." + +"There was no necessity for such a warning, Mr. Weasel, in my case, I do +assure you," answered Richard, earnestly. "I have nothing to conceal +from you with respect to the circumstances of my position: they are +unfortunate, and doubtless very suspicious; but I am as innocent of this +disgraceful charge--" + +"Hush, hush! my dear Sir; this will never do. It is mere waste of time, +though it might have been much worse. Good Heavens! suppose you had been +guilty, and told me _that_! you would have placed me in the most +embarrassing situation, as your professional adviser, it is possible for +the human mind to conceive. What I want to know is _your_ story, so far +as these two thousand pounds found in your possession are concerned. +Whether it is true or not, does not matter a button. I want to know +whether it _seems_ true; whether it will seem true to a judge and jury. +You have thought the matter over, of course; you have gone through it in +your own mind from beginning to end--now please to go over it to me." + +The little man whipped out a note-book, leaned forward in his chair, and +looked all eye and ear, like a terrier watching at a rat-hole. + +After a moment's pause, Richard stated his case pretty much as we are +already acquainted with it; the little lawyer interrupting him now and +then by a gesture, but never by a word, in order that he might set down +a point or a memorandum. + +"Very good," said Mr. Weasel, when he had quite finished. "That's your +story, is it?" + +"It's the truth, Sir." + +"Hush! my dear young Sir. We shall have enough of that--the truth, the +whole truth, and nothing but the truth--a fortnight hence. What you and +I have to consider are the probabilities. Why did you go to Plymouth, +more than any other place, to change these notes?" + +"Because I had heard there was a Miners' Bank there, and Trevethick had +mentioned the notes of that company as being as good, in his opinion, as +those of the Bank of England. I thought it would be easier to get the +Mining notes in exchange for those of the Bank of England, than others +of the same bank." + +"The check which you showed this Trevethick was not, then, a _bonâ fide_ +piece of paper, eh?" + +"It was not," said Richard, casting down his eyes. + +"Very good," answered the lawyer, so cheerfully that you would have +thought his client had cleared himself of the least suspicion upon +_that_ score, at all events. "Now, where did you get it?" + +"My mother sent me a blank check, at my request, and I filled it in." + +"That check is destroyed, you say--you burned it, of course?" + +"No; I tore it up, and threw it out of the window of the carriage." + +"The devil you did!" said Mr. Weasel, in perturbation. "That is not the +way to destroy checks. Had your mother an account at the bank on which +it was drawn?" + +"Of course." said Richard, simply. + +"There is nothing 'of course,' Mr. Yorke, in this matter," answered the +lawyer, gravely. "Are you quite sure?" + +"Quite. She has always had an account there; though to no such amount as +two thousand pounds." + +"It is a large sum," muttered the lawyer, thoughtfully, "but still they +have not lost one penny of it. In case things went against you, Mr. +Yorke, would an appeal to the prosecutor be likely to be of service?" + +"Certainly not," answered Richard, hastily. "I would not accept mercy at +his hands; besides, it is not a question of mercy." + +"It may come to that," observed the other, gravely. "We must not deceive +ourselves, Mr. Yorke." + +"Good Heavens! do you believe, then, that I took this money with intent +to steal it?" + +"What my belief is is of no consequence, one way or the other; but my +opinion is that the jury will take that view, if they hear your story as +you tell it. The fact is, you have left out the most important incident +of all: the whole case will hinge upon the young lady's having given you +these notes with her own hand. It is evident, of course, that she +sympathized with you in your scheme," pursued the lawyer, rapidly, and +holding up his finger to forbid the protest that was already rising to +Richard's lip: "nothing could be more natural, though most imprudent and +ill judged, than her behavior. She had no more idea of stealing the +money than you had; how should she, since it was in a manner her own, +she being her father's sole heiress. You and I see that clearly enough, +but to a jury used to mere matters of fact, motive has little +significance unless put into action. What we want, and what we must +have, is evidence that you got these notes, not only for this girl's +sake, but from her fingers. Nobody can hurt _her_, you know. Trevethick +could never prosecute his own daughter; indeed, the whole affair +dwindles down to a lover's stratagem, and there is no need for +prosecuting any body, if we can only put Harry Trevethick into the +witness-box. Now can we, Mr. Yorke, or can we not? that's the question." + +Richard was silent; the lawyer's argument struck him with its full +force. He had no scruples on the matter for his own part, but he feared +that Harry might entertain them--they would be only too much in keeping +with her credulous and superstitious nature. + +"If I could talk to her alone for five minutes," muttered Richard, +uneasily. + +"That is impossible," said Mr. Weasel, with decision. "We can only play +with such cards as we hold. I could go to Gethin myself, though it would +be most inconvenient at this busy time, and refresh this young woman's +memory; but it is a delicate task, and would be looked upon by the other +side with some suspicion. Now, is there no judicious friend that can be +thoroughly depended upon--a female friend, if possible, since the affair +may require tact and sympathy--to effect this little negotiation? Think, +my good Sir, think." + +"Why, there is my mother herself!" ejaculated Richard, suddenly. "She is +the wisest of women, and the very one to conduct this matter, if +properly instructed." + +"Is she, now, is she?" said the lawyer, cheerily. "Come, come, that's +well, and I begin to see a little light. Let her go down to Gethin, +where, as I conclude, she is not known, and see Miss Trevethick herself. +I should like to see her beforehand, however; indeed, that is absolutely +necessary." + +"In my note to her, yesterday, I asked her to call at your office in +Plymouth on her way hither," stammered Richard. "I thought it +better--that is, in the first instance--that she should hear from you +how matters stood." + +Mr. Weasel took a copious pinch of snuff, and shut his eyes, as though +he were going to sneeze. Whenever a client got upon an embarrassing +topic Mr. Weasel took snuff, to obviate the necessity of looking him in +the face; while, in case of any compromising disclosure, Mr. Weasel +sneezed, to obviate hearing it. + +"In a case of this kind, Mr. Yorke, not a moment is to be lost. I should +advise your mother's going direct to Gethin from my house, and making +sure of this young lady's evidence. There is even a possibility--I don't +say it is probable, but there is just a chance, you see--that she may be +subpoenaed _by the other side_." + +"Just so," assented Richard, so naïvely that a smile flitted across the +little lawyer's face. + +"Under these circumstances, then, this is what we will do, my dear young +Sir: Mrs. Yorke will go to the _Gethin Castle_ as a guest, and, as I +shall venture to suggest, under another name; she will then find an +opportunity of speaking to Miss Trevethick without awakening her +father's suspicions; and when she comes to Cross Key, she will have, I +trust, some good news to bring you, something to talk about (although +you must be very careful and guarded, mind that, for you will not be +left alone together, as we are) besides mere regrets and lamentations; +don't you see, don't you see?" + +Richard saw exceedingly well, and felt more grateful to the lawyer for +devising such an arrangement than he would like to have confessed; +nevertheless, he did thank him heartily. + +"Not at all, not at all, my dear young Sir," drawing on one of his +gloves, in signal of departure. "In a case like this, we must consult +feelings as well as array our facts; we must bring heart and head to +bear together. Speaking of head reminds me, by-the-by, of the subject of +counsel. I propose to instruct Mr. Smoothbore, who leads upon this +circuit; I gather from your letter that there will be no difficulty with +respect to funds." + +"Whatever may be necessary, Mr. Weasel, for my defense will be, you may +rest assured, forthcoming. My mother--" + +The smile disappeared from the lawyer's face with electrical rapidity. +"Pardon me, my young friend," said he; "but as a professional man, I +only deal with principals in these matters. The word forthcoming is a +little vague. Counsel are paid beforehand, you must remember." + +We must not be angry with Mr. Weasel, who was really a good sort of man +after his kind. He was naturally cautious, and if he had been the most +trustful of mankind his experience would have taught him prudence. He +did like to see his money down; and really, as to Mr. Yorke, all he knew +of his pecuniary position was with relation to that blank check, the +history of which was not of a nature to inspire confidence. + +"I was about to observe," said Richard, haughtily, "that my mother would +satisfy all claims; but, in the mean time, there were over a hundred +pounds in notes and gold which were found upon me when I was searched at +Plymouth. If you doubt me, you have only to make inquiries." + +"My dear young Sir," returned the lawyer, earnestly, "this is not +courteous, this is not kind. I never doubted you from the first moment +that I saw you; no one with any knowledge of mankind could do so. +Professional etiquette compelled me to remark that I could treat with +principals only, that is all. Let me see," added he, consulting his +note-book, "have I any thing more to say? Yes, yes. With respect to this +young lady, Miss Harry Trevethick--I did not like to interrupt you at +the time, but I see I have made a memorandum--is she pretty?" + +"She is very, very beautiful," said Richard, earnestly, the remembrance +of her beauty giving a tenderness to his tone. + +"That's capital!" nodded the lawyer. "Old Bantam is our judge this +session, and he likes a pretty face. So do we all, for the matter of +that, I hope. You are young and good-looking yourself, too; Smoothbore +will make something of _that_, you may depend upon it. 'Gracious +Heavens, is the iron arm of the law to sunder these happy lovers for a +mere indiscretion, and make their bright young lives a blank forever?' +He'll give them something like that, Sir, in a voice broken by emotion, +and bring you off with flying colors." + +"I don't care about the colors, if he only brings me off," said Richard, +grimly. + +"A very natural remark, my dear young Sir, for one in your present +situation; but three weeks hence, as I both hope and believe, you will +not be so easily satisfied; the more we have, the more we want, you +know--except in the matter of time. I have very little to spare of it +just now, and must therefore take my leave." + +Mr. Weasel had put on his other glove and his hat, and, with a cheerful +nod, had actually placed his fingers on the door-handle, when he +suddenly turned round, and said: "By-the-by, I had almost forgotten a +little form of words, which in your case I am sure will be _but_ a form, +and yet I do not like to omit it. I never leave a client in your +position without asking him the question; so you must excuse me, my +young friend, and not be offended." + +"I am not in a position to be very sensitive about what is said to me," +answered Richard, bitterly. "Pray ask whatever you please." + +Mr. Weasel looked cautiously round, to see that the warder was not too +near, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Is this little affair your +first, my dear young Sir? I mean," added he, "have you ever been in +trouble with the law before?" + +"Certainly not," replied Richard, smiling. + +"I had anticipated your answer," said the little lawyer, gayly; "but I +thought it right to make quite certain. Because, if the affair should +happen to reach a stage where the question of 'character' is mooted +(though it won't get so far as _that_, I trust, in our case), one +doesn't like to be taken altogether by surprise, do you see? You have +been a landscape-painter, you say. A most innocent and charming +occupation, I am sure, and one which Smoothbore will make the very most +of. The case altogether will afford him such opportunities that he +really ought to do it cheap. And you've never been any thing else, have +you? never had any other calling, or obtained your livelihood by any +other than quite legal and permissible means--eh? What, what? You have +not been quite frank and candid with me, my dear Sir, I fear." + +"It is really not of much consequence," said Richard, hesitating. + +"You must allow me to be the judge of that, Mr. Yorke," said the other, +gravely, taking off his hat once more and one of his gloves. "Imagine +yourself a good Catholic, if you please, with Father Weasel for your +priest." + +The confession lasted for some minutes. + +"I think you will admit that what I have told you has not much bearing +upon the matter in hand," said Richard, when he had finished. + +"None at all, none at all--that is, I hope not," answered the other, +thoughtfully. "But what an interesting revelation it is! What a nice +point as to whether the matter is an offense against the law or not! How +prettily Smoothbore would treat the subject, if it chanced to come in +his way!" He looked at Richard with admiration. "You're a most +remarkable young man, Sir; I wish that circumstances permitted of my +shaking you by the hand. Good-morning, my dear Sir. You may depend upon +my not permitting the grass to grow under my feet. When your mother +comes she will have good news for you. Good-morning." + +The warder took possession of Richard, while Mr. Weasel, followed by the +young man's longing eyes, was ushered to the opposite door, on the other +side of which was liberty. But the lawyer's mind was still within the +prison walls, though his legs were free, and walking up the street of +the little town toward his inn. + +"Now, that is really a most remarkable young man," he murmured to +himself. "A most ingenious young fellow, upon my word. The idea of his +having invented a new crime! Why, bless my heart, it's quite an +epoch--quite an epoch!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE IRON CAGE. + + +So long as Richard had had Mr. Weasel to bear him company, half his +troubles--so elastic was his nature, and so apt for social +intercourse--seemed to have been removed; but now that that brisk, +confident voice was heard no more, and the stone passages only echoed to +the tread of the warder and himself, his spirits sank even lower than +they had been before. Alone in his comfortless cell, he went over the +lawyer's talk anew, and it was strange how the sparks of comfort died +out of it. It was clear that in the first instance his companion had +taken a gloomy view of his case, that he looked upon Richard's own story +with utter disbelief, and was convinced it would not hold water before a +jury. His remark about the money having been recovered must have had +reference to a possible mitigation of the sentence, and therefore took +conviction for granted. Nor, upon reconsideration of the case with +calmness--the calm of loneliness and despair--was, Richard himself +admitted, any other conclusion to be arrived at by a stranger. Those who +were acquainted with his rash and impulsive character and reckless ways +would understand that he had no serious intention of robbing +Trevethick--except, that is, of his daughter; even Trevethick himself +must be aware of that; though, with that same exception before his eyes, +it was more than doubtful whether he would acknowledge it. Smarting with +the sense of the deceit that Richard had practiced (almost with success) +upon him, he might conceal his real impression of the affair, and treat +it as a common felony. Taking the brutality of Solomon's manner to him +when he was arrested as an index of his prosecutor's purpose, he felt +that this was what would happen; and if so, what chance would he have +against such evidence? Would the judge and jury be persuaded to believe +that he had acted with the romantic folly that had in reality possessed +him? And if not, to what protracted wretchedness might he not be doomed! + +His old hopes, in short, lay dead within him, and he felt that his late +adviser had been right in suggesting the evidence of Harry Trevethick as +the only means to secure his acquittal. He did not look beyond _that_ +for an hour. Life for the next three weeks would have but one event for +him--his trial and its result. The little attorney, whom he had seen but +once, the suasive barrister, of whom he had only heard, were from +henceforth the two persons upon earth who had the most interest for him +of all mankind. If _they_ failed him, all was lost. If they succeeded, +all, or what had now become his all, was gained. He thought of Harry +only as the being upon whose testimony his fate depended; he did not +picture her to himself in any other character, though perhaps he would +have refused to part with her even at the price of that liberty which +had become so precious in his eyes. She would surely not refuse to say +the half-dozen words which were the "open sesame" that alone could set +him free! He thought of his mother, not so much as such--the truest and +most unselfish friend he had--as the person best qualified to win Harry +over to speak those words. He was no longer ashamed to see her; his +heart was so full of anxious fear that there was no room for shame; but +he was glad that the lawyer had recommended her to visit Gethin before +coming to Cross Key. What he thirsted for was hope, a gleam of sunshine, +a whisper of good news. If his mother had not that to give him, let her +stay away. He did not wish his heart to be melted within him by regrets +and tears; if there was no hope, let it harden on, till it was as hard +as adamant, for the hour, that, however long delayed, must come at +last--of vengeance! He thought of Solomon Coe as one of a dominant race +thinks of the slave who has become his master, and was his murderer in +his heart ten times a day. He thought of him as the man who would marry +Trevethick's daughter, his own Harry, while he (Richard) rotted in jail. + +Such were the bitter reflections, creeping fears, and meagre hopes which +consumed him when he was alone, that is to say, for five-sixths of the +day and all the weary night. In the society of Balfour he found, if not +solace, at least some respite from his gnawing cares. The importance +which this man had attached to the recovery of stolen goods as +mitigating the punishment of crime, and to good looks in the case of a +female witness or prisoner, corroborated as it had been by the judicial +experience of Mr. Weasel, gave him confidence in the convict's +intelligence; or, at least, in his judgment with respect to the matter +on which Richard's thoughts were solely concentrated. He was never weary +of asking this man's opinion on this point and on that of his own case, +the details of which he fully confided to him. Balfour, on his part, +gave him his best advice, and whatever comfort he could. He did not +resent, nor even seem to be aware of the fact, that the position in +which he stood himself awoke no corresponding sympathy in Richard. He +had taken a fancy to this young fellow, so different from any companion +that he had ever known; was flattered by his confidence; and felt that +enthusiasm toward him which friendship, when it exists between two +persons of widely different grades, sometimes begets in the inferior. + +A week passed on, and then, at the same time and place as before, +Richard was summoned from his fellow-prisoners. He turned pale in spite +of himself, as he rose from the table to meet for the first time, since +disgrace had overwhelmed him, his mother's face. + +"Don't give way, my young master," whispered Balfour, good-naturedly, +"for that will only make the old woman fret." + +Richard nodded, and followed the warder, who on this occasion led the +way through a different door. "It ain't Mr. Weasel this time," said the +latter, in answer to his look of surprise; "it's a private friend, and +therefore we can't let you have the glass box." He ushered him into what +would have been a stone courtyard, except that it had a roof also of +stone. In the middle of this, running right across it, was a sort of +cage of iron, or rather a passage some six feet broad, shut in on either +side by high iron rails; within this paced an officer of the prison; and +on the other side of it stood a female figure, whom Richard at once +recognized as his mother. It was with this iron cage between them, and +in the presence of an official, that prisoners in Cross Key Jail were +alone permitted to receive the visits of their friends and kinsfolk. It +was no wonder that in an interview under such restrictions, Mr. Weasel +should have recommended caution. + +To do Richard justice, however, that was not the reflection that now +passed through his mind. For all his selfish thoughts and calculations, +he had really yearned to cast himself on his mother's breast, and feel +once more her loving arms around him; to whisper in her ever-ready ear +his sorrow for the past, his anxieties for the future; and when he saw +that this was not to be, the heart that he would have poured out before +her seemed to sink and shrink within him. In this material obstacle +between them he seemed to behold a type of the dread doom that was +impending over him--separation from humanity, exclusion from the world +without, a life-long entombment within stone walls. He put his hand and +arm through the bars, mechanically, to touch his mother's fingers, and +when he found he could not reach them, he burst into tears. It was only +by a great effort that Mrs. Yorke could maintain her self-control; but +she, nevertheless, did do so. Her face was calm, and her eyes, though +full of tenderness and pity, were tearless; only her low, soft voice +gave token of the woe within her in its tremulous and faltering tones. + +"Dear Richard," it said, "my own dear Richard, take heart; a few days +hence, and you will be folded in your mother's arms; not to stray from +them again, I trust, my boy, my boy!" She pressed her forehead with its +fine white hair against the cruel bars, and seemed to devour him with +her loving eyes. "All will yet be well," she continued; "your innocence +can not fail to be established, and this dreadful time will be forgotten +like an evil dream." + +"Have you been to Gethin, mother?" + +"Yes, dear; I only came from thence this morning. Harry sent you her +best love. Your faith in her, she bade me tell you, is not misplaced; +_she will be in the witness-box, for certain_." This last sentence was +uttered in the French tongue, and very rapidly. + +"I am very sorry, ma'am," interrupted the official, who had retired to +the further extremity of the cage, "but my orders are to prohibit +conversation between prisoners and their friends in a foreign language." + +"I will take care not to transgress again," said Mrs. Yorke, with a +sweet smile; "your consideration for us I am sure demands all +obedience." + +"Has Mr. Weasel made his arrangements, mother?" + +"Yes, all; the subpoena will be sent to Gethin to morrow. He is most +confident as to the result." + +"And what does Mr. Smoothbore say? Have you seen _him_?" + +"No, dear, no. But the matter on which I went to Gethin having been +satisfactorily arranged, we may consider that is all settled. Your +counsel has no doubt of being able to establish your innocence, +notwithstanding the malice of your enemies." + +"But what is he like, this Smoothbore?" + +"Well, the fact is, Richard, we have not got him, but another man, Mr. +Balais--quite his equal, Mr. Weasel assures me, in all respects." + +"Not got him!" cried Richard, impatiently. "Why, Weasel told me +Smoothbore led the circuit. Why have we not secured him?" + +"He has been retained by the other side," answered Mrs. Yorke, in a tone +that she in vain endeavored to render cheerful. "To say the truth, +Richard, the prosecutor is exhibiting the utmost vindictiveness, and +straining every nerve for a conviction. Money, which he was said to be +so fond of, is now no object with him, or at least he spares none. But +he can not bribe twelve honest men, nor a righteous judge." + +"I knew it," exclaimed Richard, stamping his foot on the stone floor. +"Those sullen brutes, Trevethick and the other, would have my life, if +they could. There is nothing that they would stick at, be assured of +that--and do you put Weasel on his guard--to work my ruin. How could he +be such a dolt as to let them be beforehand with him, when he himself +said there was not an hour to be lost!" + +"Indeed, Richard, all was done for the best. One could scarcely expect +Mr. Weasel to advance so large a sum as was required, without security; +and he did communicate with Mr. Smoothbore as soon as he had satisfied +himself upon that score. He assures me Mr. Balais is quite as clever a +counsel. Indeed, I should not have told you of the change, had you not +pressed the question so directly." + +"Tell me all, mother; tell me every thing; I adjure you to keep nothing +back. To think and guess and fear, in a place like this, is worse than +not to know the worst. Trevethick is a miser, and yet you say he is +spending with a lavish hand. How is it you know that?" + +"Why, Mr. Smoothbore's clerk is a friend of Mr. Weasel's, and he hears +from him that his master has never received so large a retaining fee as +on this occasion. The sum we offered, two days afterward, though larger +than is customary, was, he said, but a trifle compared with it." + +"You have something else to tell me yet, mother--I see it in your eyes. +If you go away with it untold, you leave me on the rack." + +"There is nothing more," answered his mother, hesitatingly, "or almost +nothing." + +"What is it?" cried Richard, hoarsely--"what is it?" + +"Well, merely this: that thinking that no money should be spared to help +you in this dreadful trouble, Richard, and having but a very little of +my own, I--I forgot my pride and steadfast resolution never to ask your +father--" + +"You did not apply to Carew for money, surely?" ejaculated Richard, +angrily. "To let him know that I was here was ruin." + +"It may have been ill judged, indeed, dear Richard," replied his mother, +quietly; "but it was not ill meant. Do you suppose it cost me nothing to +be his suppliant? Do you suppose I have no scorn nor hate, as you have, +for those who have wronged me and you? If fury could avail to set you +free, your mother would be as the tigress robbed of her young. It is an +easy thing enough to fume and foam; it is hard to have to clasp the +knees of those whom you despise, in vain." + +"He refused you, then--this man?" + +"He did, Richard. He told me--what I had not learned from you; I do not +say it to reproach you, dear--what it was that had so long detained you +at Gethin. He mentioned, in coarsest terms, your love for Harry, and how +you had misrepresented yourself to Trevethick as the heir of Crompton in +order to win her. He expressed a callous indifference to your present +peril, and added something more in menace than in warning respecting +that affair with Chandos which caused you to leave his roof. Since it +seemed you had made no secret of the matter to Mr. Weasel, I showed him +Carew's note; and his opinion is that Trevethick has spies at work to +track your past. This may or may not injure you. Mr. Weasel thinks that +it will not; but it shows the rancor with which this case is pressed by +Trevethick--a malice which we are altogether at a loss to understand." + +Richard ground his heel upon the stone without reply, while his mother +looked at him in gravest sorrow. + +"Your time is almost up, ma'am," said the warder; "there's only a minute +more." + +"You told her how much depended on her, mother, did you?" said Richard, +rousing himself in the effort. + +"Yes, dear. She will not fail us, never fear. Keep heart and hope; and +as for me, you will be sure that not a moment of my waking thoughts is +wasted upon aught but you. I shall see you again, once more at least, +before your--before the trial comes on; and Mr. Weasel will be here next +week again. Is there any thing, my own dear boy, that I can do for you?" + +"One moment, mother. Carew has not punished _you_ on my account, I +trust? He has not cut off--" + +"The annuity? Yes; he has stopped that." + +"May he rot on earth, and perish everlastingly!" + +"Hush, hush, dear; pray be calm; there is no need to fret. I can support +myself without his aid; indeed I can; and perhaps he may relent when he +gets sane, for he was like a madman at my coming to Crompton. Mr. +Whymper will do all he can, I am sure. How cruel it was of me to heed +your words, and tell you--Look to him, warder, look to my son!" she +screamed. + +Richard had indeed turned deadly pale, and though his fingers still +mechanically clutched the iron rail, was swaying to and fro; the warder +unlocked the passage-gate, and ran to him just in time to save his +falling headlong on the pavement. + +"Are you a man," said the agonized woman, "or iron like this"--and she +beat against the railing passionately--"that you will not let a mother +kiss her son when he is dying?" + +"Nay, nay, ma'am; it's not so bad as that," said the warder, +good-naturedly; "see, he's a-coming round agen all right. I've seen a +many took like that. In half a minute he'll be himself again. It's his +trouble as does it, bless you. If you'll take my advice, you'll spare +both your son and yourself the pain of parting, and leave him as he is. +I'd go bail for it, it's just a faint, that's all." + +"Let me kiss him once," implored the unhappy woman. "Oh, man, if you +have ever known a mothers love, let me kiss him once! Here is a +five-pound note--take it, and leave me still your debtor--but one kiss." + +"Nay, ma'am, I can't take your money; of which, as I couldn't help +hearing you say, you have not got too much to spare. But you shall kiss +your bonnie boy, and welcome;" and with that the stout warder took the +unconscious lad up in his arms, and bore him within the passage; and +his, mother put her lips between the bars and pressed them to his +forehead once, twice, thrice. + +"There, there, ma'am; that will do," muttered the man, impatiently; "and +even that is as much as my place is worth. Now, just tap at yonder door, +and they'll let you out." + +Mrs. Yorke obeyed him without a word. She had heard the heavy fluttering +sigh that betokened Richard's return to consciousness, and knew that the +worst was over; unless, indeed, the coming back to life might not be the +worst of all. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +IN THE COURT-HOUSE. + + +It is proposed by some elevators of the public mind to make us all +philosophers, and to abolish the morbid interest which mankind at +present entertains in the issues of life and death. They hold it +weakness that we should become excited by incident, or enthralled by +mystery, and prophesy a future when intelligence shall reign supreme, to +the extinction of the vulgar passion for sensation. In the mean time, +however, the sympathetic hopes and fears of humanity remain pretty much +as they have been within all living memory; and one of the greatest +treats that can be provided for the popular palate is a criminal trial. +There are many reasons why this should be the case; the courts of law +are free, and a sight that can be seen for nothing is of itself +attractive, since we are, at all events, not losing our time and money +too. Again, the most popular drama, the most popular novel, are those to +which the dénouements can not easily be guessed; and in the court-house +we see drama and novel realized with the verdict of the jury and the +sentence of the judge--a matter of anxious speculation to the very last. +Where theatres and books are rare the passion for such scenes is +proportionally stronger, and perhaps there is no periodical event which +so deeply stirs the agricultural interest--speaking socially, and not +politically--as the advent of the Judges of Assize. + +At Cross Key, at all events, there was nothing else talked of for weeks +beforehand; and the case which above all others was canvassed, and +prejudged, and descanted upon over all sorts of boards--from the +mahogany one in the dining-room at Cross Key Park to the deal tripod +which held the pots and pipes at the road-side beer-house--was that of +Richard Yorke, the young gentleman-painter, who had run away with old +John Trevethick of Gethin's hoarded store. The rumor had got abroad that +he had almost run away with his daughter also, and this intensified the +interest immensely. The whole female population, from the high-sheriff's +wife down to the woman who kept the apple-stall in the market-place, was +agog to see this handsome young Lothario, and especially to hear the +evidence of his (clandestinely) betrothed, who was known to have been +subpoenaed for the defense. + +There were innumerable biographies of the prisoner to be had for +nothing. He was a noble-man in disguise; he was the illegitimate son of +the prime minister; he was indirectly but immediately connected with +royalty itself; he could speak every European language (except Polish), +and painted landscapes like an angel; he had four thousand a year in +land, only waiting for him to come of age, which carried with it half +the representation of a Whig borough; he had not a penny in the world, +but had hitherto supported himself in luxury by skillful forgeries; +young as he was, he was a married man, and had a wife (three times his +age) alive. All these particulars were insisted upon and denied forty +times a day. The least scraps of trust-worthy intelligence concerning +him were greedily devoured. The turnpike-man who had opened gate to let +him through on the night he came to the jail was cross-examined as to +his appearance and demeanor. The rural policeman of the district (who +had never had a chance of seeing him) was treated to pots of ale, and +suddenly found himself the best of company. The _Castle_ at Gethin was +thronged by local tourists, who, under pretense of being attracted by +the scenery, came to stare at Harry, and, having seen her, returned to +Cross Key with marvelous stories of her charms. As the time drew on the +applications for admittance to the court-house made the life of the +under-sheriff a burden, and caused the hearts of his subordinates (who +got the half-crowns) to sing for joy. + +The unhappy Richard was wholly ignorant of all this excitement. When he +pictured the court-house to himself, as he often did, he only beheld a +crowd of indifferent persons, who would pay no more attention to his own +case than to that of Balfour, or any other that might follow or precede +it. He saw himself taken out in custody, and carried in some conveyance, +such as he had arrived in, through the gaping street; but the idea of +that ordeal gave him no uneasiness. Those who saw him would forget him +the next moment, or confuse him with some other in the same wretched +plight. His mind always reverted from such reflections, as comparatively +trivial, to the issue of the trial itself. Indeed, that thought might be +said to be constant, though others intruded on it occasionally without +obscuring it, like light clouds that cross the moon. As to the details +of the scene of which he was about to be so prominent an actor, he knew +nothing; for the warders never opened their lips to him, except +officially, and Mr. Balfour had never happened to come to grief in the +course of his professional practice in that particular locality before. + +But the fact was that the jail of Cross Key, though situated in so +out-of-the-way a spot, was a model establishment in its way, and built +upon the very highest principles of architecture, as connected with the +administration of the criminal law. No prisoner was ever taken out of it +for trial at all, but was conducted by an underground passage into the +court-house itself--indeed, into the very heart of it, for a flight of +steps, with a trap-door at the top, led straight into the dock, in which +he made his appearance like a Jack-in-the-box, but much more to his own +astonishment than to that of the spectators. + +Imagine the unhappy Richard thus confronted, wholly unexpectedly, with a +thousand eager eyes! They devoured him on the right hand and on the +left, before him and behind him; they looked down upon him from the +galleries above with a hunger that was increased by distance. Even the +barristers in the space between him and the judge turned round to gaze +at him, and the judge himself adjusted his spectacles upon his nose to +regard him with a searching look. Not a sound was to be heard except the +monotonous voice of the clerk reading the indictment; it was plain that +every one of that vast concourse knew him, and needed not that his +neighbor should whisper, "That is he." Was his mother there? thought +Richard, and above all, Was Harry there? He looked round once upon that +peering throng; but he could catch sight of neither. The former, with a +thick veil over her features, was, indeed, watching him from a corner of +the court; but the only face he recognized was that of his attorney, +seated immediately behind a man with a wig, whom he rightly concluded to +be Mr. Sergeant Balais. + +There was a sudden silence, following upon the question, "How say you, +Richard Yorke, are you guilty of this felony, or not guilty?" The +turnkey by the prisoner's side muttered harshly behind his hand, "They +have called on you to plead." + +"Not guilty," answered Richard, in a loud, firm voice, and fixing his +eyes upon the judge. + +A murmur of satisfaction ran softly through the court-house. His +hesitation had alarmed the curious folks; they were afraid that he might +have pleaded "Guilty," and robbed them of their treat. Not a few of +them, and perhaps all the women, were also pleased upon his own account. +He was so young and handsome that they could not choose but wish him +well, and out of his peril. + +Then Mr. Smoothbore rose, and was some time about it. He was six feet +four inches high, and it seemed as though you would never see the last +of him. ("Oh, Jerryusalem, upon wheels!" was the remark that Mr. Robert +Balfour muttered to himself when some hours afterward _he_ found himself +confronted by the same gigantic counsel, instructed specially by the +crown to prosecute so notorious a marauder.) The twelve men in the box +opposite at once became all ear. Some leaned forward, as though to +anticipate by the millionth of a second the silvery accents of Mr. +Smoothbore; others leaned back with head aside, as though to concentrate +their intelligence upon them; and the foreman held his head with both +his hands, as though that portion of his person was not wholly under +control, but might make some erratic twist, and thereby lose him some +pregnant sentence. These honest men did not know Mr. Smoothbore, and +thought (for the first five minutes) that they could sit and listen to +him forever; before they had done with him they began to think that they +should have to do it. + +Far be it from us to emulate the prolixity with which the learned +counsel set forth his case; it must be conceded that he did not hang +over it; his words ran as smoothly as oil, and with perfect +distinctness, and if any body missed his meaning, it was not for want of +its being sufficiently expressed. To a listener of average ability, +however, he became insupportable by repetition, which is, unhappily, not +exclusively "the vice of the pulpit." We will take care to avoid his +error. It will be sufficient to say that when he had finished Richard +stood accused not only of having stolen two thousand pounds from John +Trevethick, but of having compassed that crime under circumstances of +peculiar baseness. He had taken advantage of his superior education, +manners, and appearance, to impose himself upon the honest Cornishman as +the legitimate son of his landlord, and secured within that humble home +a footing of familiarity, only the better to compass a scheme of +villainy, which must have occurred to him at a very early period of +their acquaintance. Indeed, Mr. Smoothbore hinted that the prisoner's +profession of landscape-painting was a mere pretense and pretext, and +that it was more than probable that, having heard by some means of +Trevethick's hoard, he had come down to Gethin with the express +intention of becoming possessed of it, which his accidental discovery of +the secret of the letter padlock enabled him to do. In short, by artful +innuendo at this or that part of the story, Richard was painted as a +common thief, whose possession of such faculties as dexterity and +_finesse_ only made him a more dangerous enemy of society. There had +been rumors, Mr. Smoothbore admitted, of certain romantic circumstances +connected with the case, but he was instructed to say that they were +wholly baseless, and that the matter which the jury would have to decide +upon was simply an impudent and audacious robbery, committed in a manner +that he might stigmatize as being quite exceptionally void of +extenuation. + +The speech for the prosecution immensely disappointed the general +public, already half-convinced, in spite of themselves, by Mr. +Smoothbore's impassioned clearness and straightforward simplicity, while +it pleased the jury, who were glad to hear that the matter in hand was, +after all, an ordinary one, which would necessitate no deprivation of +victuals, nor absence of fire and candle. The witnesses for the +prosecution appeared, as usual, in an order in inverse ratio to the +interest and importance of their respective testimonies--the clerk of +the Miners' Bank into whose hands the notes had been paid, policemen, +Mr. Dodge, and others, who only repeated what we already know. Even the +appearance of Solomon Coe was marked by nothing especial, save to the +eyes of the accused. In the triumphant bearing of this witness, and in +the malignant glance which he had shot toward him ere he began his tale, +Richard read that the charge against him was to be pushed to the bitter +end. It was in this man's power, more than in any other's (save one), to +extenuate or to set down in malice; and there was no doubt in his +rival's mind (though his rancor took so blunt a form that it might well +have been mistaken by others for outspoken candor) which of the two +courses Solomon had chosen. He showed neither scruple nor hesitation; +every word was distinct and decisive, and on one occasion (though the +repetition of it was forbidden by the judge) even accompanied by a blow +with his sledge-hammer fist in the way of corroboration. It seemed that +the story he had to tell was, after all, a very plain one. + +When John Trevethick, who was the last witness examined for the +prosecution, strode into the box, this feeling was intensified. His +giant frame and massive features seemed, somehow, to associate +themselves with a plain story; and his evidence was as much in +consonance with his counsel's speech as evidence could be with pleading. + +But when he had quite done with his unvarnished tale, and when Mr. +Smoothbore had given him a parting nod in sign that _he_ had done with +him, Sergeant Balais rose, for the first time, with an uplifted finger, +as though, but for that signal of delay, the honest landlord would have +fled incontinently, and hanged himself, like another Judas. + +"You have a daughter, I believe, Mr. Trevethick?" and the Sergeant +looked at the jury, with elevated eyebrows, as though he would have +said, "If we can get even that admission out of this hoary miscreant, we +may consider ourselves fortunate." + +And indeed John Trevethick did hesitate for one instant ere he replied. +He had not even looked at the prisoner before, but at that question he +gave an involuntary glance toward him, and met Richard's answering look. +When two men are fighting, each with his hands upon the throat of the +other, not for dear life, but for the longed-for death of his foe, it is +possible that in their faces some such inextinguishable lurid fire of +hatred may be seen burning as then flashed from witness-box to dock, +from dock to witness-box; but scarcely under any other circumstances +could such a look of deadly malice be exchanged between man and man. It +passed, however, in an instant, like the electric fire, and was gone, +leaving no trace behind it. + +"I _have_ a daughter," replied Trevethick; and as he spoke his face, +though somewhat pale, became as blank and hard and meaningless as a wall +of stone. + +"This man is about to perjure himself," thought the experienced Mr. +Balais; and he looked around him with the air of one who was convinced +of the fact. + +"The prisoner at the bar was, I believe, your daughter's lover, was he +not?" + +"Not that I knew of." + +"Not that you know of?" repeated Mr. Balais. "Will you venture to repeat +that?" + +"The witness said _knew_," interposed the judge, demurely, and ordered a +sky-light to be closed, the draught from which inconvenienced him. Every +body looked at the officer of the court who pulled the string and shut +the sky-light, as though it had been the most ingenious contrivance +known to man. Not that it was a relief to them to do so, but from that +inexplicable motive which prompts us all to observe trivial +circumstances with which we have nothing whatever to do, on any occasion +of engrossing interest. Even Richard regarded this little process of +ventilation with considerable concern, and wondered whether the judge +would feel himself better after it. + +"Oh, you didn't know of this attachment between the prisoner and your +daughter at the time it was going on under your roof, but you knew of it +afterward, did you? You read of it in the papers, I suppose, eh?" + +"I heard of it, after the robbery was discovered, from my daughter +herself." + +"And, upon your oath, you did not know of it before then?" + +"I did not." + +"Nor suspect it even, perhaps?" + +"Nor even suspect it." + +Mr. Balais smiled, shrugged his shoulders. His principles of oratory +were Demosthenean; his motto was "Action, action, action." His. friends +on circuit called him the Balais of action. He had had some experience +of the depravity of human nature, said the shrug, but this beat every +thing, and would be really amusing but for its atrocious infamy. Good +Heavens! + +"Then you never had any conversation with the prisoner with reference +to your daughter at all?" + +"Never." + +Mr. Balais bent down and interchanged a word or two with Mr. Weasel +behind him. + +"Now be so good as to give me your best attention, Mr. Trevethick, for +upon my next question more may depend than you may be aware of. If you +have any regard for your own interests you will answer it truly; for as +sure as--" + +"Is this necessary, Brother Balais?" interrupted the judge, scratching +his forehead with his forefinger, and looking up at the sky-light, as +though that matter was not satisfactorily settled even yet. + +"My lud, I am instructed that nothing less than a conspiracy has been +entered into against my unfortunate client." + +The judge nodded slightly, shivered considerably, and made a mental note +to complain of that infernal draught before he should dismiss the grand +jury. + +"I ask you, Mr. Trevethick," continued the counsel, solemnly, "whether +or not, in a conversation which you held with the prisoner upon a +certain day last month, you mentioned two thousand pounds as the sum you +must needs see in his possession before you could listen to any +proposition of his with respect to your daughter's hand?" + +"I did not." + +"You never spoke of that particular sum to him at all?" + +"Never at all." + +It was Mr. Balais who looked up at the sky-light this time--as though he +expected a thunder-bolt. + +"The notes, of which we have heard so much, as being hoarded in this +ingenious box of yours--and that you are a very ingenious man, Mr. +Trevethick, there is no doubt--this box, I say, was kept in a certain +cupboard, was it not?" + +"It was." + +"And now, please to look at the jury when you answer me this question: +Where was this particular cupboard situated, Mr. Trevethick?" + +Into the landlord's impassive face there stole for the first time a look +of disquiet, and his harsh, monotonous voice grew tremulous as he +replied, "The cupboard was in my daughter's bedroom." + +"That will do, Mr. Trevethick, _for the present_," observed Mr. Balais, +with emphasis; "though I shall probably have the opportunity of seeing +you another time"--and he glanced significantly toward the dock--"_in +another place_." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +FOR THE DEFENSE. + + +When Mr. Balais rose again it was to speak for the defense, and he +addressed the jury amidst an unbroken silence. So rapt, indeed, was the +attention of his audience that the smack of a carter's whip, as he went +by in the street below, was resented by many a frown as an impertinent +intrusion; and even the quarters of the church clock were listened to +with impatience, lest its iron tongue should drown a single sentence. +This latter interruption did not, however, often take place, for Mr. +Balais was as brief in speech as he was energetic in action. He began by +at once allowing the main facts which the prosecution had proved--that +the notes had been taken from Trevethick's box, and found in the +prisoner's possession, who had been detected in the very act of +endeavoring to change them for notes of another banking company. But +what he maintained was, that this exchange was not, as Mr. Smoothbore +had suggested, effected for the purpose of realizing the money, but +simply of throwing dust in the prosecutor's eyes. He had changed the +notes only with the intention of returning his own money to Trevethick +under another form. Even so young a man, and one so thoroughly ignorant +of the ways of the world and of business matters as was his client, must +surely have been aware, if using the money for himself had been his +object, that it could be traced in notes of the Mining Company as easily +as in notes of the Bank of England; nay, by this very proceeding of his, +he had even given them a _double_ chance of being traced. He (Mr. +Balais) was not there, of course, to justify the conduct of the prisoner +at the bar. It was unjustifiable, it was reprehensible in a very high +degree; but what he did maintain was that, even taking for granted all +that had been put in evidence, this young man's conduct was not +criminal; it was not that of a thief. He had never had the least +intention of stealing this money; his scheme had been merely a stratagem +to obtain the object of his affections for his wife. This Trevethick was +a hard and grasping man, and it was necessary for the young fellow to +satisfy him that he was possessed of certain property before he would +listen to any proposition for his daughter's hand. His idea--a wrong and +foolish one, indeed, but then look at his youth and inexperience--was to +impose upon this old miser, by showing him his own money in another +form, and then, when he had gained his object, to return it to him. Mr. +Balais was, for his own part, as certain of such being the fact as that +he was standing in that court-house. Let them turn their eyes on the +unhappy prisoner in the dock, and judge for themselves whether he looked +like the mere felon which his learned friend had painted him, or the +romantic, self-deceiving, thoughtless lad, such as he (Mr. Balais) felt +convinced he was. They had all heard of the proverb that all things were +fair in love as in war. When the jury had been young themselves perhaps +some of them had acted upon that theory; at all events, it was not an +unnatural idea for young people to act upon. Proverbs had always a +certain weight and authority of their own. They were not necessarily +Holy Writ (Mr. Balais was not quite certain whether the proverb in +question was one of Solomon's own or not, so he put it in this cautious +manner), but they smacked of it. This Richard Yorke, perhaps, had +thought it no great harm to win his love by a false representation of +the state of his finances. He could not see his way how otherwise +to melt the stony heart of this old curmudgeon, who had +doubtless--notwithstanding the evidence they had heard from him that +day--encouraged the young man's addresses so long as he believed him to +be Mr. Carew's lawful heir. The whole question, in fact, resolved itself +into one of _motive_; and if there was not a word of evidence +forthcoming upon the prisoner's part, he (Mr. Balais) would have left +the case in the jury's hands, with the confident conviction that they +would never impute to that unhappy boy--who had already suffered such +tortures of mind and body as were more than a sufficient punishment for +his offense--the deliberate and shameful crime of which he stood +accused. He had lost his position in the world already; he had lost his +sweetheart, for they had all heard that day that she was about to be +driven into wedlock with his rival, a man twice his age and hers; he had +lost the protection of his father--his own flesh and blood--for since +this miserable occurrence he had chosen to disown him; and yet here was +the prosecutor, who had lost nothing (except his own self-respect, and +the respect of all who had listened to his audacious testimony that +morning), pressing for a conviction, for more punishment; in a word, for +the gratification of a mean revenge. If he (Mr. Balais) had nothing +more, therefore, to urge in his client's defense, he would have been +content to leave the jury to deal with this case--Englishmen, who +detested oppression, and loved that justice only which is tempered with +mercy. But as it so happened, there was no need thus to leave it; no +necessity to appeal to mercy at all. He had only to ask them for the +barest justice. He was happily in a position to prove that the prisoner +at the bar had no more stolen this two thousand pounds than their own +upright and sagacious foreman. + +A sigh of relief was uttered from a hundred gentle breasts. "We are +coming to something at last," it seemed to say. A hundred fair faces +looked at Mr. Balais--who was growing gray and wrinkled, and found every +new performance of his pantomime harder and harder--as though they could +have kissed him, nevertheless. "Yes, gentlemen of the jury, that money +was given to him by the prosecutor's daughter with her own hand." + +A murmur of satisfaction ran round the court-house. + +There _was_ a romance--a love-story--in the case, then, after all. + +Mr. Balais concluded a most energetic speech with a peroration of great +brilliancy, in which Richard and Harry were exhibited like a +transparency in the bright colors of Youth, and Hope, and Passion, and +finally sat down amidst what would have been a burst of applause but for +the harsh voice of the usher nipping it in the bud by proclaiming +silence. + +There was no need for his doing that when Mr. Balais jumped up to his +feet again, as though he were on springs, and called for Harry +Trevethick. The judge was taking snuff at the time; and such was the +stillness that you could hear the overplus falling on the paper before +him on which he wrote down his notes. There was a minute's delay, during +which every eye was fixed upon the witness-box, and then Harry appeared. +She was very pale, and wore a look of anxious timidity; but a bright +spot came into her cheeks as she turned her face to the prisoner in the +dock, and smiled upon him. From that moment Richard felt that he was +safe. Guarded as he was, and still in peril, he forgot his danger, and +once more resolved that he would cleave to this tender creature, to whom +he was about to owe his safety, to his life's end. + +Harry was simply yet attractively attired in a pale violet silk dress, +with a straw bonnet trimmed with the same modest color. It was observed, +with reference to this and to the innocence and gentleness of her +expression, that she looked like a dove; and a dove she seemed to +Richard, bringing him the signal that the flood was abating, the deep +waters of which had so nearly overwhelmed both soul and body. Even the +judge, as Mr. Weasel had foretold, regarded her through his double +glasses with critical approval; for a most excellent judge he was--of +female attractions. + +Mr. Balais smiled triumphantly at the jury. "Did I not tell you," he +seemed to say, "that my client is guiltless in this matter? Here is +Truth herself come to witness in his favor. Bless her!" Richard's +feverish eyes were fixed upon her; he knew no God, but here was his +spring in the wilderness, his shadow of the great rock in a weary land. +As for her, she looked only at the judge, expecting--poor little +ignoramus--that it was he who would question her. + +"You are the daughter of John Trevethick, of Gethin?" said Mr. Balais. + +This interrogatory, simple as it was, made her color rise, coming from +that unexpected quarter. + +"Yes, Sir." + +"He keeps an inn, does he not; the"--here Mr. Balais affected to consult +his brief, to give her time to recover herself from her modest +confusion--"the _Gethin Castle_, I believe?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"The prisoner at the bar has been staying there for some months, has he +not?" + +She stole another look at Richard: it spoke as plainly as looks could +speak, "Oh yes; that is how I came to know and love him." But she only +murmured, "Yes, Sir." + +"Speak up, Miss Trevethick," said the counsel, encouragingly; "these +twelve gentlemen are all very anxious to hear what you have to say." The +judge nodded and smiled, as though in corroboration, as well as to add, +upon his own account, that it would give _him_ also much pleasure to +hear her. + +"Was the prisoner staying in the inn as an ordinary guest, or did he mix +with the family?" + +"He was in the bar parlor most nights, Sir, along with father and me and +Solomon." + +"He was in the bar parlor most nights," repeated Mr. Balais, +significantly, for he was anxious that the jury should catch that +answer--"'With father and me and Solomon.' And who introduced him into +the parlor?" + +"Father brought him first, Sir, on the second day after he came to +Gethin." + +"Father brought him in, did he? Now, that is rather an unusual thing for +the landlord of an inn to do, is it not? To introduce a young man whom +he had known but twenty-four hours to his family circle, and to the +society of his daughter, eh?" + +"Please, Sir, I don't know, Sir." + +"No, of course you don't, Miss Trevethick; how should you? But I think +the jury know. You have no idea, then, yourself, why your father +introduced this young gentleman to you so early?" + +"Father said he was a friend of Mr. Carew's, of Crompton, who is +father's landlord." + +"Just so," said Mr. Balais, with another significant glance at the +attentive twelve. "Mr. Trevethick had already discovered that this youth +was of a good social position, and likely to prove an excellent match. +'Will you walk into my parlor?' said the spider to the fly; 'I have the +prettiest daughter that ever you did spy.'" + +Every body tittered at this except Mr. Smoothbore and his solicitor; +even the judge blew his nose. + +"Now, not only did the prisoner at the bar spend most nights in the bar +parlor, but, as I am given to understand, he spent most days there, or, +at all events, in your society, did he not?" + +"Father and Solomon were away most days, Sir, and so we were left a good +deal together." + +"Just so. Your father took care to be away most days, did he, in order +that you should be left a good deal together?" + +Mr. Smoothbore started to his feet. "My lud, I submit," etc.; meaning +that this was a mode of interrogating the witness that he could _not_ +submit to for an instant. + +"Very good," said Mr. Balais, smiling. "I will not put the question in +that form, then. The form is of very little consequence. You were left +together, however, and the consequence was that you two young people +fell in love with one another, eh?" + +Harry was crimson. "I--he--we;" and there she stuck. + +"I am very sorry to embarrass you, my dear young lady, but I am +necessitated to press this question. Did you fall in love with one +another or not?" + +No answer. Harry was thinking of Solomon, to whom she was to be married +within ten days, and hung her head. + +"Come, did he fall in love with _you_, then? There was ample apology for +it, I am sure, and he ought to have been ashamed of himself if he +hadn't. Now, did he 'court' you? I think you must know what that means." + +No answer. Every eye was upon her, the judge's double glasses included. +They might have been burning-glasses, she felt so hot and frightened. + +"Come, did this young gentleman ever give you a kiss?" + +"Yes, Sir," murmured poor Harry, almost under her breath. + +"Did you say 'Yes' or 'No?'" inquired the judge, dipping his pen in the +ink. + +"I said 'Yes,' my lord," said the unhappy Harry. + +"There were more kisses than one, now, I dare say," said Mr. Balais, +with a wink at the jury; "and they were not all on one side, eh?" + +No answer. + +"Some of them were on the other side, were they not? I don't mean on the +other cheek, for I have no doubt he was perfectly indifferent as to +that." + +Again there was a little titter. + +"She is your own witness, Brother Balais," observed his lordship, "but +it seems to me you are giving her unnecessary pain." + +He had a very tender heart, had the old judge, where a young and pretty +woman was concerned--otherwise he was a Tartar. + +"My lud, it is absolutely necessary to prove that my client's passion +was reciprocated. Did you ever return one of these many kisses, Miss +Trevethick?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"Did you ever meet him alone at night in a place, I believe, called the +Fairies' Bower?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"Yes," repeated Mr. Balais, recapitulating these facts upon his fingers; +"you were left alone with him all day; you met him alone at night, away +from your father's roof; you returned his kisses; and all this without +the slightest suspicion--if we are to believe his evidence--being +aroused upon the part of your parent. Now, Miss Trevethick, you were +aware that your father kept a large sum of money--these two thousand +pounds--in his strong-box, were you not?" + +"I was, Sir." + +"Did you ever speak to the prisoner at the bar about it?" + +"I think--yes, I did, Sir, on one occasion," and here Harry's voice +fluttered and faltered. No one noticed it, however, except the prisoner; +if any neighbor eyes had watched him narrowly--but they were all fixed +upon the witness--they would have seen his face whiten, and his brow +grow damp. Why should she have laid that stress upon "on one occasion?" + +"You told him that the two thousand pounds were in the box in the +cupboard in your bedroom?" + +"I did, Sir." + +"The fastening of the box was not an ordinary lock, I believe. It was +what is called a letter padlock?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"Did you ever open it?" + +"No, Sir." + +A great bell seemed to be suddenly set tolling in Richard's brain--it +was the knell of all his hopes. + +"You had never opened it at that time, eh?" continued Mr. Balais, +cheerfully. "But you learned the secret afterward?" + +"I--yes--I did." + +"Do you remember the letters that did open it?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"What were they?" + +"B, N, Z." + +"Very good. We have heard from the counsel for the prosecution that they +were so; and that Mr. Trevethick kept a memorandum of them on a piece of +paper that fitted into his watch-case. Did he always carry that watch +about with him?" + +"Not always. When he went out to market, and was likely to be late, he +sometimes left it at home." + +"In his own room, I suppose, where you or any body else could get at +it?" + +"I suppose so, Sir." + +"You _suppose_? You know he did, do you not? Did you not open the +watch-case yourself, and so discover the means of unlocking the box?" + +"No, Sir," said Harry, faintly; and once more she turned her eyes to +Richard. It was a true and tender glance, one would have said, and +accompanied by an attempt at a smile of encouragement. But if it had +been a glance of a gorgon, it could not have had a more appalling +effect; it literally seemed to turn him into stone. + +[Illustration: "COME, DID THE YOUNG GENTLEMAN EVER GIVE YOU A KISS?"] + +"Recollect yourself, Miss Trevethick," said Mr. Balais, earnestly; "you +are getting confused, I fear. Now please to give me your attention. You +say that you knew that the letters B, N, Z were those which formed the +key of the letter padlock, and yet that you did not open your father's +watch-case. How, then, did you become possessed of the secret?" + +No answer. Harry caught her breath convulsively, and turned deadly pale. +She could never tell how Mrs. Yorke had endeavored to suborn her. + +"Well, well, this is a matter of very little consequence--though I see +my learned friend is making a copious note of it," said Mr. Balais, +gayly. "The main point is what, as you have told us, did occur--that you +found out the secret somehow. When you got it, I suppose you opened the +box?" + +No answer, save from Mr. Smoothbore, who observed, tartly: "You have no +right to assume that, Sergeant." + +"Let the young woman have a glass of water," suggested the kindly judge. + +"My lord, my lord!" cried Harry, with sudden passion, "he is not guilty. +Richard did not mean to steal the money; indeed he did not. He only +wished to get possession of it that my father might believe him to be a +man of wealth. He did but--" + +"Endeavor to compose yourself, young woman," interposed the judge. "The +learned counsel will only ask what is necessary." + +"Take your time. Miss Trevethick, take your time," pursued Mr. Balais, +in his blandest tones. "The question is, how the prisoner became +possessed of this money. Now, tell us, did you not give it him with your +own hands?" + +The bell was still tolling in Richard's brain, and yet he could hear the +buzzing of a fly against a window of the court-house, and the careless +whistle of some lad in the street without. It was the same tune that the +keeper at Crompton had been wont to whistle in his leisure moments at +home; and his mind reverted with a flash to the glades of the stately +park, the herds of deer, the high-mossed gate, which he had shut in the +face of the hounds when they were chasing Carew's carriage. Was it the +bang of the gate, or had Harry really answered in a firm voice, that +resounded through the silent court-house, "No, Sir?" + +"What!" said Mr. Balais, raising his voice a little. "Do you mean to +say, then--and recollect that the fate of the prisoner at the bar may +depend upon your reply to this question--that Richard Yorke did not +become possessed of these notes by your connivance, through your means, +at all?" + +"No, Sir, no," answered Harry, passionately; "I can't say that; indeed, +Sir, I can not. But he is innocent--Richard is innocent--he never meant +to steal them. O God, help me!" In her excitement, and not because she +wished to do so, she had turned about, and once more caught sight of the +prisoner at the bar. It was her turn now to shrink appalled and +petrified. It was not reproach that she saw pictured in that well-loved +face, but downright hate and loathing. "He will never, never forgive +me!" cried she, with a piteous wail; and then scream followed scream, +and she was borne out in haste, and a doctor sent for. + +Cross-examination was, of course, quite out of the question; and, +indeed, Mr. Smoothbore was much too sagacious a man to wish to exercise +that privilege. The failure of the witness for the defense had proved +the case of the prosecution. + +It was Mr. Smoothbore who could now best afford to praise the innocence +and candor of the unhappy Harry. Was it not evident that that tender +creature had been tampered with, and almost persuaded to perjure +herself, for the sake of the prisoner at the bar--almost, but, happily +for the ends of justice, not quite persuaded! Her natural love of right +had conquered the ignoble passion with which she had been inspired by +this unscrupulous man. What words could sufficiently paint the baseness +of the conduct of the accused! Was it not clear that he had endeavored +to escape scot-free, at the sacrifice of this poor girl's good name? +_She_, forsooth, was to proclaim herself thief, to save his worthless +self! It was not for Mr. Smoothbore--Heaven forbid!--to exaggerate such +wickedness, but was it possible that the phrase, "Young in years, but +old in vice," had ever had a more appropriate application than in the +present case! For the credit of human nature, he trusted not. The point +upon which his learned friend had mainly relied having been thus proved +wholly untenable--the fact of Richard's taking the money having been +incontestably brought home to him--it only remained for him (Mr. +Smoothbore) to notice what had been said with respect to motive. If the +prisoner at the bar had even had the intention, which had been so +gratuitously imputed to him, of returning this money to the prosecutor, +when once the object of his supposed scheme had been effected, he would +be no less guilty of the crime that was laid to his charge. It was +possible, indeed, in such a case, that there might be extenuating +circumstances, but those would not affect the verdict of the jury, +however they might influence his lordship's sentence after that verdict +had been truly given. And this he would say, after what had just +occurred in that court--after the painful scene they had just +witnessed--the breaking down of that innocent girl in an act of +self-sacrifice, culpable in itself, but infinitely more culpable in him +who had incited her to do it--for he could not for an instant suppose +that the prisoner's legal advisers could have suggested such a line of +defense: taking all this into consideration, he, Mr. Smoothbore, would +confidently ask the jury whether the prisoner at the bar was to be +credited with merely a romantic stratagem, or with a crime the +heinousness of which was only exceeded by the means by which he had +striven to exculpate himself from it, and to evade the ends of justice. + +When Mr. Smoothbore had thus concluded a lengthened and impassioned +harangue, he sat down, wiping his hands upon his handkerchief, as though +implying that he had washed them of the prisoner for good and all, and +that a very dirty job it had been; while the judge rose and left the +court, it being the hour appointed to his system, by nature, for the +reception of lunch. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE SENTENCE. + + +Richard remained in the dock. The warder who had charge of him gave him +the option of retiring, but he preferred to stay where he was till all +was over. He had at last caught sight of his mother, straining her +loving eyes toward him--with still some hope in them--from a distant +corner of the gallery; and he kept his gaze fixed upon that spot. They +had all the world against them now, these two, so clever, and yet so +wholly unable to combat with inexorable fate. Harry's evidence, and +especially the manner of it, had not needed Mr. Smoothbore's fiery scorn +to turn all hearts against the accused. To the great mass of spectators +it seemed as though Richard would have made the girl change places with +himself, and become a vicarious sacrifice for his worthless self. + +The majesty of the law having withdrawn itself, a hum of many voices +filled the court-house; a munching of biscuits, a sipping of flasks. The +silence of suspense no longer reigned. The struggle was virtually over, +and the victim was only waiting his doom. It was hoped it would be a +severe one. The spectators were pitiless, and had turned their thumbs +toward their breasts. As to the verdict there was no doubt. Those who +knew the character of the judge opined that this young gentleman would +"get it hot," notwithstanding that this was his first offense. Odds were +taken that he would have fourteen years. "At all events," said one of +the small officials, in answer to eager inquiries, "more than he could +do on his head." With this enigmatical reply of the oracle its +astonished questioners were compelled to be content. + +"Silence in the court--si-lence." The judge had returned. It was thought +by some that it was in the prisoner's favor that the judge had lunched. +They were mistaken, or perhaps a fatal economy had provided African +sherry. His charge was scarcely less dead against the prisoner than had +been Mr. Smoothbore's closing speech. As for the motive, upon which such +stress had been laid by the counsel for the defense, that might be a +plea for a recommendation to mercy, if the jury believed it, but it +could not affect the question of the prisoner's guilt. That the stolen +property had been found in the possession of the accused there was no +sort of doubt. If the prisoner at the bar had not himself taken it out +of the prosecutor's strong-box, who had? + +Such was the form in which the case was left for the jury. + +"It's UP," whispered Mr. Weasel behind his hand to Mr. Balais. Mr. +Balais nodded indifferently; the case was over so far as he was +concerned, and he was not going to employ significant action +gratuitously. That would have been waste of power indeed at his age. The +jury did not leave the box; they laid their heads together, like a +hydra, and "deliberated" for half a minute; that is to say, the foreman +whispered, "We can return but one verdict, I should say, gentlemen;" and +the eleven answered, "But one." + +"We find the prisoner guilty, your lordship." + +His lordship nodded approval. "In my opinion, gentlemen, you could not +have done otherwise. Hem!" Then that common phrase, "You could have +heard a pin drop," might have been used with respect to that vast +assemblage. That "hem!" was a very fatal sign with Mr. Justice Bantam, +as the bar well knew. + +"I'll take you six to five in sovs he gives him seven years," whispered +one learned gentleman to another, without moving his lips. + +"It seems to me you are rather fond of a good thing," returned the +other, scornfully, but with a like precaution. + +"Hem!" said the judge again. "Is there any one in court able to give any +information concerning the antecedents of the prisoner?" + +"We have no witnesses to character, my lud," said Mr. Balais, gravely; +"we had hoped it would not have been necessary." + +"There _is_ a witness in court, please your lud-ship, a detective of the +A division of metropolitan police, I believe," observed Mr. Smoothbore, +"who knows something of the prisoner." + +"Let him stand up," said the judge. + +Here was an extra excitement--an additional attraction, which had not +been advertised in the bills--and the public evinced their satisfaction +accordingly by craning and crowding. Richard turned his heated eyes in +the direction of this new enemy. He had no hope of seeing a friend. The +individual in question was unknown to him. He was a tall, quiet-looking +man, whose face might have been carved out of box-wood, it was so hard +and serious, but for its keen eyes, which seemed to meet his own with a +look of recognition. + +"I know the prisoner at the bar; that is to say, I have seen him on a +previous occasion, when he passed under the name of Chandos, and on +other occasions, as I believe, under other names. From information +received I attended a competitive examination, under the authority of +government." + +"Do you mean that you were employed by the government, or that the +examination was a government one?" interrupted the judge. + +"You'll hear something now," whispered Mr. Weasel to Mr. Balais, "by +Jove!" + +"Both, my lord," explained the witness. "It had come to the knowledge of +the government that there had been several cases of personation in the +competitive examinations recently instituted both for the military and +civil services. Not only were young gentlemen, who had apparently passed +with credit, found grossly ignorant of the subjects which they had +previously been examined upon, but their physical appearance was +sometimes such as would have seemed to have disqualified them: it +appeared incredible that they should have passed the preliminary medical +examination. One was hump-backed; another almost blind. It was +understood that some systematized scheme of imposture, of +mispersonation, was at work to produce these results, and I was +instructed to inquire into it. I did so. I came to the conclusion that +only one person was concerned in the matter--the prisoner at the bar. I +had had my suspicions of him for some time. I had seen him on three +separate occasions as a candidate at public examinations. His nomination +was correct and genuine, but (as I have since discovered) it had been +issued to another person. He succeeded in every instance in obtaining +the appointments in question for his employers, who received them in due +course, though they have, I believe, since been canceled. In the case of +Chandos, a letter was written, by the supposed successful candidate, to +the authorities of the government branch--the India Board--under which +he was to serve, so grossly misspelled that the fraud was at once +suspected. In this instance the guilt was brought home to the prisoner +by the confession of the young man Chandos himself, who paid over to him +a considerable sum of money for the service in question. But I am now in +a position to prove that on several other occasions the prisoner has +committed the same offense; and, in short, if he may be said to have a +calling, it is that of personating, at competitive examinations, young +gentlemen of small ability, who are thus enabled to secure situations +and appointments which they could otherwise never obtain." + +Mr. Justice Bantam had his prejudices, but he had a fair and honest +mind. + +"This is a most unlooked-for communication, Brother Balais," said he, +doubtfully; "and it is not permitted you to cross-examine upon a point +of character." + +"I am sorry to say, my lud," returned Mr. Balais, after a hurried +conversation with the little attorney, "that my client is not in a +position to dispute the evidence just adduced. He prefers to throw +himself upon the mercy of the court, on the ground--a very tenable one, +I think--of his youth and," he was going to add "inexperience," but, +under the circumstances, he thought it better not--"of his extreme +youth, my lud; my unhappy client is barely eighteen years of age." + +"Very good," said Mr. Justice Bantam, looking as if it could not be +worse. "Hem! Prisoner at the bar: after a careful and fair trial, in +which you have had the benefit of the best legal aid, you have been +found _guilty_ of the charge of which you are accused. In that verdict I +cordially concur. The offense was a very serious one; but the endeavor +which you have made to screen yourself, at the expense of that beautiful +and innocent young girl, is, in my opinion, still more heinous and +contemptible than the crime itself. Having made yourself master of her +affections, you used your power to the utmost to effect her moral and +social hurt. You would have had her perjure herself, and proclaim +herself guilty of a crime she did not commit, in order that you might +yourself escape justice. Nobody who heard her evidence--who saw her in +yonder box--can doubt it. Still, as your counsel has just remarked, you +are but a youth in years, and I looked about me in hopes to find some +extenuating circumstances in your past career--some record of +good--which might have justified me in inflicting on you a more lenient +sentence than your offense had earned. I had no other purpose in asking +whether any thing was known of your previous career. The reply to that +question has astonished and shocked me, as it has shocked and astonished +every right-thinking person in this court who heard it. We knew to what +base purpose you had used the comeliness and youth and good address with +which nature had endowed you; and now we have learned how evilly you +have misused your talents--with what perverted ingenuity you have +striven, at so early an age, to set at naught those precautions by which +your country has lately endeavored to secure for itself efficient public +servants." + +"That's neat," whispered a learned friend to Mr. Balais, reverently +shutting his eyes, as though in rapt admiration. + +"Very," returned that gentleman. "He's bidding for the Lord Chief +Justiceship." + +"In the whole course of my legal experience, young man," continued the +judge, "I have never seen a case which seems to me to call for more +exemplary punishment than yours. The promise of your future is dark +indeed--bad for yourself, and bad for that society which, though so +fitted to adorn and benefit it, you have chosen to outrage. I will not, +however, reproach you further; I will rather express a hope that when +you return to the world after your long probation--and it will be as +long as I am able to make it--you may be a wiser and better, as well as +a much older man. The sentence of the court is, that you be kept in +penal servitude for the space of twenty years." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +BROODING. + + +Not a syllable of the judge's exhortation was lost upon the prisoner at +the bar. He listened to it as attentively as one who is waiting for the +thunder listens to the muffled menace that precedes it, and the fall of +each big drop of rain. When the words of doom smote upon his ear a +solemn hush succeeded them; and then one piteous, agonized shriek, and a +dull fall in the gallery above. + +"This way," said a warder, sharply; and Richard was seized by the arm, +and hurried through the trap-door, and down the stairs, by the way he +had come. It seemed to him like descending into hell itself. + +Twenty years' penal servitude! It was almost an eternity of torment! +worse than death! and yet not so. He already beheld himself, at the end +of his term of punishment, setting about the great work which alone was +left him to do on earth--the accomplishment of his revenge. He had +recognized his mother's voice in that agonized wail, and knew that her +iron will had given way; that the weight of this unexpected calamity had +deprived even her elastic and vigorous mind of consciousness--had +crushed out of her, perhaps, even life itself. Better so, thought he, in +his bitterness, if it had; there would then be not a single human +creature left to soften, by her attachment, his heart toward his +fellows--none to counsel moderation, mercy, prudence. + +If the view taken by the judge had even been a correct one, as to +"motive," Richard had been hardly dealt with, most severely sentenced; +but in his own eyes he was an almost innocent man--the victim of an +infamous conspiracy, in which she who, was his nearest and dearest had +treacherously joined. After flattering him with false hopes, she had +deserted him at the eleventh hour, and in a manner even more atrocious +than the desertion itself. He knew, of course, that it was mainly owing +to her evidence, to which he had looked for his preservation, that his +ruin had been so complete and overwhelming; but what he hated her worst +for was for that smile she had bestowed upon him as she entered the +witness-box, and which had bade him hope where no hope was. He could not +be mistaken as to that. She had known that she was about to doom him by +her silence to years of misery, and yet she had had the devilish cruelty +to smile upon him, as she had often smiled, when they had sat, cheek to +cheek, together! Since they had done so, he could never lift his hand +against her (he felt that even now)--never strike her, slay her, nor +even poison her; but he would have revenge upon her for all that. He +would smite her, as she had smitten him, no matter how long the blow +might be in falling: if her affections should be entwined in any human +creatures, against them should his rage be directed; he would make her +desolate, as she had rendered him; he would turn their love for her to +hate, if it were possible, and, if not, he would destroy them. As for +her father--as for that stone devil Trevethick--it choked him to think +that nature herself might preserve him from his wrath, that the old man +might die before his hour of expiation could arrive. But Solomon Coe +would live to feel his vengeance. His hatred was at white heat now; what +would it be after twenty years of unmerited torture? To think that this +terrible punishment had befallen him through such contemptible +agencies--through such dull brains and vulgar hands--was maddening; and +yet he must needs feed upon that thought for twenty years, and keep his +senses too, that at the end they might work out his purpose to the +uttermost. There was plenty of time to plan and scheme and plot before +him, and henceforth that should be his occupation. Revenge should be his +latest thought and his earliest, and all night long he would dream of +nothing else. His wrath against judge and jury, and the rest of +them--though if he could have slain them all with a word he would have +uttered it--was slight compared with the vehemence of his fury against +those three at Gethin. Rage possessed him wholly, and, though without +numbing him to the painful sense of his miserable doom, rendered him +almost unconscious of what was going on about him. + +When he found himself in his cell again he had no recollection of how he +had got there; and the warder had to repeat his sharp command, "Put on +these clothes," before he could get him to understand that he was to +exchange his garments for the prison suit that lay before him. It was a +small matter, but it brought home to him the reality of his situation +more than any thing that had yet occurred. With the deprivation of his +clothes he seemed to be deprived of his individuality, and, in adopting +that shameful dress, to become an atom in a congeries of outcasts. From +henceforth he was not even to bear a name, but must become a number--a +unit of that great sum of scoundrels which the world was so willing to +forget. That he was to suffer under a system which had authority and +right for its basis made his case no less intolerable to him; he felt +like one suddenly seized and sold into slavery. That his master and +tyrant was called the Law was no mitigation of his calamity; nay, it was +an aggravation, since he could not cut its throat. + +"It is no use, young fellow," said the warder, coolly, as Richard looked +at him like some hunted beast at bay. "If you was to kill me and a dozen +more it would do you not a morsel of good; the law has got you tight, +and it's better to be quiet." + +Richard uttered a low moan, more woeful than any cry of physical +anguish. It touched his jailer, used as he was to the contemplation of +human misery. "Look here," said he; "you keep up a good heart, and get +as many _V G_'s as you can. Then you'll get out on ticket-of-leave in +fifteen years: it ain't as if you were a lifer." + +He meant it for consolation; but this unvarnished statement of the _very +best_ that could by possibility befall poor Richard seemed only to +deepen his despondency. + +"Why, when you've done it," pursued the warder, "you'll be quite a young +man still--younger than I am. There's Balfour, now; he's got some call +to be down in the mouth, for he'll get it as hot as you, and he's an old +un, yet he's cheery enough up yonder"--and he jerked his head in the +direction of the court-house--"you may take your 'davey he is. You get +_V G_'s." + +"What are those?" said Richard, wearily. + +"Why, the best marks that can be got; and remember that every one of 'em +goes to shorten your time. You must be handier with your room, to begin +with. You might be reported by some officers for the way in which that +hammock is folded, and then away go your marks at once; and you must +learn to sweep your room out cleaner. We couldn't stand _that_ in one of +our regulars, you know;" and he pointed to some specks of dust upon the +shining floor. "As for the oakum pickings which will be set you +to-morrow, I'll show you the great secret of that art. Your fingers will +suffer a bit at first, no doubt, but you'll be a clever one at it before +long. Only buckle to, and keep a civil tongue in your head, young +fellow, and you'll do." + +"Thank you," said Richard, mechanically. + +"If you'll take my advice, you'll set about something at once; sweepin', +or polishin', or readin' your Bible. Don't brood. But you will do as you +like for this afternoon, since you won't begin regular business till +to-morrow." + +The warder looked keenly round the cell, probably to make sure that it +afforded no facilities for suicide; but the gas was not yet turned on, +and if it had been, his prisoner was unaware that by blowing it out, and +placing the jet in his mouth, more than one in a similar strait to his +own has found escape from his prison woes forever. + +"I'll bring you some supper presently," he added; and with a familiar +nod, good-naturedly intended for encouragement, he slammed the iron door +behind him. + +That he should have become an object of pity and patronage to a man like +this would in itself have wounded Richard to the quick had he not been +devoured by far more biting cares, and even now it galled him. His +twenty years might possibly, then, by extremity of good luck, be +curtailed by five. By diligent execution of menial drudgery; by +performing to some overlooker's satisfaction his daily toil; by careful +obedience and subservience to these Jacks in office, themselves but +servants, and yet whose malice or ill-humor might cause them to report +him for the most trifling faults, or for none at all, and thereby +destroy even _this_ hope--he might be a free man in fifteen years! He +would, even then, he was told, be still a young man. But that he would +never be young again Richard was well aware. Within these last three +weeks--nay, within that last hour, he had already lived a life, and one +that had aged him beyond the power of years. High spirits, pleasure, +hopefulness, love, and all the attributes of youth, were dead within him +for evermore. For the future he was only to be strong and vigorous in a +will that could not have its way for fifteen years at earliest. + +Through the grating of his narrow window a few rays of the setting sun +were streaming in, and fell upon the bare brown wall behind him. What a +flood of glory they were pouring on the woods of Crompton, now in their +autumn splendor--on the cliffs at Gethin--on the copse that hid the +Wishing Well--on the tower where he had first clasped Harry in his arms! +He saw them all, and the sunset hues upon them became suddenly +blood-red. He was once more at Gethin, and in imagination taking his +revenge upon old Trevethick, and for the moment he was almost happy. +"Pity on his gray hairs?" No, not he--though the gallows loomed before +him, though hell yawned for him, he would slake his thirst in the +life-blood of that perjured villain; and as for her, he would drag her +by the hair to look upon her father's corpse. Where was she? Ah, with +Solomon upon the castled rock; and see!--he had pushed him from the +edge, and there he hung exactly as he himself had hung when Harry had +preserved him! How long would a man hold on like that, even a strong man +like Coe, on such a narrow ledge, with the gulls screaming about him? +Not twenty years--no, nor fifteen! + +The clatter of the trap in the door of his cell, as it fell in and +formed a table, awoke him from this gloating dream. "Supper," said the +warder, looking in at him through this orifice. "What! you're still +brooding, are you?--that's bad;" then marched on to the next cell. + +Some gruel and bread stood upon this little improvised side-board. If +they had been the greatest luxuries imaginable, he could not have +swallowed a morsel. The sunlight had faded away; his dream of +retribution was over; he seemed to be touching the utmost verge of human +wretchedness. Was it possible to kill himself? His neckerchief had been +taken away; but he had his braces. The gas-pipe was the only thing to +which he could attach them, and it would never bear his weight. He had +read somewhere of some poor wretch who had suffocated himself by turning +his tongue inward. Had he determination enough for such a device as +that? Plenty. His will was iron; he felt that; but it was set on +something else than suicide--that afterward, or death or life of any +kind, he cared not what; but in the first place, and above all things, +Vengeance! In the mean time, there were twenty years in which to think +upon it! Twenty years! + +The bar dined with the judge that night at Cross Key, and talked, among +other things, "shop." + +"A curious case that of that young fellow, Yorke," said one. "I wonder +whether he has been playing his game long with these competitive +examinations? That Chandos must be a queer one, too--son of Lord +Fitzbacon's, is he not?" + +"I dare say," answered another, carelessly. "It is only vicariously that +the juvenile aristocracy ever get an appointment in these days, having +no wits of their own. This conviction will be a great blow to them." + +"Very good, Sharpshins! but you'd better not let old Bantam hear you, +for he dearly loves the Swells. By-the-by, what a pretty girl that +witness for the defense was, who turned out to be for the prosecution, +eh?" + +"Yes, she upset her lover's coach for him nicely. Is it true, I wonder, +that the little traitress is going to marry that dull, heavy fellow whom +Smoothbore had such work to pump? Gad! if I had been she, I'd have stuck +to the other." + +"Yes; but kissing goes by favor. She marries him next week, I hear. Is +there any thing of interest at Bodmin?" + +"Nothing of interest to _me_, at all events. Smoothbore and Balais get +all there is between them, confound them! I say, just pass that claret." + +Not another word about Richard. The judge himself had forgotten him +except as a case in his notes. The jury forgot him in a week. A murder +of a shipwrecked sailor happened soon afterward on that coast, and +became the talk of the country-side in his place. The world went on its +way, and never missed him; the rank closed up where he had used to +march, and left no gap. + +Richard Yorke was out of the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +IN COUPLES. + + +What tender-nurtured boy, newly-arrived at school--that Paradise when +looked back upon from afar, that _Inferno_ of the present--has not +awakened from sweet dreams of home with a heavy heart? Who has not +pictured to himself the weary months that must elapse before he once +more regains his freedom and his friends? The burden (one may say) is +light, but then the back is also weak that bears it. It is a genuine +woe. Something of this, but tenfold in intensity of wretchedness, did +Richard feel when he awoke for the first time a convicted felon. He had +dreamed that Carew was dead, and left him heir of Crompton; his mother +and he were there, and Harry as his wife. The splendor of the house, the +beauty of the grand domain about it, were as vividly presented to him as +when he saw them with his eyes; and they were all his own. The hope of +his youth, the desire of his manhood, were gratified to the uttermost; +yet through all ran an undercurrent which mirrored a portion of the +present reality. In the marshy pond where he had fought the Squire by +moonlight lay two bodies; it was shallow, as it really had been, and he +could see their faces as he peered into the water: they were those of +Coe and Trevethick. He kept them there, and would not have the pond +dragged; but would go thither and gloat upon them for half a summer's +day. The mansion was full of gay folks--his old town companions invited +to visit him, and behold his greatness (as he had often imagined they +should be): Tub Ryll was _his_ jester now, and Parson Whymper his +"chaplain." They were all playing pool as usual, and he was just about +to make an easy hazard, when somebody jogged his elbow. It was the +warder of the jail. + +"Come, come--this won't do," said he, gruffly. "You must jump up when +the bell rings, or we shall quarrel. Fold up your hammock, and clean +your room." + +Even the school-boy does not begin on his first morning to reckon on his +chimney almanac, "One day gone; twenty-four hours nearer to the +holidays;" and how should Richard make that cheerful note, who had +twenty years of prison life before him, save one day! + +He did as he was ordered, wearily, with a heart that had no hope: it +seemed to the warder that his air was sullen. + +"If this happens again, young fellow, I report you; and then good-by to +your _V G_'s." + +He did not mean to be brutal; but Richard could have stabbed him where +he stood. There were times to come when the temptation to commit such an +act was to be very strong within him; and when no thought of punishment, +far less of right, restrained him, but that of his projected vengeance +always did. Every rough word, every insult, every wrong, was treasured +up in his mind, and added to the long account against those who had +doomed him to such a fate. It should be paid in full one day; and in the +mean time the debt was out at compound interest. + +He took his sordid meals, his cocoa, his bread, his gruel, not because +he had ever any appetite for them, but because without them he should +lose his strength. He must husband that for the long-expected hour when +he might need it; when the moment had arrived to strike the blow for +which his hand was clenched ten times a day. His hate grew every hour, +and, like a petrifying spring, fell drop by drop about his heart, and +made it stone. In the mean time, a fiend in torment could alone imagine +what he suffered. He spoke to no one but his warders and the chaplain; +for now he was a convict, there was no communication with his fellows; +only once a day for an hour and a half he took his monotonous exercise +in the high-walled prison-yard. Tramp, tramp, tramp, each half a dozen +paces behind the other, with an officer on the watch to see that the +limit was preserved. + +"Keep your distance, you there, unless you want to be reported." + +Richard did not want that; but at times his temper was like a devil +unchained, and it got the better of him, and even of his treasured +purpose; he sometimes returned a sharp answer. This weakness was almost +the only feeling within him that reminded him that he was human. He was +put on bread and water within the first fortnight; then cursed his folly +for thus postponing the one object of his life, and amended. His case +was quoted to the visiting justices as an exemplification of the +efficacy of cutting short a prisoner's supplies. + +While exercising one day he recognized Balfour, who happened to be on +the opposite side of the ever-moving circle: the old jail-bird, without +glancing toward him, threw his open hands out twice. By this he conveyed +to him that his own sentence was also twenty years. During the nine +months that Richard remained at Cross Key, this was all that happened to +him which could be called an incident. At the end of three months his +mother essayed to visit him, but he would not see her. She had been ill, +it seemed, ever since that dreadful day of the trial, and was only just +convalescent; she had had lodgings in the town, within a hundred yards +of him, ever since: it was something, poor soul, to know that she was +near him, however inexorably separated. "It would please him," she +wrote, "to learn that, through Mr. Whymper's intercession, Carew had +continued her pension. She had money enough, therefore, and to spare, +but intended to go on with her business of lodging-house keeping in a +new quarter of London, and under another name (that of Basil), that she +might save, and her Richard find himself a rich man when he regained his +liberty. In fifteen years--she had discovered that his time could be +remitted to that extent--there would be quite a little fortune for him. +In the mean time, she thought of him night and day." But there was +something else in the letter. "She confessed that in her agony at his +dreadful doom, she had written to his prosecutor to adjure him to appeal +for mercy to the crown, and he had refused to do so." This news had +driven Richard almost to frenzy. He had written her such a letter as the +prison authorities had refused to send, and now he would not see her. + +He wrote again; more moderately, however, to bid her never mention +Trevethick's name again, nor Coe's, nor Harry's, if she wished him to +think of her as his mother: they were dead to him, he said, _for the +present_. To be brief, Richard never saw his mother after his +conviction. He wished to harden his heart, and not to have it melted +within him; and perhaps his fury at her having appealed to Trevethick +was purposely exaggerated with this object. His recollection of "the +cage," it must be remembered, was also not such as to make the idea of +an interview attractive; moreover, that his mother should see him in his +convict dress, kept within iron bars like a wild beast, seemed to him to +afford a triumph to his deadly enemies. + +In the tenth month, Richard, with the other convicts, was transferred to +Lingmoor, one of the great penal settlements. They were "removed," for +some portion of the distance, in vans, like furniture, or, we might +rather say, in caravans like wild beasts; but for some miles they +traveled by railway. They were handcuffed and chained together two and +two, as pointers are upon their journeys, except that the connection was +at the wrist instead of the neck. Silence was strictly enjoined, but +this one opportunity of conversing with their fellow-creatures was not +to be let slip. Richard's other half was a notorious burglar called +Rolfe; this man had passed a quarter of a century in jail, and was +conversant with every plan of trickery and evasion of orders. His +countenance was not at all of that bull-dog type with which his class is +falsely though generally credited; he had good features, though somewhat +hard in their expression, and very intelligent gray eyes. It was their +very intelligence, so sharp, so piercing, and yet which avoided your +gaze, that showed to those who studied such matters what he was. After +one glance at Richard he never looked at him again, but stared straight +before him, and talked in muttered tones unceasingly, and with lips as +motionless as those of a ventriloquist. He was doing fourteen years for +cracking a public-house, and had cracked a good many private ones, +concerning the details of which enterprises he was very eloquent. When +he had concluded his autobiography he began to evince some interest in +the circumstances of his companion. Richard, however, did not care to +enlighten him on his own concerns, but confined his conversation to the +one topic that was common between them--jails. Rolfe gave him a synopsis +of the annals of Lingmoor, to which he was bound not for the first time. +It was a place that had a bad reputation among those who became perforce +its inmates; tobacco, for which elsewhere convenient warders charged a +shilling an ounce, was there not less than eighteenpence: such a tariff +was shameful, and almost amounted to a prohibition. A pal of his had +hung himself there--it was supposed through deprivation of this +necessary. It was "a queer case;" for he had "tucked himself up" to the +bars of his cell by his braces, the buckles of which had left livid +marks upon his neck. His Prayer-book had been found open at the Burial +of the Dead, and it was understood that he had read that service over +himself before taking leave of the world. He had also written his will +with a point of the said brace-buckles upon the brick of his cell. He +himself (Mr. Rolfe) had been called as a witness at the inquest, and had +thereby obtained two hours' relaxation from labor; but upon the whole he +would rather have been working with his gang--the affair had quite upset +him; and, since its occurrence, the inmates of Lingmoor were forbidden +to use braces. + +"Were there any escapes from Lingmoor by any other means?" inquired +Richard. + +"Escapes?" Mr. Rolfe's countenance assumed a more solemn vacuity than +ever. It was an indiscretion of his young friend to shape that word with +his lips while a warder sat in the same carriage. Yes, there had been +such things even at Lingmoor. But it was a difficult job, even for one +used to cracking cribs. The outer wall was not to be scaled without a +ladder, and ladders were even more difficult to procure than tobacco. +Even if you did get over the outer wall, the space around the prison was +very bare, and the sentries had orders to shoot you fleeing. If you got +to Bergen Wood, two miles away, you might be safe so far, but it was a +dangerous business. Nobody had ever done it yet without "putting +somebody out." + +This was a euphemism for murder, as Richard was by this time "old hand" +enough to know. + +"Warders?" inquired he indifferently; for he had already learned to +value that objectionable class at a low figure. + +"Hush! Yes; you must kill 'a dog' or two before you say good-by to +Lingmoor, unless you can put them to sleep." (Bribery.) "There was a man +once as had to kill his pal to do it." + +"How could that help him?" Richard felt no interest whatever in these +narratives as stories; but since they referred to escapes they +entrancing. The convict who is cast for death thinks of nothing but a +reprieve; the "lifer" or the long-termer, thinks of nothing but an +escape--and (sometimes) vengeance. + +"Well, it was curious. There was a 'Smasher'" (utterer of counterfeit +coin) "named Molony in for life there--a thin-shanked, shambling fellow, +as Smashers mostly are--mere trash. He had got a file, this fool, and +dared not use it--kept it as close as though it were 'bacca,' and waited +for his chance, instead of making his chance for himself. Damme, if _I_ +had a file!" + +Mr. Rolfe's feelings of irritation were almost too much for him; he +turned up the whites of his eyes, so that persons who were unacquainted +with his views upon religious subjects might have supposed him to be +engaged in some devotional exercise. + +"Next door to this fellow--though it seemed a long way off, for the cell +was in an angle of the prison--there was one of the right sort; name of +Jeffreys. No prison in England could have held _him_ if he had had a +file. With a rusty nail as he had picked up he dug through his cell +wall, and came out one night, all of a sudden, upon the Smasher--thought +he was out of doors, poor beggar, through this cursed angle, you see, +and after all had only changed his room." + +"That must have been the devil," observed Richard. + +"It _was_," said Mr. Rolfe, significantly. + +"'Why, how on earth did you do it?' asked the Smasher. At least I +suppose he did, for the conversation was not reported, as you shall +hear. 'With a mere nail, too. Why, _I_'ve got a file, and yet I never +thought of that.' + +"'A file!' cried Jeffreys. 'Let's look. Give it to me.' + +"But Molony wouldn't give it him. The case was this, you see. If +Jeffreys could have filed his irons off, and then the window-bars, he +could have made a push for it; but he couldn't wait for the other; the +night was too far gone for that--there was only time for one to free +himself and get away. The Smasher was willing enough to make an effort +now; the other's pluck had put a good heart into him. But since he had +been there so long, and never moved a hand to help hisself, Jeffreys +thought he might stop a little longer; it seemed to him +dog-in-the-manger like to be refused the file--at least that's my view +of what he thought; though he's been blamed a good deal for what +afterward happened." + +"But what did happen?" + +"Well, they got to high words; the t'other wouldn't give up the file; +and when Jeffreys tried to get hold of it, what did the aggravation +Smasher do--for you see he was used to bolting half-crowns and such +like--but _swallow the file_!" + +"Why, that must have killed him?" observed Yorke. + +"So Jeffreys concluded," returned Mr. Rolfe, coolly; "and indeed that +was his defense when his trial came on. He pleaded that Molony was dead +already. 'I did not put the file down his throat, though I did deprive +him of it afterward. I was obliged to do it.' He made an anatomy of him +with the nail, in fact, just as the surgeons do with their +dissecting-knives, though not so neat, in order to get at the file. An +ugly job, I call it; but it was a very pretty case, the lawyers said, as +to whether murder had been done or not." + +"But did this Jeffreys get off?" + +"Upon the trial--yes; but not from the prison. He got into the yard all +right, and climbed the wall by making steps of the file and the nail; +but, in dropping on the other side, he broke his leg, and so they nabbed +him. It's a very hard nut to crack, is Lingmoor, _I_ can tell you." + +With these and similar incidents of prison-life, Mr. Rolfe regaled his +companion's ears. The sound of this man's voice, muffled as it was, +notwithstanding the nature of his talk, was pleasant to Richard after so +many months of enforced silence. After long starvation the stomach is +thankful for even garbage; and so it is with the mind. Moreover, any +thing would have seemed better than to sit and think during that hateful +journey. The railway part of it was by far the worst. To be made a show +of at the various stations--every one curious to see how convicts looked +in their full regimentals, chained and ironed; to behold the other +passengers who were free; to see the happy meetings of lovers and +friends, of parents and children; and the partings that were scarcely +partings at all compared with his own length of exile from all mankind: +these were things the bitterness of which Richard felt to the uttermost; +his very blood ran gall. His friend Balfour was among his +fellow-travelers, but they did not journey in the same van nor railway +carriage. Had it been otherwise Richard might have felt some sense of +companionship; whereas the contact of this man Rolfe seemed to degrade +him to his level, and isolate him from humanity itself. At the same +time, he shrank with sensitiveness from the gaze of the gaping crowd. It +is so difficult, even with the strongest will to do so, to become +callous and hardened to shame except by slow degrees: every finger +seemed to point at him in recognition, every tongue to be telling of his +disgrace and doom; whereas, in simple fact, his own mother would +scarcely have known him in such a garb, and with those iron ornaments +about his limbs; his fine hair cropped to the roots; his delicate +features worn and sharpened with spare diet and want of sleep; above +all, with those haggard eyes, always watching and waiting for something +a long way off--almost, indeed, out of sight at present, but coming up, +as a ship comes spar by spar above the horizon, taking shape and +distinctness as it nears. There were nineteen years and three months +still, however, between him and _it_. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +OUT OF THE WORLD. + + +This tedious, shameful travel came to an end at nightfall. Their way had +lain all day through landscapes of great beauty, though about to lose +the last remnants of their autumn splendor; but when they left the rail, +the woods, and glens, and rivers were seen no more. All was dreary +moorland, where winter had already begun to reign. A village or two were +passed, among whose scanty population their appearance created little +excitement: such sights were common in that locality. They were on the +high-road that leads to Lingmoor, and to nowhere else. The way seemed as +typical of their outcast life-path as a page out of the _Pilgrim's +Progress_. Vanity Fair, where they would fain have tarried if they +could, was left far behind them, while to some of them the road was +doomed to be the veritable Valley of the Shadow. They were never to see +the world, nor partake of its coarse and brutal pleasures--the only ones +they cared for, or perhaps had experienced--any more. How bare, and +desolate, and wretched was the prospect! There was no living thing in +sight; only the wild moorland streams hurried by, as if themselves +desirous to escape from the barren solitude. Not a tree was to be seen +save Bergen Wood, which Richard's companion indicated to him, as they +neared it, by a movement of the eyelid. It had been the tomb of many a +convict, who had striven for freedom, and found death. As they emerged +from it, Lingmoor prison presented itself, solid, immense, and gloomy, +as though it were built of steel--"Castle of Giant Despair." Its guarded +gate was swung back, and all were marched into a paved courtyard, where +their names were called over, and their irons removed. Then each was +stripped and searched, and another uniform substituted for that they had +worn at Cross Key. The old hands seemed to take a pride in knowing what +was about to be done beforehand; in being recognized by the warders, +though their greeting was but a contemptuous shrug; and in threading the +windings of the stone labyrinths with an accustomed step. Richard was +ushered into a cell the exact counterpart of that he had lately +inhabited; and yet he regarded it with the interest which one can not +fail to feel in what is to be one's home for years. + +Home! Frightful misnomer for that place, warm and well-ventilated as it +was, and supplied with the latest products of civilization. The gas was +burning brightly; fresh cool water flowed at his will; at his touch a +bell rang, and instantly, outside his door, an iron plate sprang out, +and indicated to the warder in what cell his presence was required. "How +clean and comfortable!" says the introduced-by-special-order visitor, to +his obsequious acquaintance the governor, on observing these admirable +arrangements. "How much better are these scoundrels cared for," cries +the unthinking public, "than are our honest poor!" It is not, however, +that the convict is pampered; but for this unkindly care he would not be +able to endure the punishment which justice has decreed for him. Science +has meted out to him each drop of gruel, each ounce of bread, each +article of clothing, and each degree of warmth. Not one of all the +recipients of this cruel benevolence but would gladly have exchanged +places with the shivering tramp or the work-house pauper. To cower under +the leafless branches of Bergen Wood, while the November night-blasts +made them grind and clang, would have seemed paradise compared with that +snug lodging; nay, the grave itself, with its dim dread Hereafter, has +been preferred before it. + +Life at Lingmoor was existence by machinery--monotony that sometimes +maddened as well as slew. To read of it is to understand nothing of +this. The bald annals of the place reveal nothing of this terrible +secret. + +Richard rose at five at clang of bell, cleaned out his cell, and folded +up his bed more neatly than did ever chamber-maid; at six was +breakfast--porridge, and forty minutes allowed for its enjoyment; then +chapel and parade; then labor--mat-making was his trade, at which he +became a great proficient. His fingers deftly worked, while his mind +brooded. At twelve was dinner--bread and potatoes, with seventy minutes +allowed for its digestion; then exercise in the yard, and mat-making +again till six in summer, and four in winter; prayers, supper, school +till eight; when the weary day was done. On Sunday, except two hours of +exercise and chapel, Richard was his own master, to brood as much as he +would. There were also no less than three holidays in the year, on which +it has been whispered with horror that the convicts have pudding. There +was, however, no such excess at Lingmoor. + +As for society, there was the chaplain. This gentleman could make +nothing of Richard, though he tried his best. It was evident to him that +the young man had something on his mind; if he would only confide in his +spiritual adviser, he assured him comfort could be administered. But no +confidence ever took place. It was a most distressing case; here was a +youth of superior position, and well educated, as obstinate and stubborn +as the most hardened criminal in the establishment. His Bible was never +opened. One of his warders had expressed his opinion that No. 421 was +vindictive, but he (the chaplain) was bound to say he had observed +nothing of that. The remarks in his note-book respecting 421 were these: +"Richard Yorke--aged twenty, looks ten years older; reserved and +cynical; a hopeless infidel, but respectful, uncomplaining, and +well-mannered." + +Richard had been reported more than once for "inattention to orders," +and had lost some of his good marks accordingly. The cause of this was +one over which he could now be scarcely said to have control. He had +become so absent and _distrait_ that he sometimes hardly knew what was +going on about him. The perpetual brooding in which he indulged had, in +fact, already postponed the accomplishment of the very object which +enthralled his thoughts. The effect of this was serious; and he had good +reason for the apprehension which seized him, that his wits might leave +him before that day of liberty arrived, which was still so many years +distant. On account of his previous calling, which was described in the +prison books as landscape-painter, he had been put to a handicraft +trade; but he now applied for harrow-work, and the surgeon seconded his +application. This change of occupation, which was destined in some +respects to be beneficial, proved at the outset most unfortunate. The +outdoor toil was mostly spade and barrow labor on the moor, on which the +convicts worked in gangs--each gang under supervision of two warders, +armed with sword and musket. The first face that Richard's eyes lit on, +when he found himself in the open, with the free air of heaven blowing +on him, and already, as it seemed, bearing the seeds of health and hope, +was that of Robert Balfour. In his joyous excitement he sprang forward +and held out his hand; the other hesitated--for the old cracksman was +prudence itself--then, as if with an incontrollable impulse, grasped the +offered fingers, with an "I am right glad to see you, lad." The next +instant they were both in custody, and marched back to the prison, +charged with the high crime and misdemeanor of conversation, which at +Lingmoor was called "colloguing," "conspiracy," and other terrible +terms. Brought before the authorities upon this serious charge, Richard +at once confessed himself alone to blame; the fresh air had, in a +manner, intoxicated him, after his long confinement within stone walls; +and the sight of his old acquaintance had caused him to forget the +rules. On the offense-list being examined, it was found, however, that +No. 421 was a good deal in the habit of forgetting. His cell-warder gave +him but an indifferent character; and Richard, in a fury, committed the +fatal indiscretion of rebutting this latter accusation by a +countercharge of tyranny and ill-usage. The next instant he could have +bitten his tongue out--but it was too late; he felt that he had made an +enemy of this body-servant, who was also his master, for the remainder +of his term. An "old hand," unless he is a professional garroter (in +which case he is generally too much respected to be ill-used), is always +careful to keep on good terms with his attendant; otherwise--since a +warder's word, if it be not law, is at all events worth that of ten +prisoners--there may be no end to your troubles. This is not because +warders are not as a class a most respectable body of men, but simply +because you can't get all the virtues for a guinea a week. A strict and +impartial sense of justice is especially a rare and dear article--even +governors have sometimes been deficient in it. Most men have their +prejudices, as women have their spites; and a prejudice against a +fellow-creature is a thing that grows. Richard's warder was no +tyrant--only a sullen, ignorant fellow, in a false position; he had an +almost absolute power over his fellow-creatures, and like many--perhaps +like most who have ever possessed such a thing--it was too much for him. + +"I am a tyrant, am I?" said he, significantly, as he marched Richard +back to his cell after sentence was decreed. "Very well; we'll _see_." + +Richard got bread and water for three days certain, and, what was far +worse, another "monstrous cantle" might be cut out of that period of +remission which began to be all the dearer in his eyes the more +problematical it grew. Garroters, as we have said, were respected at +Lingmoor; they are so ready with their great ape-like hands, and so +dull-brained with respect to consequences; yet Richard's warder, when he +brought his bread and water, with a grin, that night, was probably as +near to death by strangling as he had ever been during his professional +experience. It was not that he was on his own account the object of his +prisoner's wrath, but that by his conduct he had, as it were, +supplemented the inexpiable wrong originally committed, and earned for +himself a portion of the undying hate which was due elsewhere. "I may +kill this brute some day," thought Richard, ruefully, "in spite of +myself." And he resolved on the first opportunity to communicate a +certain secret which was on his mind to a friendly ear; so that _that_ +at least should be utilized to the disadvantage of his foes, in case +incontrollable passion should one day compel him to sacrifice a lesser +victim, and make his great revenge to fail. It had not once entered into +his mind that he could _forego_ his purpose, but only that circumstances +might render it impossible. + +The occasion for which he looked was not long in coming. His days of +punishment concluded, he was once more marched out upon the moor, and +again found himself in Balfour's company. Not a sign passed between them +this time, but as they delved they talked. "I fear you have been +suffering for my sake," said Richard. + +"It is no matter. My shoulders are broad enough for two," returned the +other, kindly. "I am right glad to see your face again, though it is so +changed. You have been ill, have you not, lad?" + +"I don't know. Something is wrong with me, and I may be worse--that is +why I want to speak to you. Listen!" + +"All right. Don't look this way, and sink your voice if either of these +dogs comes to leeward." + +"If you get away from this place, and _I_ don't--" + +"Now, none of that, lad," interrupted the old man, earnestly. "That's +the worst thing you can get into your head at Lingmoor, if you ever want +to leave it. Never _say_ die, nor even _think_ it. I am three times your +age, and yet I mean to get out again and enjoy myself. It is but fifteen +years now, without counting remission--though I've got into disgrace +with my cursed watch-dog, and sha'n't get much of that--and you must +keep a good heart." + +"I shall keep a firm one," answered Richard, "never fear. I wish to +guard against contingencies, that's all. If I die--" + +"Damned if you shall," said Balfour, sturdily, quite innocent of any +plagiarism from Uncle Toby. + +"Very good," continued Richard, coolly. "If you get out of this before +me, let us merely say, I have something to tell you which may be of +service to you. There's a man in Breakneckshire called Carew of +Crompton--" + +"I know him: the gentleman born as put on the gloves with Bendigo at +Birmingham?" + +"Very likely; at all events, every body knows him in the Midlands. He +will go to the dogs some day, and his estate will be sold. You have +saved money, you tell me; if the chance occurs, you can't invest it +better than in the lot called Wheal Danes, a mine in Cornwall." + +"I believe you every word," said Balfour; "but a mine would be rather +over my figure, wouldn't it? I have only got eight hundred pounds." + +"That would be plenty. It's a disused mine, and supposed to be worked +out. There's only one man in England that knows it is not so, except +myself. He will come or send to the auction, expecting to get it cheap; +but do you bid two hundred pounds beforehand, and get it by private +contract. Say you want the place--it's close to the sea--for building +purposes; they'll laugh at you, and jump at your offer. The fee-simple +is not supposed to be worth five shillings an acre. It will turn out a +gold mine to whoever gets it." + +"Wheal Danes," repeated Balfour, carefully. "I'll remember that; and +what is more, lad, I'll not forget the man as told me of it. It's not +the profit that I am speaking on: that will be yours, I hope, as it +should be in all reason, and not mine; but it's the confidence." The old +man's voice grew husky with emotion. "Damme, I liked _you_ from the +first, as was natural enough; but there was no reason why you should +take a fancy to an old thief like me more than any other among this +pretty lot here. The first as speaks of secrets is of course the one as +runs the risk, but I will do what I can to show myself honorable on my +side. You have trusted me, and I'll trust you." + +"Have you any plan to get away from this?" whispered Richard, eagerly. +"All that I have shall be yours: I swear it." + +"Nay, lad; your word's enough," returned the other, reproachfully. "And +I don't covet nothing of yours; indeed I don't." + +"I was a brute to talk so to you, Balfour," answered Richard, +penitently. "But you don't mow how I crave for freedom: it makes me mad +to think of it." + +"Ay, ay; I know," sighed the old fellow. "It used to be so with me once; +but now it only comes on me when my term is nearly up. One gets patient +as one gets old, you'll find. No; I've no plan just now; though, if I +ever have, I promise you you shall be the man to know it. It's another +matter altogether that I meant to tell you about. You've given me an +address to remember: let me give you another in exchange for it--No. 91 +Earl Street East, Spitalfields. That's where mother lives, if the poor +soul is alive to whom you wrote for me from Cross Key. She'll be dead, +however, long before you or I get out of this, that's certain, or I +should not be telling you what I do; for one's mother is the best friend +of all friends, and should come first and foremost. Well, the money will +do her no good; and if any thing happens to me, I have neither chick nor +child to inherit it. I am speaking of this eight hundred pound, lad. If +I get into the world, I shall want it for myself, for I doubt my limbs +will be too stiff for work by that time; but if not, then you shall have +it--every shilling. I am digging my own grave, as it might be, with this +spade, and making my will, do you see?" said the old fellow, smiling. + +"I thank you for your kind intentions," returned Richard, absently; +"it's very good of you, I'm sure." His hopes of some scheme of present +release had been excited by the old man's manner, and this faint and +far-off prospect of a legateeship seemed but of little worth. + +"I may not have another chance to tell you about it," resumed Balfour. +"It is five years now since you and I spoke together last, and it may be +another five years before such good luck happens again; so don't forget +91 Earl Street East. It's under the middle stone of the back kitchen, +all in golden quids. You needn't mind it being 'swag;' and as for those +whose own it is by rights, I could not tell you who the half of it +belonged to, if I would. It's the savings of an industrious life, lad," +added Mr. Balfour, pathetically; "and I should be sorry to think, if any +thing happened to me, that it should lie there useless, or be found +accidental like, and perhaps fall into the hands of the bluebottles. +Your memory's good, my lad, I dare say, and you won't forget the number +nor the street." + +"My memory is very good, friend," returned Richard, slowly; "and I have +only two or three things else to keep in it. And you, on your part, you +will not forget the mine?" + +"Nay, nay; I've got it safe: Wheal Danes, Wheal Danes." + +"Silence, down there!" roared the warder; and nothing but the squeak of +the barrow-wheel and the clean slice of the spade was heard in all that +throng of involuntary toilers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +BASIL. + + +It is nineteen years since Richard Yorke stood in the dock at Cross Key +and heard the words of doom. Almost a whole generation of his +fellow-creatures has passed away from the earth. Old men have died, +young men have become old, and babes have grown to be young men. There +are but some half dozen persons in the world who, if reminded of him by +some circumstance, can recollect him dimly. There are two who still keep +him in their thoughts continually, just as he was--like a picture which +bears no longer any resemblance to its original--and even these never +breathe his name. + +Here is a young fellow walking with his mother along Oxford Street who +is not unlike him, who might be himself but for those nineteen years; +and the girl that walks upon the other side of him might also be Harry +Trevethick. Youth and beauty are not dead because Richard Yorke is dead, +or as good as dead. The name of this girl is Agnes Aird, a painter's +daughter, who is also a teacher of his art. The lad is her father's +pupil, and has learned beneath his roof a lesson not included in the +artistic course; you may know that by the way in which his eyes devour +the girl, the intonation of his voice when he addresses her, the silent +pressure of the arm on which her fingers rest. Charles Coe is in love +with Agnes, and in all his studies of perspective beholds her, a radiant +figure beckoning him on to a happy future. His pencil strays from its +object to portray her features--to inscribe her name beside his own. Mr. +Coe, his father, exceedingly disapproves of this projected alliance, and +has forbidden the young people to associate. This ukase, however, can +scarcely be obeyed while the whole party are inmates of Mr. Aird's +residence, who "lets off" the upper part of his house as furnished +apartments, which the Coes have now inhabited as lodgers for some weeks. +Solomon (now a very well-to-do personage, and a great authority on +metalliferous soils) has come to town on business, and left to his wife +the choice of a residence; and she, to please her son, had chosen the +artist's dwelling, upon whose door-plate was inscribed the fact that he +was a professor of drawing. Solomon was not displeased that his son's +tastes lay in that direction; it might be useful to himself hereafter in +the matter of plans and sections; but he is violently opposed to this +ridiculous love affair, which is to be stamped out at once. To that end +he has instructed Mrs. Coe to look for lodgings in a distant quarter, +and it is on that errand that we now behold her. It is characteristic of +the Harry whom we once knew that she permits these young people to +accompany her--and one another--on the very quest that has their final +separation for its object. She can not resist making them happy while +she can; and she can refuse her Charley nothing. Moreover, Solomon is in +the City, looking after his mining interests, and need never know. + +In appearance, however, Harry Trevethick is greatly changed. She is but +seven-and-thirty, yet has already passed into the shade of middle life. +Her hair, though still in profusion, is tinged with gray; her features +are worn and sharp; her brow is wrinkled; and in her once trustful eyes +dwells a certain eager care, not mere distress or trouble, but an +anxiety which is almost Fear. + +The three are now in one of the streets which unite Cavendish Square +with Oxford Street, as a busy babbling rill connects the unruffled lake +with the roaring river. It is composed both of shops and private houses, +the latter of which in some cases deign, notwithstanding their genteel +appearance, to accommodate visitors by the week or month. + +"This is the sort of locality your father wished for, Charley," remarked +Mrs. Coe, looking about her; "it seems central, and yet tolerably quiet. +Let us try this house." + +The name of "Basil," without prefix, was engraved upon the door-plate; +and in a corner of the dining-room window lurked an enameled card with +"Apartments" on it. + +"There is no need to drag Agnes and you in," Mrs. Coe went on, as they +stood waiting for the bell to be answered. So Charles, well pleased, was +left outside with the young girl, while his mother "went over the +house." In a few minutes, however, she reappeared, and in a somewhat +hurried and excited tone observed, "I think this place will do, my +dears; but there is a good deal to talk about and settle, which will +take me some time. Therefore I think you had better go home together, +and leave me." Then, without waiting for a reply, she retired within and +closed the door. + +"How very curious!" exclaimed Agnes, wondering. + +"Oh, not at all," said the young man, cheerfully; "my mother likes to do +things for herself, and I dare say has not a very high opinion of our +judgment in domestic matters. You don't seem over-pleased, it seems to +me, Agnes, at the notion of a _tête-à -tête_ with your humble servant;" +and Mr. Charles pouted, half in fun and half with annoyance. + +"No, no; it is not that, Charles," answered the girl, hastily. "You know +I have no pleasure equal to that of being with you; but I don't like +your mother's looks; she had such a strange air, and spoke so +differently from her usual way. I really scarcely like to leave her." + +"My dear Agnes, you don't know my mother," returned Charles, laughing. +"One would sometimes think she had all the care of the world upon her +shoulders when every thing is going as smooth as oil. You don't +appreciate the grave responsibility of taking furnished lodgings for a +week certain. Come along, you little goose." And, drawing her still +hesitating arm within his own, he marched away with her. + +Yet Agnes had reason for what she said; and Charles, somewhat selfish as +he was, would have foregone his flirtation and remained by his mother's +side had he seen her the moment after the house door had shut her in. + +With a throbbing heart, and a face as white as the handkerchief she +passed over her damp brow, she leaned against the wall of the passage, +ere, with trembling steps, she approached the open parlor door. An aged +woman stood in the centre of the room, with hair as white as snow, but +with a figure straight as a poplar, and drawn up rigidly to its full +height. + +"Why do you come back again?" cried she, in accents soft as milk, yet +bitter as gall. "Why do you cross my threshold, you false witch, when +there is nothing more to blight and blast? Did you think I should not +know you, that you dared to come? I should know you among all the +fair-faced fiends in hell." + +"Mercy, mercy, Mrs. Yorke!" cried Harry, feebly; and she fell upon her +knees, and made as though she would have clasped the other's garments +with her stretched-out arms. + +"Don't touch me, lest I strike you," answered the old woman, fiercely, +"as, nineteen years ago, I would have struck you on your cruel lips, and +spoiled the beauty that was the ruin of my boy! May _you_ have sons to +perish through false wantons, and to pine in prison! May _you_ be +desolate, and without heart or hope, as I am! Go, devil, go, and rid me +of your hateful presence!" + +"Hear me, hear me, Mrs. Yorke!" pleaded the other, with clasped hands. +"Strike me, spit upon me, if you will, but only hear me! Abject as I +look, wretched as I feel--as I knew I must needs look and feel--I have +longed for this hour to come, as my boy longs for his bridal morning!" + +"May he wake the next to find his bride a corpse; or, better still, to +find her false, like you." + +"I am not false; I never was; Heaven knows it!" cried Harry, +passionately. "I do not blame you for your bitter words. I have earned +your curses, though I meant to earn your blessing." + +"My blessing!" Contempt and hatred struggled for the mastery in her +tone. "Richard, Richard! in your chains and toil, do you hear this? This +woman meant to earn my blessing!" + +"Upon my soul--whose salvation I would have imperiled to save him--I did +my best, although it seemed my worst," cried Harry. "That I was weak and +credulous and fearful is most true; but indeed, indeed, I was faithful +to your son. My father--he is dead, madam, and past your judgment" (for +the fury in the other's eyes had blazed up afresh at the mention of +him)--"deceived me with false hopes; for fear alone--though I was timid +too--would never have caused me to break the promise I had passed to +you. He said, if I disgraced myself and him by the perjury I +contemplated, that he would thrust me from his door forever; that in the +lips of all the world my name would become another word for shame and +infamy; that even the man I loved would loathe me when I had thus served +his turn. I answered him, 'No matter, so I save my Richard.' Then he +said, 'But you will not save him; you will ruin him, rather, by this +very evidence you purpose to give. We have proof enough of this Yorke's +guilt, no matter what you swear; and we have proof, besides, of his +having committed other offenses, if we choose to adduce it. All you will +effect is to make yourself shameful.' Then I hesitated, not knowing what +to think. 'The case is this,' argued my father: 'I have no grudge +against this young scoundrel, since the money has been all recovered, +and I don't want revenge--else, as I say, I can easily get it. But I'll +have him taught a lesson; he must be punished for the wrong he has done, +but not severely. Before the judge passes sentence, I, the prosecutor, +will beg him off: such an appeal is always listened to, you know, and I +will make it. But if you dare to speak for him, as I hear you mean to +do--if you, my daughter, call yourself thief and trollop to save his +skin, then shall he rot in jail! He shall, by Heaven! His fate hangs on +my lips, not yours,'" + +"Can this be true?" mused the old woman. + +"It _is_ true, so help me Heaven!" cried Harry. "I was a fool, a poor, +weak, shuddering fool, but not a traitress. If you were in court, and +saw me look at him--the smile I gave by which I meant to assure him all +was well, however ill it seemed--You _did_ see it; I see you did. You do +believe me. Oh, thank Heaven--thank Heaven!" + +She began to sob and cry, and caught hold of the old woman's hand and +kissed it, while the other stood silent, still in doubt. + +"Oh, madam, pity me. That you have suffered torments for long years is +plain to see, and yet you have not, though he was your son, been +tortured as I have. You could not have freed him by a word as I could; +and oh, I did not utter it! I seemed to be his judge, his jailer, the +cause of all his woes, to the man I loved--and loved beyond all others! +I hated my own father for his sake. I"--she shuddered--"I was married to +Richard's rival. You at least have been alone, not companioned night and +day by one who helped to doom him. Your case is hard and bitter--but +mine! not our own Richard, in his chains and toil, has suffered what _I_ +have suffered! Look at me, madam, and tell me if I speak truth or lie." + +"Yes, yes," mused Mrs. Yorke, in tender tones, and passing her fingers +over the other's silvering hair and haggard face; "I do--I must believe +it. I should not have known you to-day had you not called me by my name. +You must have mourned for him indeed. Is this the cheek he loved to +kiss? Is this the hair a lock of which I took to comfort him in prison? +Poor soul--poor soul!" + +"How is he, madam?" whispered Harry, hoarsely. "Is he well? Is he free?" + +"Not yet, Harry. In a year hence he will be. I had a letter only +yesterday. But you must never see him; and if you really love him--I +speak it for his sake, not theirs--you must never let him set eyes on +your husband or your boy." + +"I do not wish to see him; it would be too terrible to bear," groaned +Harry. + +"But he must not see _them_," insisted the other, gravely. "You must put +the sea between yourselves and him, or there will be murder done. His +wrath is terrible, and will be the destruction of both them and him. The +hope of vengeance is the food he lives upon, and without which he would +have perished years ago. Even if you persuaded him, as you have +convinced _me_, that you yourself are innocent of his ruin, that would +only make him firmer in his purpose against your husband. He will have +his life-blood, and then his own will pay for it. If I had not seen you, +I meant to see this man, and give him warning six months before Richard +left the prison." + +"Solomon would never heed it," exclaimed Harry, "nor even believe it if +I told him." + +"He will believe _me_," said the other, composedly. "You must bring him +here that I may tell him. Your Solomon must be a fool indeed not to +hearken when a mother warns him against her own son. Mind, I do not +blame my Richard, woman!" continued Mrs. Yorke, with sudden passion; "he +has had provocation enough; it is but right to kill such vermin, and I +could stand by and smile to see him do it. But they must be kept apart, +I say--this man and Richard--lest a worse thing befall him than has +happened already." + +"Never to see him more!" moaned Harry, covering her face with her hands; +"never to tell him I was not the wretch I seemed! only to fear him as an +enemy to me and mine--" + +"Ay, and to himself," interrupted the other, gravely. "If you would not +inflict far more on him than you have done already; if you would not--as +you will, if you neglect my warning--designedly bring him to a shameful +death, as you have involuntarily doomed him to a shameful life, keep +these two men apart. If you love this son of yours, remove him from the +reach of mine." + +"Great Heaven!" cried Harry, shuddering, "would he harm my boy--my +innocent boy?" + +"Ay, as he would set his heel upon his father--the viper and his brood. +It is no idle menace he has breathed so cautiously that the whisper +might well escape even another ear than mine, in every letter for these +many years. He thirsts for liberty, not for his own sake, but for the +slow-ripening vengeance it shall bear. He will have it, unless we save +him from himself by saving them from him, as sure as yonder inky cloud +will fall in storm. The thought of it was full grown in his mind when he +wrote from Cross Key: '_They are dead to me, those three, at present_,' +and forbade me ever to mention them by name; and since then he has +thought of nothing else. The day of retribution is about to dawn. I say +again, beware of him." + +"But he must be mad to cherish--" + +"Perhaps he is," interrupted the old woman, coldly; "he will not be less +dangerous on that account to those who made him mad." + +There was a long silence. Then Harry, in submissive tones, inquired what +Mrs. Yorke would have her do. + +"Bring your husband hither," returned she. "Take the rooms up stairs, +and leave the task of telling him his peril to me: the sooner it is done +the better. There is but a year at most--not much too long to sell his +goods, and get him away across the world, erasing every footstep behind +him. If he leave one--no matter how slight the clew--Richard will track +him like a blood-hound." + +"We will come here at once--to-morrow," cried Harry, eagerly. + +"Good. My name is Basil now, remember; not that it is likely," she +added, bitterly, "that you will call me Yorke from habit; it is not a +household word with you, I reckon." + +"It is never breathed," said Harry, simply; "but, oh, madam, I _think_ +of him, indeed I do! He was my first love, and my last; and though he +should kill me for the crime, of which I have shown myself guiltless, I +should pray God bless him with my latest breath. Yet he must curse _me_ +forever! He must never know but that I was the willing agent of his +ruin!" + +"'Tis true, I dare not mention your name, Harry," said Mrs. Yorke, +sadly; "and, if I told him, all the knowledge of the deception practiced +on you would only make him the more bitter against your husband--the man +who, by connivance in your father's cruel falsehood, obtained you for +his wife, while his rival pined in prison. I do not blame you for your +marriage--I know the force of stern necessity too well. But do not +imagine that Richard could forgive you: he never, never could." + +"I know it, I know it," sighed Harry, shuddering, "and yet he would pity +me if he did but know what my life has been--almost as much as I have +pitied _him_. But you, madam, _you_ at least have forgiven me; you +believe me; you will not refuse to bless me, as his mother, before I +go." + +"I believe you, and therefore I forgive you," answered Mrs. Yorke, with +tenderness; "and if I believed in blessings, and had the power of +bestowing them, you should have your wish. From henceforth we two are +friends--though I never thought to kiss your cheek again, Harry--and +must work together for the good of him we love in common. You will be +here to-morrow for certain, then?" + +"Without fail we shall." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +THE OMEN. + + +Mrs. Coe was as good as her word, and her husband and son were Mrs. +Basil's lodgers within four-and-twenty hours. Solomon Coe was not very +particular as to furnished apartments, and left such arrangements wholly +to his wife. On the other hand, he confided to her but little respecting +his affairs, nor was she, on her part, curious to inquire into them. Man +and wife had few things in common, and affection was not one of them. +Solomon had married Harry with the full consciousness that another was +preferred before him; the disclosures at the trial, and the subsequent +gossip of his neighbors, had placed that fact beyond a doubt. But he was +not to be balked of the bride that had been promised him so long; nor, +above all, should his rival enjoy even the barren victory of Harry's +remaining unwedded for his sake. There are marriages born of pique and +spite on man's part as well as woman's; and Solomon's was one of them, +although he reaped, of course, material advantages besides. Trevethick +had survived more than ten years, during which he had largely increased +his savings; and at his death all these had reverted to his daughter and +her husband. The wealth that had thus poured in upon Solomon through +Harry's means did not purchase for her any new regard; he had never +ill-treated her, in a material sense, but he had spoken ash-sticks, +though he had used none. On the slightest quarrel, that "jail-bird +friend of yours" had been thrown in her face, and the cowardly missile +was still cast at her upon occasion. The birth of their child had not +cemented their union. As he grew up his character showed itself as +foreign to that of his father as was his personal appearance. He was +slight in figure, delicate in appearance (though not in constitution), +and fastidious in taste. His choice of an artist's calling was not so +objectionable to Solomon as might be imagined; he had not sensitiveness +enough to abhor it from association, and, as has been said, he thought +it might be made to co-operate with his own commercial schemes. But the +artist nature was in antagonism to his own, and Charles and his father +were not on affectionate terms with one another. + +The wayward, handsome lad was, on the other hand, adored by his mother. +Her intelligence, not naturally acute, was quickened to see his faults, +not indeed as such, but as possible causes of misfortune to him. His too +lively impulses, his indecision, his love of pleasure, were all sources +of apprehension to her, though scarcely ever of rebuke. She saw in Agnes +Aird, his tutor's daughter--so simple, yet so sensible and sterling, so +faithful, pure, and true--the very girl to make her son a fitting wife; +an antidote for what was amiss in him; her honest heart a sheet-anchor +to hold him fast, not in the turbid ocean of excess, for her Charley was +too good to tempt it, but through that sparkling sea of gayety in which +he was too apt to plunge. She was beautiful enough even for him to mate +with; she was better born and better trained than he; for old Jacob Aird +was none of those irregular geniuses of the pencil, addicted to +gin-punch and Shelley, and selfish to the core, but a plain honest man, +who had brought up his daughter well--in tastes a lady, but housewifely +and wisely too. As for the inequality of wealth between them, her son +would have enough for both; and it was certain that Agnes did not love +him for his expectations, for they were unknown alike to her and him. +Harry had never led him to believe that he would be a rich man; her +love, as we have said, had made her wise in all that concerned Charley; +and as for his father, he was naturally reticent in such matters. He did +not spend one fifth part of his income. His habits were as inexpensive +as they had been in the old days at Gethin; and if the village folks had +ever hinted to the young fellow of his father's wealth, he had no +conception of its real extent. The idea itself, too, would have had no +great interest for him; he liked to have money for the pleasure of +spending it, but it was never the object of his thoughts; he was too +careless, too much the creature of the hour, to forecast his future. His +mother gave him all she could, but he was aware that it was obtained +with difficulty; the cost of his very education, which he had received +at a school near Turlock, had, he knew, been grudged; his father had +often grumbled that it was money thrown away, for, "Look at me," said +he; "I taught myself." There was always, in short, a tightness in the +Coe money market that augured any thing but pecuniary prosperity. + +The very fact of their having taken lodgings at Mr. Aird's house, +situated as it was in Soho, a respectable but far from fashionable +locality, argued but moderate means, and placed the artist out of all +suspicion of setting his pretty daughter as a matrimonial snare for +Charley. She was pretty enough and good enough, the old man justly +thought, for him or for his betters; and though he regarded the +good-will which the young people evidently entertained for one another +with favor, he saw in it neither condescension nor advantage. Solomon, +much engaged in business affairs away from home, and estimating, +besides, the power of love at a low rate, was not seriously alarmed at +the growing attachment between his son and Agnes, nor would have been +had it advanced much farther. He thought he had only to say "No," to put +a stop to it at any point. Still he had determined to place the boy out +of the reach of such temptation as a pretty girl living beneath the same +roof must always offer to susceptible youth; and hence it was that Mrs. +Coe had engaged new lodgings. But even now, so lightly did his father +think of the matter, that Charley was still to be permitted to visit at +Mr. Aird's daily, and take his drawing-lessons as heretofore. + +An excuse for the change of residence had been afforded in the fact that +Soho was too far from the parks, in which alone Mrs. Coe took pleasure +in walking. She was quite unaccustomed to town life, and the roar and +tumult of the streets annoyed and even alarmed her. In some respects, +indeed, she was even a more nervous, timid creature than she had been as +a girl; the warning just received from Mrs. Yorke had not fallen upon +her altogether unexpectedly, though she could not have been said to be +prepared for it. A vague apprehension of Richard's vengeance had haunted +her whole married life; she did not fear for her own safety; something +told her that his anger would scorn to harm herself; that it would pass +over her head like a flaming sword, and smite her husband and her boy; +and as face after face passed by her in the crowded street, she would +shrink and tremble, thinking that that of Richard Yorke would come one +day, and recognize her own, and track it home. Was he not fated to work +their common ruin? Did not the spectre ship cross Turlock Sands before +she met his face for the first time? Though so mature in years, Harry +was indeed as superstitious as ever. A curious instance of this occurred +on the day that the Coes moved into their new lodgings. The mother and +son had arrived first--Solomon being engaged in the City until +evening--and Charley had strolled into the ground-floor parlor, while +the landlady (whom he had not yet seen) was engaged with his mother up +stairs in the distribution of the luggage. Above the chimney-piece hung +that striking if not attractive portrait of Joanna Southcott and her +amanuensis, with which we are already acquainted; and it tickled the +young man's fancy amazingly. He concluded it was a family group--the +likeness, perhaps, of Mrs. Basil and her late husband engaged in making +out their weekly accounts. "I will beg Agnes not to be jealous of our +charming landlady," thought he, and took out his note-book with the +intention of transferring the likeness for that young lady's amusement. +While engaged in this occupation the door opened, and in stepped Mrs. +Basil and her new tenant. In his alarm and haste he stepped back +suddenly, and overthrew a little table, on which were some ornaments, he +knew not what, which rolled to his mother's feet. She uttered a cry of +horror; and the landlady herself stood still, regarding him with a face +of astonishment, and even terror. + +"Is that--your--son?" exclaimed she, clutching his mother by the arm. + +But Mrs. Coe did not seem to hear her. + +"Look, look!" cried she; "the skull, the skull! Oh, is it not a +frightful omen!" + +"I am really very sorry," said Charley, picking up the article in +question; "it was very stupid of me, Mrs. Basil." + +"Don't mention it, young Sir," said the landlady, who had apparently +recovered from her sudden tremor; "the skull is no worse for its roll, +you see; he was fortunately a hard-headed gentleman who originally owned +it." + +"Indeed," said Charley, taking it from her hand with some curiosity, +"it seems a curious ornament for a sitting-room. May I ask whom it +belonged to when it had flesh about it?" + +"It is the skull of Swedenborg," answered Mrs. Basil. "A near relative +of mine was a disciple of his, and left it to me as a most precious +relic." + +"But how the deuce did he get possession of it?" inquired the young man. + +"Well, not very fairly, as it seems to me," smiled the landlady. "While +your mother sits down and rests herself--for I am afraid you have +frightened her a bit--I'll tell you the story." + +"Yes, yes," said Mrs. Coe, faintly; "I shall be better presently; don't +mind me." + +"Well, the tale runs thus, Sir. Swedenborg was buried in the vault +beneath the Swedish embassador's chapel in Princes Square, Ratcliffe +Highway; and a certain theologian having once affirmed that all great +philosophers took their bodies with them into the world of spirits, and +that this gentleman had done the like, leave was obtained to settle this +point by actual examination. The body was found, and the theologian +confuted, but no trouble was taken to solder on again the lid of the +coffin. A thieving Swede, attending a funeral of one of his countrymen +in the same vault, remarked this circumstance, and stole the skull, with +the intention of selling it to some disciple of the great philosopher's; +and I am ashamed to say that he found a purchaser in my respected +relative: and that's how I became possessed of Swedenborg's skull." + +"Very curious, though rather larcenous," observed the young man, +laughing. "And this good lady over the mantel-piece, who is she?" + +"That's Joanna Southcott. But, my good young gentleman, I will answer +all your questions another time. Your mother and I will have enough to +do to arrange matters before your father comes home. You will excuse my +freedom, Sir." + +"Certainly," said Charley, rather amused than otherwise with the +landlady's bluntness. "I know I'm in the way just now; so I'll step out +for half an hour or so. I am sorry I frightened you, dear mother." + +He stooped and kissed her fondly; and then, with a smile and a nod at +Mrs. Basil, stepped into the little passage and out of doors, and, +whistling, passed the window down the street. + +"Your son has a light heart," said Mrs. Basil, looking at Harry very +earnestly. "How old is he?" + +"Eighteen--or a little less." + +"He looks his age _at least_," observed the other, emphatically. + +"Yes; dark people always do." + +"And your husband is dark, like him, I remember." + +"Yes; his complexion is swarthy, though he is not slim, like Charles." + +Mrs. Coe, still in the arm-chair into which she had first sunk, here +closed her eyes; either the faintness of which she had complained was +coming on again, or she did not wish to meet the other's searching gaze. + +There was a long pause, during which Mrs. Basil went to the cellaret, +and pouring out a glass of sherry, put it to her tenant's lips. + +"Do you feel better now?" said she, when Harry had drunk it. + +"Yes, yes; much better. But that skull--oh, horrible! it rolled from him +to me. What an omen on your very threshold! Heaven guard my Charles from +evil!" + +"This is weakness, Mrs. Coe. The skull is harmless; and it rolled +because your son upset it." + +"Yes, my son," gasped the other, trembling. "It is for him I fear. It +augurs death--death--death!" + +There was a ring at the front-door, decisive, sharp, and resonant. + +"Great Heaven!" cried Harry; "if it should be he himself! Hide me away; +put me out of sight." Her terror was piteous to behold: she shook in +every limb. + +"It is the post," said Mrs. Basil, contemptuously; and she was right. +The servant brought in a letter for her mistress. + +"I don't know the hand," mused she. "Black-bordered, and black-sealed +too." She opened it without excitement, and read it through: it was but +a few lines. + +"Your omen has proved true for once, Mrs. Coe," said she, in quiet +tones. "This speaks of death." + +"Whose death?" cried Harry. + +"My husband's, Richard's father. Carew of Crompton died last night." + +There was no sorrow in the aged woman's face: a gravity, unmixed with +tenderness, possessed it. Carew was naught to her, and had been naught +for twoscore years. But the tide of memory was at its flow within her +brain; and because the Past _is_ Past it touches us. This man had loved +her once, after his own scornful manner, when he was young, and before +power and selfishness had made him stone. He had been the father of her +only son, and now he was Dead. + +"I am so sorry," said Harry, not quite knowing what to say. + +"There is no need for sorrow," replied the other, quietly. "Let us go up +stairs and finish our work." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +WITCHERY. + + +Carew of Crompton was really dead, as men said, "at last," not that he +had been long dying, or was an old man, but that he had eventually +succumbed to one of those deadly risks to which he had so often +voluntarily exposed himself. On the occasion which had been fatal to him +he had started from home one frosty morning at the gallop, with a cigar +in his mouth, the reins on his horse's neck, and both his hands in his +pockets, and had been pitched off and broken his neck within half a mile +of his own door. His chaplain, who had dispatched the news to Mrs. +Basil, had been riding by his side at the very moment. "He was a good +friend to me," was the laconic remark that poor Parson Whymper had added +to the bare intelligence. + +To judge by the regretful excitement in the Midlands, Carew might have +been a good friend to every body. The news was at once telegraphed to +town, and appeared in the evening papers. The public interest in his mad +freaks had of late years grown somewhat faint--his extravagances were, +perforce, on a less splendid scale--but his death revived it. "So that +mad Carew has killed himself, after all," was the observation frequently +overheard that evening, as acquaintance met acquaintance on their +homeward way from business. "Well, he's had his whack of most things," +was the reply of the philosophers; "He has not left much to tempt his +heirs to be extravagant, I reckon," of the cynics; "He was a deuced good +fellow at bottom, I believe," remarked those who were secretly desirous +of earning the same eulogium for themselves; "He was altogether wrong at +top," answered the charitable. + +Solomon Coe came home to his new abode in such a state of elation that +it even made him communicative to his wife. Mrs. Basil happened to be +with her in the drawing-room, but he only acknowledged her presence by a +hasty nod. "Well, what d'ye think, Carew of Crompton, that was your +father's landlord and mine"--Solomon never said "ours" with reference to +property--"has broken his neck at last!" + +Of course the very name of Carew was a sore subject between man and +wife, on account of Richard Yorke's connection with him; but it suited +Solomon's purpose on this occasion to ignore that circumstance. It would +be necessary for some time to come to allude to the Crompton property +more or less, and it was just as well to begin at once; it was also less +embarrassing to do so in the presence of a third person. + +"Yes, Solomon, I knew Mr. Carew was dead," said Harry, gravely. The next +instant she turned scarlet with the consciousness of her thoughtless +indiscretion. + +"Oh," grunted her husband, annoyed at what he deemed her sulky manner, +when he himself was so graciously inclined to be conciliatory, and also +displeased to find his news anticipated, "you've been buying an evening +paper, have you? You must have more money than you know what to do with, +it seems to me." + +Harry was thankfully accepting this imputation in silence, when Mrs. +Basil's soft voice was heard. "No, Sir; it was I who told your good +lady. I had a letter from Crompton by the afternoon's post." + +"The devil you did!" cried Solomon, turning sharply upon her. "How came +that about?" + +"I was housekeeper at Crompton, Sir, in old Mrs. Carew's time, for some +years, and one of the servants wrote to let me know of the accident." + +"Housekeeper, were you?" said Solomon, with interest. "That must have +been a good place, with deuced good pickings, eh?" + +"Solomon, Solomon," remonstrated his wife, in a low voice, "Mrs. Basil +is quite a lady. Don't you see that you offend her?" + +It is more than probable that, under ordinary circumstances, Mr. Coe +would have resented this rebuke with choleric vehemence; but he had his +reasons for being good-humored in the present instance. "You must excuse +my country manners, Mrs. Basil," said he. "As my wife will tell you, I +must always have my joke; but I mean no offense. So you were housekeeper +at Crompton, were you? Well, now, that's curious, for Mrs. Coe's father +and I myself, as you heard me saying, have had a great deal to do with +Carew. You knew him well, of course?" + +"Yes, Sir; I did." + +"And the place too, of course. It was a very fine one, was it not? +Plenty of pictures, and looking-glasses, and things?" + +"It was very richly furnished." + +It was curious to mark the difference of manner between questioner and +respondent. Solomon, usually so reticent and reserved, was grown quite +voluble. Mrs. Basil, on the other hand, naturally so apt in speech, +seemed to reply with difficulty. She was weighing every word. + +"The estate, I suppose, was out of your beat; you did not have much to +do with that?" + +"I used to walk in the park, Sir, most days." + +"Ay; but the property generally? The friend who writes you to-day don't +say any thing about _that_, I suppose--whether any of it is to be sold +or not, for instance?" + +"The report--of course, being a servant, she can only speak from +report--is that Mr. Carew's affairs are in a sad state. Every thing, I +believe, is to be sold at once. The whole estate is said to be--I don't +know if I use the right term--mortgaged." + +"Just so," replied Solomon; "yes, yes. That is so, no doubt." There was +a slight pause; Mrs. Basil courtesied, and was about to leave the room. +"Stop a bit, ma'am," said Solomon. "My wife tells me that you are a lone +woman--a widow. Perhaps you'd like to take a bit of dinner with us +to-day?" + +Harry began to think her husband was intoxicated. He did get +occasionally so when any particularly good stroke of business was in +course of progress, and on such occasions his manner was unusually +affable; but she had never seen him half so gracious as at present. +Hospitality, though he did sometimes bring a mining agent or a broker +home to dinner, was by no means his strong point. Mrs. Basil looked +doubtfully at her dress, which, though homely, was perfectly well-made +and lady-like, and murmured something about its being almost the +dinner-hour, and there being "no time." + +"Oh, never mind your gown" (which, by-the-by, Solomon pronounced +"gownd"); "we're quite plain people ourselves, as my wife will tell you. +You shall take pot-luck with us. Where's Charley? That boy's always +late." + +But at that very moment the young gentleman in question entered the +room, at the same time as did the servant with the announcement that +dinner was on the table. + +The astonishment of the domestic at seeing her mistress taken down to +the dining-room by the new lodger was only exceeded by that of Charley, +as, with his mother on his arm, he followed the strangely assorted pair. +"I knew she was a witch," he murmured, "with her human skull and her +Joanna Southcott; but this beats old Margery's doings at Gethin." + +"Hush, hush!" whispered his mother, for Charley's high spirits and +audacity always terrified her when exhibited in his father's presence: +"they have found they have a common acquaintance, and so made friends." + +"Father didn't know Swedenborg, did he?" answered the young man, slyly. +"My belief is, he has fallen in love with her. I saw a black cat on the +stairs. She can make any body do it, as I was telling Aggey" (the young +rogue had been to Soho since the morning); "I shall be the next victim, +no doubt. It's no use saying to myself, 'Thou shalt not marry thy +grandmother.' Her charms are too powerful for the rubric. You'll see +she'll not say grace." + +Mr. Charles was right in that particular of his diagnosis of their new +guest. Mrs. Basil did treat that devotional formula, which Mrs. Coe +never omitted to pronounce, in spite of her husband's contemptuous +shrugs, with considerable indifference. She sat opposite to Charley, and +more than once, when he looked up suddenly, he caught her gaze fixed +earnestly upon him. Those wondrous eyes of hers yet shone forth bright +and clear; her cheeks were still smooth; and, though her brow had many a +wrinkle, they were the footprints of thought and care, rather than of +years. + +The conversation, as was natural where the company and the guest were +strangers to each other, turned upon the topics of the day, and the +objects in the room, some of which, as we know, were sufficiently +remarkable. At Charley's request Mrs. Basil once more narrated the story +of the skull; and then epitomized, with caustic tongue, the biography of +poor Joanna. Up stairs, she said, she had one of that lady's "seals"--a +passport to eternal bliss--which she would bestow as a present upon the +young gentleman opposite. Her cynical humor delighted Charley, and won +the approbation of his father--not the less so, perhaps, since he saw it +annoyed his wife. + +Poor Harry was a simple well-meaning woman in her way, and, had the +circumstances of her life been less exceptional, would have earned the +reputation of a good creature and steadfast chapel-goer. But our lives +do not always fall in the places most suitable to our dispositions; the +restive are often compelled to run in harness; and the quiet low-action +goers, who would welcome restraint, are left without guide, and with no +course marked out for them. Thus it was with Mrs. Coe. The situation in +which Fate had placed her it was altogether beyond her powers to fill. +She knew that Mrs. Basil was rapidly ingratiating herself with her +husband, and so far was furthering their common plan; but, +notwithstanding its supreme importance, she shrank from the means that +were bidding fair to accomplish her own end. She shuddered at her +husband's vulgar ejaculations of assent and approval; at her son's +thoughtless laughter; at this woman's sparkling and audacious talk, +which seemed so purposeless, and yet was so full of design and craft. +She had feared her and shrank from her at Gethin, and she feared her +now. And yet how necessary was her assistance! Of her own self she was +well aware that she could do nothing to avert that coming peril from her +husband and her son, the shadow of which had darkened all her married +life, and was now deepening into blackest doom. It was absolutely +necessary that Mrs. Basil should obtain the confidence of Solomon, and +perhaps of Charley also, and yet this unlooked-for and swift success of +hers was far from welcome to poor Harry. It really almost seemed that +there was truth in what her son had spoken in jest--that there was +witchcraft in it. + +Solomon was now talking earnestly to Mrs. Basil in low tones, while +Charley looked toward his mother with raised eyebrows, and a comic +expression, which seemed to say, "She's got him, you see; I did see a +black cat on the stairs." + +If she could have overheard her husband's talk, it would still have been +inexplicable to her. + +"Then you think this sale at Crompton will take place directly after the +funeral?" + +"I should certainly imagine so--yes." + +"There is something--you needn't tell my wife, because I wish it to be a +surprise for her--that I should like to buy at it; something I have long +had my eye on." + +"Some piece of furniture, I suppose. Well, you must be prepared to give +a good sum, I fear. From the curiosity of the thing--the reputation, I +mean, of poor Mr. Carew--it is likely things will fetch more than their +price." + +"Perhaps so. But I should like to know, as soon as possible, when the +sale comes off. From your connection with the place, you will be able to +get news of this before the general public--I mean the exact date." + +"No doubt. I will write to-morrow, and beg that the information may be +sent me." + +"I should feel much obliged if you would, Mrs. Basil." + +"I'll write this very night. You wish to know the day on which the sale +of the furniture may be fixed?" + +"Yes; and of all the other things: of the estates as well, for instance; +there may be some land that may prove a good investment. Don't make a +fuss about it, but say you have a friend who is interested. The +catalogue of effects, with the dates appointed for the sale of each, +will, of course, be settled down there. I want to have an early copy." + +"That is very simple," said Mrs. Basil, making a memorandum in her +pocket-book: "you shall be among the very first to get one, Mr. Coe--you +may rely on that." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +OVER THE ROOF. + + +Richard Yorke is still at Lingmoor; and though but a twelvemonth +intervenes between him and freedom--or perhaps partly because of +it--prison life is growing insupportable. It is the last year of "a long +term," as all "old hands" will tell you, which is the most trying. +Impatience becomes more incontrollable as the limit of suffering is +neared; and just as, after a tedious and dangerous illness, the +convalescent will rise too soon, and risk a relapse in his feverish +desire to be well, so a prisoner will often make some wild endeavors to +escape, when, if he did but wait a little--a span of time compared with +that in which he has lain captive--his jealous doors would open of +themselves to let him pass in safety. But there are other reasons which +are pressing Richard toward flight, and goading him (as he feels) to +madness if he remain quiescent. He has quarreled with all about him, and +has suffered for it; and he is now menaced with worse things. His +sullenness, his brooding ire, have long transformed his nature; +civility, and even obedience, have become impossible for him. He kicks, +as it were, against a chevaux-de-frise of steel. He has been starved on +bread and water, and grown thin and fierce. He has been put, and not for +nothing, into the dark cell for hours, to brood, as usual, and has come +forth a more reckless devil than he went in. + +His warder and he are open foes. That cross-grained official has taken a +strong antipathy to him, which is more than reciprocated; and every, +time he enters his cell sets foot, though unconscious of the fact, on +the very threshold of the grave. He is the keeper of one who is almost a +madman; but the latter is sane on one point yet--he knows to whom his +vengeance is mainly due; and while that knowledge lasts his lesser foe +is safe from him--safe, that is, at present; but a provocation may be +given which would compel this long-suffering victim--in years scarce a +middle-aged man, in appearance gray and withered as the oldest within +those prison walls--to give his passion way, and slay him. If something +should take place, which this warder himself has prophesied would +happen, it will be so; and all Richard's hoarded hate would then be +useless, since it would have no heir. There has been flogging in the +prison--an unusual punishment, and only inflicted for great offenses, or +for continued contumacy and bad conduct. A conspiracy was discovered, +and seven of the ringleaders received three dozen lashes each, in +presence of all the inmates of the jail. It was a punishment perhaps +deserved and necessary, but sickening enough to witness. Richard's +warder stood beside him, and while the cat was descending on one +wretch's naked back, observed in a grim whisper: "Do you take warning, +my man; for if you are reported again, the governor says you are to have +a dose of the same medicine." + +Whether the man spoke truth or not, Richard believed him. It was more +than probable that he _would_ be reported, and by the very voice that +uttered the menace. In a twelvemonth's time there were three hundred and +sixty-five opportunities, ten times told, of its being fulfilled. If +such a sentence was ever passed upon him, as it was almost sure to be, +Richard was well resolved that it should not be carried out; rather +should this man die, and he himself, his slayer, be hung for it. His +desire for vengeance upon those who had blasted his young life so +cruelly was as strong as ever--nay, stronger, fiftyfold; but he knew +that he could never bear the lash. Somehow or other, therefore, at all +risks, he must escape from Lingmoor. + +Robert Balfour was to be set free in a few days, his conduct, though not +good, having earned that much of remission. Richard was not envious of +him, yet the contrast of their two positions made him perhaps more +desperate and reckless. Of late months the old man had been admitted to +certain privileges accorded to such as have almost worked out their +time, or who are otherwise recommended for them. He had been employed as +"a cleaner," then as "a special"--in which position he was permitted to +work out of doors without an attendant warder, and even (in his +particular case, for he was growing very old and feeble) to have leave +of absence for an hour or two. On some occasions it was his duty to +bring round the prisoners' meals; and then he saw Richard, and could +even exchange a word or two with him alone. This happened upon the +afternoon of the day when the public flogging had taken place. + +"Balfour," said Richard, earnestly, "will you do me a favor?" + +"Yes, lad, any thing," replied the old man, softly. The word "lad" +seemed so inapplicable to that gray-headed, care-lined face, which he +had known so young and comely, that the misuse of it touched the +speaker. "You know I will." + +"Even though you should run a risk," said Richard, "within a day or two +of your freedom?" + +"Ay; for your sake, I would do that and more." + +"God bless you, if there be a God!" answered those haggard lips. "Ask +leave to go to the village to-morrow, and get me a file." + +"Hush!--the warder." + +The conversation thus interrupted was resumed next day. + +"Here is the file," said Balfour; "hide it in your mattress. But, lad, +you will be mad to use it. I pray you be patient. It is only a +twelvemonth now." + +Richard shook his head, with a ghastly smile. "I must try," said he. + +"Nay, nay; you will be retaken and flogged, lad; think of that." + +"I shall never be retaken, Balfour, at least alive." + +It was easy enough to read in Richard's face the corroboration of his +words. + +"Have you any plan?" asked the old man, disconsolately. + +"I have. From my window here I see an open shed, with a coil of rope in +it. I shall file my bars, and get that rope to-night; climb back again +here, and over the roof. I have calculated the distance from outside. I +feel sure I can reach the parapet with my finger-tips as I stand upon +the window-ledge, then let myself down into the exercising-yard upon the +west side." + +"The walls about that yard are sixty feet high, lad." + +"There is a spout in the north corner which will help me up; and if I +reach the top without a broken neck, I make fast my rope, and slide on +to the moor. From thence, no matter how dark it is--and it will be +pitch-dark, I reckon--I can make Bergen Wood. No power on earth shall +stop me. If you told the warder yonder of my plan this moment, I should +still escape--in another and more certain fashion." To look at him and +read the resolute despair in his white face was to have no doubt of +that. + +"What must be must be," sighed the old man. "But for _my_ sake, lad--for +mine, who love you as a father loves his own son--be patient till +to-morrow. This is my last day at Lingmoor. To-morrow I shall be free. +I'll come at night to the wall of the west yard, and throw a rope over +the north corner, close by the spout you mention. It shall be made fast +on my side, and if you do but lay hold of it, the rest is easy. Your +scheme, as it now stands, is hopeless. No squirrel could climb that +spout, far less a man reduced as you are;" and he glanced significantly +at Richard's shrunken limbs. + +"You are the best of friends, Balfour--indeed, the only man that ever +_was_ my friend." He stopped, as if overcome by an emotion that was so +strange to him. "At midnight, then, to-morrow, I shall begin my work; +and in an hour from that time, if all goes well, I shall be at the spot +appointed. If I fail, you will remember Wheal Danes?" + +"Yes, yes; but you will not fail. Keep a good heart," whispered the old +man, as he hurried away at an approaching footstep. + +But, in reality, Balfour had no hope. His experience of such attempts, +and his knowledge of the difficulties to be surmounted in the present +instance, forbade any expectation of Richard's success, even in the +matter of getting outside the prison walls; and, supposing that was +done, and the wood reached, what was to be looked for further but slow +starvation or death from the sharp-tipped arrows of the wintry wind? +Still, Balfour's help was promised, and would be given; the old +cracksman had many faults and vices, but he was not one to desert a +friend at a pinch, and Richard Yorke was really dear to him. + +As for Richard, notwithstanding the seasonableness of the other's offer, +and although he was himself almost convinced that without such aid he +could never effect his object, no sooner was he left alone than he +regretted that he had passed his word to put off the attempt another +day. Suppose he should transgress some prison regulation between this +and then, or be reported by his hostile attendant without having +committed a transgression! There were thirty-six hours of such perilous +delay before him, and his impatience was already at fever-heat. By +standing on his metal wash-stand, and peering through his bars, he could +see that the coil of rope still lay in its accustomed place that +afternoon, but would it remain there till to-morrow night? The very act +of thus climbing to his window, which he could not resist, was a serious +offense; and if by any chance he should be found in possession of the +file--then all was over. He was fully determined only to part with it +with life itself. For once, the picture of Trevethick and his son-in-law +(for he had heard before he left Cross Key of Harry's marriage with his +rival), unsuspecting, complacent, and exposed to the full force of his +revenge, failed to occupy his gloating thoughts; they were fixed as ever +there, but on the means and not upon the end--his whole being was +engrossed in the coming enterprise. He feared the warder should read +that forbidden word "Escape" in his eager eyes, or on his restless lips. +A change of cell or a sudden examination of his bed-furniture--no +uncommon occurrence--would prove his ruin. He took the file out of his +mattress, and placed it in his breast: let that man beware who found it +there! + +At last the long night, which should have found him free, passed by, and +the next weary day. The appointed time had come. + +It was past midnight, and not a sound was heard in the vast prison; +there was no moon, but a few stars shone on him as he worked at the iron +bars; the noise of his file was muffled--he had rubbed it well with +soap--but every now and then he paused and listened. He half fancied he +could hear the distant tramp of the patrols, who, musket in hand, +watched the walls of Lingmoor from the roofs of its four stone towers; +but it was only fancy, and, at all events, no one else but they was +stirring. Years ago he had gauged those bars, and calculated that not +less than three must be sawn through to give his body room to pass; but +that was when he was young and plump and vigorous. He was vigorous +now--the fever within him seemed to give him the strength of ten--but he +was an old man to look at, and the flesh had left his bones. So much the +better; there were only two bars to file instead of three. Finding the +space sufficient, he twisted his blanket into a rope, fastened it to the +broken bars, and so, by its aid, slipped noiselessly into the yard. + +That portion of the prison was low, and consisted but of two stories; +another cell window was immediately beneath his own, but, as he knew, it +was not used for prisoners. Still, he trembled as he slipped past it. +Suppose a hand had been pushed through to clasp his limbs, or a voice +had given the alarm, and warned the watchful guards! But his feet +touched ground in safety. His eyes, accustomed for long years to cleave +the darkness, guided him straight to the shed and to the coil of rope. +He seized it as the shipwrecked mariner clutches that which is thrown +him from the shore to drag him through the roaring breakers, and then, +winding it about his waist, he retraced his steps. To return to his cell +window was comparatively easy; but to stand upon its narrow ledge, and, +clutching the parapet with his fingers, to draw himself up thereby, was +a task that few, without the hope of liberty to spur them, could have +accomplished. Three times he failed; without something more of purchase +for his hold, he felt the thing was beyond his powers. The question was, +how broad was the stone coping? If, by a sudden spring, he could catch +the other side of it, he might succeed; but if he missed, his hands +would slide from the smooth surface, his feet could not regain their +stand-point, and he would fall backward twenty feet or so upon the stone +courtyard. + +There was nothing for it but to run the risk. He gathered his strength +together, shut his eyes, and made a vigorous spring: one hand caught a +firm gripe, and, after a sharp struggle, the other gained it; then he +drew himself slowly up, and lay down in the gutter of the roof to gather +breath and look about him. The prison was built like the four spokes of +a wheel; and, indeed, with the high wall circling round it, did closely +resemble that image. Nearly the whole of the building could have been +seen, had it been light enough, from his present position; but, as it +was, only the west wing was dimly visible, with its guardian tower +standing blackly up against its dark back-ground of wintry night sky. He +could not make out the sentry on its top; but now and then, when his +circuit brought him nearest to his hiding-place, he could hear his +measured footfall. + +Like a creeping thing, for he scarce used hand or foot at all, Richard +slowly crawled and slid along the sloping roof, then swiftly over the +vertex, while the patrol was at the most distant portion of his round, +and then once more, motionless and almost breathless, he lay down behind +the western parapet. The exercising-yard, into which it was his object +to drop, was just below him; but it was necessary to find some object to +which to fasten his rope; and here he perceived how futile would have +been his plan of escape without assistance from without; for here, +having slid down it, he must needs leave his rope tied to a neighboring +chimney. There was not length enough to cut off, and be of any service +afterward for the descent of the external wall, nigh sixty feet in +height. If Balfour failed him, it was now, indeed, clear to him that his +whole design must fail. Yonder towering wall, higher even than his own +present elevated position, could never be scaled by foot and hand, with +only the help of a spout--nay, he doubted whether, even if he found the +promised rope in position, he could even make use of that; for, though +agile, he had none of the sailor's cunning. + +He made fast the coil which he had with him, however, and watching his +opportunity, slid off the parapet into space. Such a feat seems easy +enough to read of; but to slide without noise down a loose and swinging +rope for so great a distance is no slight task to one unused to such +gymnastics; and, besides, he had to check himself at intervals (which +took the skin off from his hands, although at the time he did not feel +it), lest he should suddenly reach the ground with a dull thud. He +accomplished this in safety, and once more paused, his back pushed hard +to the prison wall, while the warder passed, whose form he could now +even make out, it was so immediately above him; then he crossed the yard +with a swift but anxious step to its north corner, and peered about in +the gloom for the promised rope; the spout was there, smooth and +ineffectual enough as a means of exit, but no rope. + +His heart died within him, and his hands trembled with anxiety and +trepidation as they felt in vain for it along the smooth and lofty wall. +Richard's brain began to reel. He leaned his trembling brow against the +cold iron of the spout, and endeavored to think the matter out. He was +sure of Balfour; he felt certain that nothing but sudden and dangerous +illness would have prevented him from keeping his word. But perhaps he +had not been able to obtain a rope; such things were watchfully looked +after in the neighborhood of Lingmoor Prison, and might even not be +procurable. Yet had such been the case, Balfour would not have +volunteered that form of assistance. He was of opinion that the rope was +there, then, and if so, it must have been thrown over by means of a +stone, or weight of some kind. In that case, if the stone had rolled +after reaching the ground, the rope might not be hanging like a +plumb-line from the wall, but at an angle from it, and at some distance. +He began to move, then, in a parallel line from the wall, still feeling +right and left; and on the third trial he caught in his stretched-out +hand a string--a string-line such as a boy uses for his kite; and for an +instant, the sense of the inefficacy of such means to effect his purpose +froze him with despair. But presently pulling on the string, he found it +gather in his hand, and pulling softly on, more string, and then an end +of thin but wire-strong rope, and then more rope. What was best of all +was, that this rope was knotted at intervals of every foot, so as to +afford a strong, firm hold. + +After many yards of this had been hauled in he found resistance; the end +of it was evidently fast on the other side. Richard passed the rope +round the bottom of the iron spout, and beneath an iron clasp, that +prevented its slipping upward, and then made it taut. It was a perilous +bridge even then, and supposing the watcher with his musket had not +been, as he was, within easy gunshot of him; but it led from prison +walls to liberty, and Richard did not hesitate for a moment to commit +himself to it. Hand over hand, foot after foot, he dragged himself with +infinite effort slowly upward; but it was not now in his power to watch +the patrol, and secure the most favorable moment for crossing the wall +top, as he had done in the case of the roof. As ill luck would have it, +just as the sentry came to the northward portion of his beat, Richard's +form was vaguely visible against the sky, upon the very summit of the +wall. The next instant he had crossed it, and at the hoarse cry, "Who's +there?" had glided rapidly down upon the other side. The sentry's gun +was at his shoulder, and its sharp report rang through the silent night +just as the convict reached the ground. The starlight was just +sufficient, as the warder subsequently swore (and truly), to see the man +was hit; he staggered and fell, but crawled away directly, and was lost +in the surrounding gloom. + +At the same moment all the prison seemed to wake to light and life, and +the alarm-bell clashed out its hoarse notes of warning on the wintry +air. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +NEWS FROM LINGMOOR. + + +Mrs. Basil kept her word with her lodger, and (thanks to the chaplain) +gave into his hand a catalogue of the great Crompton sale some hours at +least before the details of it were made public; on the receipt of which +Solomon at once left town. His absence was felt to be a relief by all +parties. The work of ingratiating herself with his hard, coarse nature, +independently of the personal loathing with which Mrs. Basil regarded +him, on Richard's account, was very hard, and rest was grateful to her. +Mrs. Coe was always more at ease when business took her husband from his +home. Charley hailed his departure, since he could now enjoy the society +of his Agnes without stint. + +He was, as usual, at Soho one morning, when Harry, sitting alone in the +drawing-room, engaged in needle-work, was alarmed by a shrill shriek, +followed by a heavy fall on the floor beneath, in Mrs. Basil's parlor. +She had heard the front-door closed but a minute before, and the thought +that was never wholly absent from her mind now flashed upon it with +terrible distinctness--the Avenger had come at last! Her next hurried +reflection was one of thankfulness that neither Charley nor Solomon was +at home. Then, pale and trembling, she stole out on the landing of the +stairs, and listened intently. Not a sound was to be heard save the +throbs of her own fluttering breast. The cook and the waiting-maid, who +alone composed the domestic staff, had apparently not heard the noise; +for the former was singing loudly in the kitchen, as was her wont when +she had been "put out," as happened some half dozen times per diem. It +was frightful to think that in yonder parlor her once-loved Richard +might even then be closeted with his mother, deaf to her appeals for +mercy, resolute for revenge, and only demanding where his enemies might +be found: it was better to face him than to picture him thus. That his +sudden appearance had terrified Mrs. Basil into a fit she had little +doubt from that shriek and fall; and, indeed, all was now so still +within there that she might be dead. The fear for her offspring, +however, made Harry almost bold. Indeed, as has been said, she did not +entertain any apprehension of personal violence at Richard's hands; and, +perhaps, in spite of Mrs. Basil's assurance to the contrary, she had +some hope of moving him from his set purpose by her prayers and tears. +Step by step, and clinging to the hand-rail for support, for her limbs +scarcely obeyed her will, she descended the stairs, stood a moment in +the passage, listening like a frightened hare, and then opened the +parlor door. There was no one within it: yes, upon the hearth-rug lay +the motionless form of Mrs. Basil; she was lying on her face; and, +rushing forward, Harry knelt down beside her, and strove to lift her in +her arms. Some instinct seemed to forbid her to call for assistance. + +"What is it? what is it?" gasped the old woman, looking vacantly up in +the other's face. + +"You have been unwell, dear madam. I am afraid you have had a fainting +fit; but, thank Heaven, you are better now." + +Harry was truly grateful; first, that her original suspicion had proved +to be unfounded; secondly, that Mrs. Basil was alive. She had contrived +to place her in a sitting posture, with her back against the heavy +arm-chair; and now she brought a carafe of water from the side-board, +and sprinkled her face and hands. + +"Let me call Mary, and we will get you up to your own room as soon as +you feel equal to the effort." + +Mrs. Basil's eyes had closed again. Her face was white and stiff as that +of a corpse; but she shook her head with vehemence. "The door--lock the +door!" she murmured. + +Not without some hesitation, for she began to fear that her companion +was wandering in her mind, Harry obeyed her. "Get me into my chair. Oh, +why did I ever wake to weary life again!" + +"What has troubled you? Can any new misfortune have happened to us?" +inquired Harry, woefully. + +"To _you_--no," answered the old woman, with sudden fierceness; "to +me--yes. Do you see that letter?" She pointed to one lying beneath the +table. "Twenty years ago that would have been my death-warrant; but now +I am so used to suffer that, like the man who lived on poisons, nothing +kills. Read it--read it." + +The letter was an official one; the envelope immense, with "On her +Majesty's Service" stamped upon it, and out of all proportion to the +scanty contents, which ran as follows: + + "LINGMOOR PRISON, _December 22._ + + "MADAM,--I am instructed by the Governor of this Jail to acquaint + you with the sad news that your son, Richard Yorke, is no more. + Four weeks ago he escaped from prison by night, and took refuge in + an adjoining wood. His body was discovered only four days ago, and + an inquest held upon it, when a verdict was returned in accordance + with the facts. I am, Madam, yours obediently, + + "THOMAS SPARKES (_for the Governor_). + + "I am instructed to inclose a locket with miniature, which was + found upon your son on his arrival here. The rest of his property + will be forwarded by rail." + +This locket contained the little picture of Harry painted by Richard +himself, and which, though he had contrived to secrete while at Cross +Key, had been taken from him at Lingmoor. + +Harry's breast was agitated by conflicting emotions. To know that her +boy was safe--that there could be no murder done--gave her a sense of +intense relief, which could scarcely be called selfish. But that +reflection was but transient, and a passionate burst of sorrow succeeded +it. The only man she had ever loved--around whom, centred her most +precious memories--had died, then, thus miserably, after miserable years +of bondage endured on her account. She saw him with her mind's eye once +more as when he had clasped her in his arms for the first time upon the +ruined tower--as when he had rained his kisses on her lips beside the +Wishing Well--in his youth and beauty and passion. Her nineteen years of +loveless wedlock were swept away, and left her as she saw herself in the +little portrait he himself had painted, and which was now his legacy. +His menaces and vows of vengeance against her and hers were all +forgotten; her woman's heart was loyal to him whom she had owned its +lord, and once more did him fealty. + +"Oh, Richard, Richard, my dear love," cried she; "God knows I would have +died to save you!" + +"Come here, Harry--come here," whispered Mrs. Basil, "and let me kiss +you. I would that I could weep like you; but the fountain of my tears +has long been dry. I thought you would have been glad to feel that you +and yours were safe--that retribution was averted from the man, your +husband; but I now see I did you wrong. Your heart is touched--you +remember him as he was before the taint of crime was on him." + +"It never was!" cried Harry, passionately. "He never meant to wrong my +father of a shilling." + +"Well said, dear Harry; well said. He was himself a wronged--a murdered +man. Imprisoned for nineteen years, and then to perish thus! And yet men +talk of Heaven's justice! My boy! my boy!" + +The two women were silent for a while--the one gazing with dry eyes but +tender yearning face upon the other, as she rocked herself to and fro, +and shook with stifled sobs. + +"Dear Harry, you must not desert me now," pleaded the former, pitifully; +"I am very old, and this has broken me. He was my all--my only one on +earth--and he is dead. I shall not trouble you long. We two, child, were +the only ones that loved him, and we love him still. Let me cling to +you, Harry, since it is but for a little while; and let us talk of him +together, when we are alone, and think of what he was. So bright, so +gay, so--Oh, my boy! my boy!" + +The tears rushed to the mother's eyes at last. Hard Fate was softened +for a while toward it's life-long victim; and side by side sat the two +bereaved women, each striving to comfort the other, after woman's +fashion, by painting in its brightest colors that dead Past which both +deplored. Begotten of their common sorrow, Love sprang up between them, +and on one side confidence; and into Mrs. Basil's hungry ears Harry, for +the first time, poured the story of her courtship. Richard's death had +cemented between them the bond which it would seem to have destroyed. +The fatal letter lay open on Harry's lap, but the envelope had fallen on +the floor. Stooping to pick it up, she found something still within +it--some folded slips from a local newspaper, with an account of the +inquest, the details of which the governor's clerk had, perhaps +humanely, preferred to communicate in that form, to be read or not as +the mother's feelings might dictate to her. The two women read it +together, not aloud, for neither had the voice for that. With most of +the evidence there recounted we are already familiar. It was proved that +No. 421 had long been in a desponding, brooding state; but, as only a +year intervened between the expiration of his term of punishment, his +attempt to escape was almost unaccountable, and certainly unparalleled. +No punishment was impending over him. The opinion of the authorities was +expressed that the convict's reason was unhinged. The method of +obtaining his freedom showed indeed considerable cunning, but also an +audacity that was scarcely consistent with sanity. The height of the +prisoner was known, and his proportionate reach of arm; and it seemed +incredible how he could have succeeded in reaching the parapet above his +cell window; in that attempt he must have risked certain death. His +descent from the roof was explained by the presence of the rope. The +immediate means by which he surmounted the external wall were, of +course, evident enough, since the rope was there also; but the question +was, how did it come there? The prisoner must have been assisted by some +one outside the wall. The warder who fired the shot which subsequently +proved fatal had seen but one man; but the night was dark, and the whole +affair had passed very rapidly. Indeed, the convict had only fully shown +himself when at the top of the wall, and the musket had been fired +almost at a venture. On the alarm being given, pursuit was at once +attempted; but, under cover of the night, the fugitive had gained Bergen +Wood. The next morning his footsteps were traced so far, and it was +proved that he was unaccompanied. A cordon was placed round the wood, +and the place itself thoroughly searched for many days. It was deemed +certain, from the report of the scouts who were made use of on such +occasions, that the convict had not left that covert to seek shelter in +any hamlet in the neighborhood; the quest was therefore still continued. +Not, however, until three weeks afterward was No. 421 discovered. It was +supposed that the unhappy fugitive had died of his wounds upon the very +night of his escape, for the body was so decomposed that it could never +have been identified but for its convict clothes; the nights had been +wet and tempestuous, and it lay in an unsheltered part of the wood, a +mere sodden heap of what had been once humanity. The bullet that had +been the cause of death was, however, detected in the remains. + +What an end to the high-spirited, handsome lad that had been the pride +of his mother, the joy of his betrothed! What wonder that they sat over +the bald record of it with bowed-down faces, and filled up the gaps with +only too easily imagined horrors! Each kept hold of the other's hand, as +though in sign of the dread bond between them, and sat close to one +another in silence. Presently Harry started up, at the sound of a +latch-key in the house door. + +"That is Solomon," cried she. + +"Impossible," said Mrs. Basil. "He told me himself that he should stop +for the last day's sale, and to-day is but the fifth." + +"Hush! it is." + +Yes, it was certainly Solomon's voice in the passage; and apparently, by +the answering tone, he had a male companion with him. + +Harry seized the letter, with its inclosures, and thrust them into her +bosom, which, full of grief for his victim, seemed to spurn her +husband's approach. Then she heard him calling her impatiently, as was +his wont, from the foot of the stairs. + +"Harry, come down; I have brought a gentleman home with me. Let's have +something to eat at once, will you?" + +"Answer him--answer him!" gasped Harry. She could not speak; her tongue +seemed paralyzed. + +Mrs. Basil rose at once, walked with steady step to the door, and opened +it. "Your wife is here, Mr. Coe. I am glad you are come home, for she is +far from well, and I was getting quite nervous about her." + +"She _must_ be ill," grumbled Solomon, "not to be able to say 'Here,' +when I am breaking a blood-vessel with holloing to her in the attics. +Come in here, Sir." This to his companion--a man considerably his +senior, thin and spare, who stood peering curiously at the landlady. "I +am sorry to see you unwell, wife. I have brought a friend to stay with +us for a day or two. Mr. Robert Balfour--Mrs. Coe." + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +A PROJECTED PARTNERSHIP. + + +Though by no means in either the mental or physical condition in which a +lady should be who is called upon to play the part of hostess, Harry was +not displeased that Solomon had not returned alone. The presence of this +stranger, whom she greeted mechanically, and almost without a glance at +his features, was welcome to her, because it was likely to distract from +herself her husband's regards. What she would like to have done would +have been to shut herself up alone in her chamber, to weep and pray. As +it was, she had to be cheerful, to affect an interest in her husband's +late expedition, and pleasure at his unexpected return. Mrs. Basil was +here invaluable; you would never have imagined that it was the same +woman--so stricken and full of anguish but a few minutes before, and now +so self-possessed and cheerful. But she had been used to playing parts +throughout her life, and acting was easy to her. She dreaded silence, +lest with it should come observation and remark upon the agitation and +distress only too visible in Harry's countenance; and yet it was +difficult, even for her, to keep up the ball of small-talk, for Solomon +was always slow and scant of speech, and the new-comer rarely opened his +mouth, and then only to utter a monosyllable. His manner, too, was +embarrassing; he turned his white and stony face from one woman to the +other, like an automaton, but with a weird and searching gaze. + +They had never so much as heard his name before, for Richard had been +cautious never to mention Balfour in his letters, since they were, of +course, perused by the authorities, and friendships were not encouraged +at Lingmoor; but, on the other hand, it was evident that these ladies +had an interest for the visitor. Presently, while they were yet all +below stairs, arrived Charles and Agnes, which effected, indeed, +diversion enough, but also a great disturbance and alteration for the +worse in Mr. Coe's temper. No sooner, as it seemed to him, had his back +been turned, then, than the intimacy between this girl and his son, +which he had strictly forbidden, had been recommenced, and with the +connivance and encouragement of his wife too, or else how should the lad +dare thus to bring her home? For the first time Solomon was openly rude +to Agnes; and the latter, being a girl of spirit, resented it by quietly +rising to depart. Charley, rash and impetuous, rose to accompany her. +Solomon stormed displeasure; and it seemed that the presence of the +visitor would have been wholly inadequate to prevent a family scene, +when Agnes herself interposed with dignity. "No, Charles; I would rather +go alone. If your father objects to my presence here, it shall not be +intruded; and if he considers your company a condescension, I can not +accept it upon such terms." + +Charles would have taken her arm, in defiance of all consequences, and +led her off under Solomon's nose; but this opposition on her part +offended him. He was almost as angry with her for thwarting him as he +was with his father. It was a triangular duel, the combatants in which +were narrowly watched by the disregarded stranger. When Agnes got her +way and departed, "That's a girl of character," observed he, with a +cynical smile. + +"She is a girl without a penny," answered Solomon, gloomily, with a +scowl at his son, "upon whom this young fool wishes to throw himself +away." + +"What! so early?" observed Mr. Balfour, good-humoredly addressing +Charles. "When I was your age, I thought of enjoying life, and not of +marriage. I don't wonder, however, that any girl should strive to +enslave so handsome a young fellow as your son, Sir. It is quite +natural, and there is no need to blame her, and far less _him_." + +Ashamed, perhaps, of having exhibited such violence of temper before his +guest, Solomon was very willing to be mollified, and grimly smiled +approval of these sentiments; Charles, too, though fully resolved to set +himself right with Agnes on the morrow, was not displeased with the +visitor's remark; but the two women justly resented it as an impertinent +freedom. If Charles's thoughts had not been so preoccupied with his own +wrongs--the deprivation of his Agnes's society, which he had promised +himself for the rest of the day, and the snub which he conceived she had +administered to him--he would have noticed too, for he was by no means +wanting in observation, that the new-comer's manner to his hostess and +Mrs. Basil was not what it should have been. It was not absolutely rude, +but it was studiously careless of their presence. He no longer stared at +them as at first, but, on the contrary, seemed to ignore the fact of +their existence--never addressed them; and if either spoke to him, +replied as briefly as possible, and then turned at once to Solomon or +his son. Mrs. Basil concluded that he was a vulgar fellow, who, having +penetration enough to discover that the males had the upper hand in the +establishment, did not give himself the trouble to conciliate the less +important members of it; but Harry, always timid and suspicious, was +alarmed at him; his air had, in her eyes, something hostile in it as +well as contemptuous. She could not understand, and therefore +mistrusted, the influence he had evidently obtained over her husband, +and which already had superseded that of Mrs. Basil. + +That Solomon should no longer take pains to make himself agreeable to +the latter, now that he had obtained from her his object, was, to any +one who knew his character, explicable enough; but why should this +stranger have taken her place as his counselor and friend? The idea of +some personal advantage was, of course, at the bottom of it; but it was +clear, not only to sage Mrs. Basil, but even to Harry--since even a +moderately skillful looker-on sees more of the game than the best +player--that in any contest of wits Solomon would have small chance with +his new friend. The opinion of Mrs. Basil was, that some new +speculation, in some manner connected with the Crompton sale, had been +entered into by the two men, and that Mr. Balfour would in the end +secure the oyster, while Mr. Coe was left with the shell. But Harry had +darker forebodings still; she was instinctively confident that there was +enmity at work in the new-comer, as well as the readiness common to all +speculators to overreach a friend. There was a look in his pallid face, +when it glanced, as he thought unheeded, on either Charles or Solomon, +which, to her mind, boded ill. If it did so, it was certainly +unsuspected by those on whom it fell. Mr. Coe had apparently never found +a companion so agreeable to him; and, curiously enough, this idea seemed +to be shared by Charles. According to his own account, Mr. Balfour had +been abroad in Western America for many years, and had there retrieved a +fortune which, originally inherited, had been speedily dissipated in the +pleasures of the town. His long absence from such scenes had by no means +dulled his taste for them, and his conversation ran on little else. He +had a light rattling way with him--that, to Harry's view, resembled +youthful spirit no more than galvanism in a corpse resembles life, and +which was certainly not in harmony with his age and appearance--and very +graphic powers of description; he expressed himself curious about the +changes in public amusements since he left town, near twenty years ago, +and seriously placed himself under Charles's guidance on the expeditions +of pleasure for which the latter was always ready. To this, strangely +enough, Solomon made no objection, notwithstanding that his own +purse-strings had to be drawn pretty wide to supply these extravagances. +His new friend had only to suggest that he should give the lad a +five-pound note to enjoy himself with, and the thing was done at once. + +As for himself, Mr. Balfour seemed to be made of money, so freely did he +spend it; and if he did not offer the use of his purse to his young +companion, it was only, as he told him, because he feared to offend his +pride. "Besides," said he, when they were alone together on one of these +expeditions of amusement, from which Solomon, whose notions of enjoyment +were mainly confined to money-making, always excused himself upon +pretense of having business to do, "it is only right your father should +be made to fork out; he is as rich as Croesus. It is quite unreasonable +that he should stint you in enjoyment when, one day or another, you will +have all the pleasures of life to pick and choose from." + +It would have tested Solomon's new-born friendship severely if he could +have heard Mr. Balfour dilate upon this topic, which he did with such +earnestness and fervor that the lad was soon convinced of those great +expectations which the cautious reticence of his parents had so long +concealed from him. On the other hand, Charley's companion deduced an +argument from this fair prospect which was not so welcome to the lad; he +maintained that, under the circumstances, it would be madness to risk +his father's displeasure by uniting himself irretrievably to Agnes, or +to any other young woman. "My good offices will be always at your +disposal, my lad," urged he, gravely, "and I don't deny that, at +present, I have considerable influence with Mr. Coe; but it would not be +proof against so flagrant an act of disobedience as that which you +contemplate. The great bulk of his property is at his own disposal; and +his nature, if I may speak plainly to you in so important a matter, is +obstinate and implacable. At all events, there is no hurry, since you +and this charming young lady are but boy and girl at present. Life is +uncertain, and you may be your own master any day; wait till you are so, +or wait for a little, at all events, to see what may turn up; and in the +mean time, lad, enjoy yourself." The last part of Mr. Balfour's advice, +at all events, was palatable enough, and that much of it Charles +accepted; in doing which, as was anticipated, the whole intention of his +Mentor became fulfilled. Plunged in dissipation, the young man thought +less and less of his love; gave himself little trouble, though he still +avowed his unalterable attachment, to set himself right with her; grew +more and more dissatisfied with his own home, at the same time that that +of Agnes became less and less attractive; and, in short, he drifted away +daily farther and farther from the safe moorings of love and duty. + +Harry perceived all this with a dread so deep that it even drove her to +invoke her husband's aid against this man, who, inexplicable as his +hostility might be, was bent, she firmly believed, upon the ruin of her +darling boy. With Solomon, as she well knew, the fact of his son's +dissipation was not likely to move him to interfere; he saw that the +companionship of Balfour was gradually producing an estrangement between +Charles and the portionless artist's daughter, and so far he cordially +approved of it, nor cared to question by what means this new friend made +himself agreeable. She had no argument available except that of expense, +and, to her astonishment and dismay, this failed to affect her prudent +spouse. + +"Just let things be a while," was Solomon's reply, "and mind your own +business. It is quite true the lad's throwing my money in the gutter at +a fine rate; but in the end I shall get it all back again, and more with +it. This Balfour takes me for a foolish doting father, but he shall pay +for all himself before I've done with him. I throw a sprat to catch a +whale; and neither you nor any other fool shall interfere with my +fishing." + +Harry dared not say more; her husband had been in the worst of humors +ever since he had returned from Crompton, and was all the more brutal +and tyrannical to her that he had to be civil and conciliatory to his +new friend, and involuntarily indulgent, upon his account, to Charles. +The unhappy mother was powerless to check the evil the growth of which +was so patent to her loving instinct, and there was none to whom she +could look for help. Mrs. Basil had no longer any influence with +Solomon, and, besides, she was seriously ill, and had now been confined +to her own room for weeks. In her extremity, Harry had even resolved to +make a personal appeal to this man Balfour; to ask him in what her +husband had injured him, to adjure him to forgive the wrong, or at least +not to visit it upon her Charley's innocent head. But she shrank with an +inexplicable terror from putting this design into effect; she felt she +should humiliate herself to no purpose; he would deny, in his cold, +cynical way, that he entertained any thing but friendship for her astute +husband and affection for her bright and impulsive son. Besides, to say +truth, she was afraid to speak with the man; and she had a suspicion +that this weird and shadowy fear was in some degree shared by Mrs. +Basil; at times she even imagined that it was not so much indisposition +as a desire to avoid his presence that caused the landlady to absent +herself from the family circle. + +Mr. Coe, at all events, entertained no such prejudice against his guest; +day by day he grew more communicative with him, and more solicitous to +hear his opinions, with which he seldom failed to agree. The two men +were in reality, as it was easy to see, as opposite in character as the +poles. Mr. Balfour was, and apparently always had been, a man of +pleasure; but he had seen men and cities, and his remarks were shrewd, +and selfish, and worldly-wise enough. It was rarely that his talk ever +strayed to matters of business, so that Solomon was perforce a listener; +but that unambitious part he played to admiration. + +Upon one occasion, however, their after-dinner converse happened to turn +upon partnerships; Solomon urged their great convenience, how one man +brought money and the other brains, and how pleasant it must be for the +former to live at ease while the latter gathered honey for him, both for +present use and for the wintry store. He rose with the familiar subject +to quite a flight of poetry. + +Mr. Balfour, with half-shut eves and a mocking smile, dilated upon the +sentiment involved in such communities of enterprise, the sympathy +engendered by them, and the happy social effects that were produced by +them. His host either did not, or would not, perceive that these remarks +were ironical, and pursued the subject to its details, proportions of +profits, balance-sheets, etc., until Charles rose with a yawn, and left +his two elders together. + +"Well, Balfour," said Solomon, frankly, as soon as they were alone, +"this talk reminds me of the matter that first introduced us to one +another--your purchase of that outlying bit of the Crompton property, +Wheal Danes." + +[Illustration: "I WILL GIVE YOU A THOUSAND POUNDS FOR THAT CROMPTON +LOT."] + +"Ay," replied the other, carelessly lighting another cigar. It was +quite wonderful to see how many cigars Mr. Balfour got through daily; +you might have almost thought that he had been denied tobacco for years +by his physician, and had only just been permitted to resume the habit. + +"Yes; you disappointed me there immensely, I must confess. I went down +to the sale on purpose to secure it." + +"So you told me, or, at least, so I guessed from your manner; and yet I +don't know why you should have been so sweet upon it. It's only a bare +bit of ground with a round hole in it, close by the sea." + +"That's all," said Solomon, puffing at his clay pipe. "What on earth +could have made you buy it?" + +"Well, I told you once. I lost my yacht off Turlock, when coming to +England last autumn, and very nearly my life with it. When one escapes +with a whole skin from such a storm as wrecked me there, the first piece +of dry land one comes to seems very attractive. I happened to be cast +ashore beneath that very spot, and so I took a fancy to it. If I had +been a good Papist I should have built a chapel there to my patron saint +in gratitude for my preservation; as it was, I resolved to erect a villa +for myself there. It will have an excellent view, and the situation is +healthy. If you seek for any other reason for the purchase, I have none +to give you; it was a whim, if you like, but then I can afford to +indulge my whims." + +"This one cost you a good deal, however; you gave five hundred pounds +for it, did you not?" + +Balfour nodded assent. + +"A great sum for a few barren acres," said Solomon, thoughtfully. + +"Yes; and so the trustees of the estate thought, Mr. Coe. They closed +with my offer sharp enough, and withdrew the lot from public +competition; else, perhaps, I should have got it cheaper." + +"Not if I had been bidding against you," observed the host, +significantly. + +"You don't say so! You were never shipwrecked thereabouts, were you? Oh, +I remember: you were brought up in the neighborhood. You had some tender +recollection of the spot, perhaps, with relation to madame up stairs. +What creatures of sentiment you men of business sometimes are--dear me!" + +"I did live near the spot," said Solomon, slowly, "though I should +deceive you if I pretended that that had any thing to do with my wish to +possess it." + +"You would not deceive me, my good friend," answered Balfour, coolly; +"but, as you were about to say, it would not be frank. Let us be frank +and open, above all things." + +"I wish to be so, I assure you," was Solomon's meek reply. "When I +offered you a hundred pounds for your bargain, I think I showed you that +deception was no part of my nature. In all matters of business I always +go straight to the point at once." + +"As in the present instance, for example," remarked the guest, with an +imperturbable smile. + +"I am coming to the point, Mr. Balfour--once for all. I will give you a +thousand pounds down for that Crompton lot--twice the money that you +gave for it within a month; that's twelve hundred per cent, per annum." + +Balfour shook his head. "I am not a religious man, my dear Sir--far from +it. But I believe, like Miss Joanna yonder, in inspirations: all my +whims are inspirations, and therefore sacred. It was an inspiration that +made me buy Wheal Danes, and I mean to keep it. If you offered me ten +thousand pounds, I'd keep it." + +Solomon was silent for a while, his heavy brows knit in thought; then +once again he advanced to the attack. "You may keep it, and yet share +the profit, Mr. Balfour." + +"The profit?" + +"Ay, the profit. I told you I was going to be frank with you, but you +would never guess _how_ frank. I am about to put thousands a year into +your pocket, on condition that you will let me fill my own at the same +rate. We were talking of partnerships just now; let us be partners in +Wheal Danes." + +"Balfour and Coe sounds natural enough," returned the other, coolly. +"But I must hear your plan." + +"My plan is a secret--invaluable, indeed, as such--but which, once told, +will be worth nothing--that is, to _me_." + +"You may do as you like, my friend, about revealing it," yawned Mr. +Balfour. "I care nothing for your plan; only, until I hear it I stick to +my plot, my lot, my acreage. Tell me the whole story without +reservation--don't attempt to deceive me on the slightest point--and +then you shall have your way. We will divide this land of gold between +us, or, as seems to me much more likely, browse like twin donkeys on its +crop of thistles." + +"I have nothing but your bare word to trust to," said Solomon, +doubtfully; "but still, I must risk it. Come, it's a bargain. Then, +here's my hand upon it." + +"Never mind my hand, my good friend," returned the other, coolly. "In +the part of the world from which I hailed last, folks didn't shake +hands, and I've fallen out of the habit. Come, give us this story of +Wheal Danes." + +"It's a very old one, Mr. Balfour. The plot of ground you purchased gets +its strange name from an ancient tin mine that is comprised in it, once +worked by the Romans, but disused since their time. There are many such +in Cornwall." + +"So I've heard," said Balfour, while the other sipped his glass. It was +curious to contrast the grave and earnest manner of the host with the +careless and uninterested air of his guest, who presently, as the +narrative proceeded, leaned his face upon his hand and gazed into the +fire, an occasional glance sideways at his companion through his fingers +alone testifying that his attention was still preserved. He never +stirred a limb nor winked an eyelid when Solomon came out with his great +secret. + +"This mine that is said to be worked out, Mr. Balfour, and which you +have purchased by mere accident, as being in the same lot with your +proposed building-ground, will, I have reason to believe, turn out a +gold mine." + +"You don't say so! I did not know that there _was_ gold in Cornwall." + +"There is as good, or at least there are metals that bring gold--tin and +copper; and Wheal Danes is full of the latter. The old Romans worked it +for tin only, and left their prize just as it was getting to be worth +having. There's a copper vein in the lowest level of that mine that may +be worth all the old Carew estate." + +"And you have seen this vein?" + +"No; but my wife's father, John Trevethick, as good a judge as any man +on earth, or under it, saw it, and told me of its existence on his +death-bed--" + +"When did he die, and how? Was it a lingering, painful death, or was he +struck down suddenly?" interposed Balfour. "I ask," added he, hastily, +for Solomon looked up in wonder at his companion's vehemence, "because +the credibility of such a story as you tell me would depend upon the +state of the man's brain." + +"He did die a painful and a lingering death, but his wits were clear +enough," answered Solomon. "It was ten years ago, and more, but I mind +it as well as though it was but yesterday--indeed, I've thought of +little else since. 'The best legacy I have to leave you, Sol, lies in +these last words of mine,' said he; 'so do you listen, and lay them to +heart.' Then he told me how, as a boy, he had once explored Wheal Danes +in play with other boys, and found the copper lode in a certain spot. He +was not so young even then but that he knew the value of such a find, +and he had held his tongue; and though he visited the place pretty +often--for he couldn't help that--he kept the secret close from that +time until his death." + +"He had never told any other person but yourself, you think?" inquired +Balfour, curiously. + +"No one to speak of. There was one fellow who had an inkling of the +thing, it seems, but he is dead now. I read of it in the newspaper quite +lately. He died in jail, or rather in escaping from it, and had never +been in a position to profit by his suspicion. You may say, in fact, +that not a living soul besides John Trevethick ever knew this secret. +For fifty years he strove to possess himself of this mine; he even +offered for it, valueless as it was thought to be, four times the money +you did; only Carew was mad and obstinate; and now, for ten years, I +have had my own eyes fixed upon it, and got the earliest news of when it +was in the market, as I thought, when, here, without a hint to guide +you, a whiff of fortune blows it to your hand. It's a hard case _I_ call +it--devilish hard." + +"Well, it _is_ hard," said Balfour; "that is, supposing all you say is +true. But frankly, my good Sir, I don't believe you. I mean no offense; +but, since you have not seen the lode with your own eyes, you must +pardon me for doubting its existence." + +"Well, then, Sir, I _have_ seen it, and that's the long and short of it. +I would not take such a thing on trust from an angel." + +"So I suspected," observed Balfour, coolly. "But as you have told me one +lie you may tell me another. What am I to believe now?" + +"The mine is yours, Sir," answered Solomon, gruffly. "Let us go down +together and look at it. If Trevethick and I were mistaken--and I'll bet +you a thousand pounds that we were not--it is but coming back again, +and--" + +"And being made the laughing-stock of all the folks among whom I mean to +spend my days," interrupted Balfour. "No, no. If we go, I'll not have a +soul to know of it. And mind you, if this turns out to be a mare's nest, +I sha'n't be pleased, my friend." + +"It will not do that, Sir, you may take my word for it," answered +Solomon, earnestly; "and as for going _incog._, that matter's easy. I +can start for Gethin, which is my home, and but a stone's-throw from the +very place, on pretense of business; and you, a day or two after, may +come down to the inn at Turlock, just to see your purchase. We need not +be so much as seen together, if you so prefer it." + +"I would much prefer it," observed Balfour, sententiously. + +"Very good. Then here's my plan: my father-in-law used to visit Wheal +Danes at night; from his doing so, instead of its drawing dangerous +attention to the place, as one would think, the rumor arose that the old +mine was haunted; corpse-candles, with no hand to carry them, were seen +there going up and down the levels, and so the poor fools shunned it +after dark. Well, let _us_ take torch and ladder, and play at +corpse-candle. What say you?" + +"Well, I'll come," said Balfour, reluctantly, "though I don't much like +the chance of being made a fool of. What day will suit you best to +start? All's one to me." + +"I'll start to-morrow," said Solomon, with excitement. "Do you come +down, as if into Midlandshire, on Friday: that's an unlucky day with +Turlock folk, but not with you, I reckon?" + +"You're right there, man," answered Balfour, slowly. "Well?" + +"On Saturday, at midnight, I will meet you at the old pit's mouth. Come, +there's my hand upon it." + +This time Balfour took his companion's hand, and griped it firmly. + +"Then, that's a bargain, partner," cried Solomon, gayly. "Fill up your +glass. Here's luck to the old mine!" + +"Here's luck," echoed Balfour, looking steadily at his host, "and to our +next merry midnight meeting!" + +"Ay, good! Here's luck!" quoth Solomon. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +IN THE TOILS. + + +Solomon started for Gethin on the ensuing morning; but his wife did not, +as usual, find his departure a relief, since Balfour remained behind. +Her last instructions from her husband were to treat this unwelcome +guest with marked consideration, and to let him have his way in every +thing. He also hinted, though it was scarcely necessary to insure her +obedience, at certain brilliant prospects which were about to present +themselves, through Balfour's means, if he were only kept in good-humor. +Harry would have much preferred to relinquish his favor at the price of +his absence; but not so her son. Notwithstanding the disparity in their +ages, he and this new acquaintance were already fast friends. The latter +had laid himself out to please the lad, and had succeeded; partly, +perhaps, from the very novelty of companionship, for Charley knew no one +in town, and was tired of taking his pleasure therein alone, but chiefly +through his store of agreeable anecdotes, all illustrative of the +enjoyments which wealth conferred, with which Balfour tickled his ears. + +"In a few years--perhaps sooner, who knows?--all these things of which I +speak will be within your own means. You will be rich; and he who is so +can please himself in almost every thing. You can then marry your Agnes, +if you will, without fear of being disinherited; or, what is better and +more likely, you may choose from a score of Agneses, or even take them +all." + +He had a light amusing way with him, this Balfour, that hid the cynicism +which would otherwise have jarred upon his young companion; for Charles, +though selfish and fond of pleasure, was good-natured, and had not +reached that period of life when our sherry must needs not only be dry, +but have bitters in it. He was genuinely fond of his mother; yet even in +this short time Balfour, as she well knew, had taught him to disobey +her; not setting her at open defiance, indeed, but regarding her advice +and remonstrances with a sort of tender contempt. She meant all for his +good, his Mentor admitted, but women had not much knowledge of the +world; and if a young man was not to be his own master at eighteen, he +must look to be in leading-strings all his life. Harry perceived her +darling's plastic nature changing daily for the worse in the hands of +this crafty potter; and though it was an admission humiliating to her, +as a mother, to make, she made it to Mrs. Basil in her sick-room. + +"Mr. Balfour is doing my Charley harm," she said. "He is an altered boy +already, and yet my husband talks as though we are never to be rid of +the man. What money, what gain, can ever compensate for the +demoralization of our child?" + +"Nothing, indeed," said Mrs. Basil, quietly. "But have a little +patience. Is not this gentleman going on Friday?" + +"Yes; but he will come back again. It is only some business that calls +him into Midlandshire. He does not even take all his luggage away. I +have a great mind to tell him point-blank that his presence in this +house--at all events in Mr. Coe's absence--is unwelcome; but I dare not +do it; I am afraid." + +"Yes, your husband would be very angry, without doubt," said Mrs. Basil, +thoughtfully. + +"That is not it. I am afraid of the man himself. He reminds me of that +hateful creature--what is he?--in the opera, for which Mr. Aird gave us +the tickets, and which Agnes went with us to see--Mephistopheles." + +"What a strange fancy! He is only a sour, pleasure-jaded man. If I was +not so ill I would speak to him myself; but you are right not to do so; +that is your husband's place, who has brought him here. Let things be as +they are till Friday." + +Harry sighed, but perforce assented. Friday came, and Mr. Balfour went +as he had designed, but not without stating at breakfast his intention +of returning on the ensuing Monday or Tuesday at latest, and even making +an engagement with Charley to spend the latter evening with him at the +theatre. + +"Do you happen to know when my husband will be home?" inquired Harry, +timidly. + +"No, madam. He was good enough to say, however, that his absence was to +make no difference as to my remaining here as his guest." + +This reply, which might easily have been made offensive, was delivered +with the most studied courtesy: it cut the hostess's ground from under +her; for it had answered the very objection which she had intended to +imply. She felt herself not only defeated, but reproved. + +"Let us hope you will both return together," said she. + +"I do not think that very probable," answered Mr. Balfour, slowly. + +An hour later and he had departed, his hostess, under pretense of being +engaged with her sick friend up stairs, not having so much as shaken his +hand. Charles, indignant at this slight, would have accompanied him to +the railway station, but Balfour would not hear of it. For this he had +two reasons: in the first place, he was anxious to keep his route +secret; and secondly, it was a part of his system to give the young man +no sort of trouble or inconvenience on his account. He wished every +association that linked them together to be one of pleasure. + +Mrs. Basil, as we have said, had not made her appearance that morning +below stairs; she was, in fact, no better, but rather worse: that news +from Lingmoor, outwardly borne so well, had shaken her to the core. +Still, no sooner had Balfour left than she made shift to rise, and even +came down to dinner. She discussed with Charley, who had a considerable +regard for her, the character of their late guest--not with hostility, +as his mother was wont to do, but with the air of one who asks for +information, and has confidence in the verdict which she seeks. The lad, +flattered by this implied compliment to his sagacity, answered her +questions readily enough. He praised his friend, of course, and thought +he praised him even when he spoke ill of him. He repeated his pungent +sayings, and served up his anecdotes--such of them as were adapted, at +least, for the ears of the ladies--anew. By this means he hoped to bring +his hearers to a better opinion of so capital a fellow; and in Mrs. +Basil's case he apparently succeeded. His mother still reiterated her +opinion that Mr. Balfour was a dangerous personage, and not a fit +companion for any young man. Charles smiled at this, for it was the +almost literal fulfillment of a prophecy which Balfour had made to him, +and believed in that gentleman's sagacity, accordingly, more than ever. +Women were so ludicrously prejudiced; the fact of Mrs. Basil's--"the +white witch"--not being so was an exception that proved the rule. She +had been evidently interested in his anecdotes, of one of which she had +even requested to hear the particulars twice over; not that, in his own +judgment, it was the best, but, being of a weird sort, it had probably +struck her fancy. It had lost in the telling, too--for he did not +pretend to have the gift of narrative, as Mr. Balfour had--and his +mother had seen in the story in question nothing at all. + +Mrs. Basil came down stairs no more after that evening. She grew worse +and worse, and was not only confined to her room, but to her bed. Harry +was not much with her; she seized with avidity this opportunity of being +alone with Charley to undo, as far as she could, Mr. Balfour's work with +him. This was not hard, for the boy was a creature of impulse, and +swayed for good or ill with equal ease. But she discovered that it would +be useless to attempt henceforth to conceal from him the nature of his +future prospects. He was now firmly convinced that he was the heir to a +large fortune, and she regretted too late that she had left the +disclosure to a stranger. What grieved her much more, and with reason, +was that an attempt which she now made to bring the influence of Agnes +to hear upon him proved unsuccessful; the girl resolutely refused to +come to the house in the absence of its master, and contrary, as she +knew, to his express commandment. Charley himself, too, whose visits to +Mr. Aird's studio had been intermitted for some time, was received in +Soho with coldness. It was not in Harry's nature to understand this +independence of spirit, and she deeply deplored it on her son's account. +She had looked to this young girl to be his guardian angel, and had +never anticipated that she could possibly decline to watch over a charge +so precious. She would not allow, even to herself, that her son's own +conduct was as much the cause of this as her husband's ill favor; but +she saw in it, clearly enough, the mark of the cloven hoof, the work of +Balfour. + +Sick Mrs. Basil could give her small comfort, though she did not attempt +to defend their late visitor, as she had so unwarrantably appeared to do +when discussing him with Charley. + +"The man is gone, my dear," said she, wearily; "perhaps he may never +come back: let us not meet troubles half-way. Charley has a kind, good +heart"--for "the white witch" showed great favor to the lad at all +times--"and all will come right at last." + +She seemed too ill and weary to argue the matter, and Harry left her, as +she thought, to repose. No sooner was she gone, however, than the closed +lids of Mrs. Basil were opened wide, and revealed a sleepless and +unutterable woe. Her sharp, pinched face showed pain and fear. Her +parched lips muttered unceasingly words like these, which were, perhaps, +the ravings of her fevered brain: "I am sure of it now, quite sure; +those stags, those stags! There is no room for hope. His heart has +become a stone, which no power can soften. It is no use to speak, or +rather I am like one in a dream who watches murder done, and can not cry +out." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +THE MINE AT MIDNIGHT. + + +Mr. Balfour--for so we must call him now, since he is attired +respectably, travels first-class, and, moreover, even looks like a +gentleman--did not go to the Midlands, as he had given out was his +purpose, but took his ticket to Plymouth, to which place the railway had +just extended in those days. He bought neither book nor newspaper, but +sat in the corner, with his hat drawn over his eyes, for the whole nine +hours, thinking. From Plymouth he posted to Turlock, where he arrived +late at night, and without having broken fast since morning. He took no +pains either to divulge or conceal his name; he asked no questions, nor +was asked any except "whether he preferred to sleep between sheets or +blankets"--for Turlock was still an out-of-the-way region, and the +little inn about three-quarters of a century behind our modern +caravansaries, with their "daily fly-bills" and "electric bells." + +After dinner, which he scarcely touched, he wandered out--it was his +habit to do so, as he told the hostler, who was also the +night-chamberlain--and did not return till long after midnight. He +observed, as he gave the man half a crown for sitting up for him to so +late an hour, that the moon looked very fine upon the sea. + +"You must be a painter, I guess, Sir," said the hostler, with a grin of +intelligence. + +"Why?" asked Balfour, sharply. "What makes you think that?" + +"Well, Sir," returned the man, apologetically, "I mean no offense; but +it is always the gentlemen-painters--or, at least, so they say at +Gethin, and I wish more of 'em came here--as is so free with their +money, and so fond of the moon." + +"Lunatics, eh?" said the new arrival, with a loud, quick laugh. "Well, +I'm no painter, my friend." + +Then he took his candle and retired to his room, but not to bed. He +disarranged the bed-clothes and rumpled the pillow; then walked softly +to and fro in his slippers until morning. On the following day he made +no attempt to visit his newly acquired property, but strolled about the +harbor, or stood, in sheltered and, therefore, secluded places in the +rocks, watching the winter sea. His meals at the inn were sent down +almost as they were served up, yet he showed no sign of weakness or +fatigue, but in the evening sallied forth as before. The night was very +cloudy, with driving showers, and the landlady good-naturedly warned him +of the danger of venturing on the cliff-path, which was narrow, and had +been broken in places by a late storm. + +"I will take care," said he, mechanically. + +"Perhaps you would like supper--some cold meat, or something--since you +have eaten so little, placed in your sitting-room against your return?" + +"Yes, yes," said he, approvingly; "you are right; I shall doubtless be +hungry to-night." Then he went out into the bleak, black night. + +He hung about the harbor as before until near eleven, when all the +lights of the little town had faded away, save that at the inn, which +was burning for him alone; then he climbed the cliff, and pushed +southward along the very path against the dangers of which he had been +cautioned. He walked fast, too, with his gaze fixed before him, like one +who has an appointment of importance for which there is a fear of being +late. Presently he struck inland over the down, when he began to move +less quickly, and to peer cautiously before him. All was dark: the grass +on which he trod seemed to be black, until he suddenly arrived at a +large circular patch of it which _was_ black, and made the surrounding +soil less sombre by contrast. This was the mouth of a great pit; and he +sat on the brink of it, with his face to seaward, and his ear in his +hollowed hand, listening. Nothing was to be heard, however, but the +occasional scud of the rain, and the ceaseless roar of the now distant +waves. Far out to sea there was a round red light, which fell upon him +at regular intervals, its absence making the place which it had filled +more dark than elsewhere. It had a weird effect, as though some evil +spirit was keeping watch upon him, but he knew it for what it was--the +revolving lamp of a light-house. Presently, in the same direction as the +red light, he perceived a white one, which, though moving slowly, was +certainly advancing toward him; nor did it, like the other, become +obscure. + +"He is coming," said Balfour to himself, with a great sigh. He had begun +to have doubts of the other's keeping his appointment; though, indeed, +it was not yet the time that he had himself fixed for it. The light came +on, quite close to the ground, and with two motions--across as well as +along. It was that of a lantern, which guided thus the footsteps of a +tall, stout man, who bore upon his shoulders a ladder so long that it +both projected above his head and trailed behind him. Balfour rose up, +and stood motionless in the path of the new-comer till this light fell +full upon him. "Hollo!" cried the man, a little startled by the white, +worn face that so suddenly confronted him, although he had been looking +for it. "Is that you, Mr. Balfour?" + +"Yes. Hush! There is no need to mention names." + +"Quite true, Sir; but you gave me quite a turn," remonstrated the other, +"coming out of the darkness like a ghost. This Wheal Danes, at midnight, +puts queer thoughts into one's head." + +"John Trevethick was not afraid of coming here," observed Balfour. + +"Well, so he always said. He told me at the last that he only pretended +to believe in any of the foolish stories that folks talk about, and in +favor of which he used to argue. But he's dead and gone, and _that_ +don't make this place less uncanny. Nobody since his time has been +a-near it; they think he haunts the pit, it seems, so every body gives +it a wide berth, both night and day. We shall see, however, and pretty +soon, I hope, whether that notion can not be got over. Why, in six +months' time we ought to have a hundred men at work here." + +"Let us hope so. But in the mean time you say nobody comes here even in +the daytime, eh?" + +"Never. The place lies out of the way, you see: about midway between the +cliff-path and the road." + +"That's well," said Balfour, mechanically. "And you have not been +babbling to any one of our prospects, Mr. Coe--nor of me, I hope?" + +"Certainly not, Sir; that was the first article of our partnership, as I +understood. Not a soul at Gethin has heard a whisper of Wheal Danes, or +of your coming; they think I'm fast asleep at my own house, this +instant. But it's been hard work lugging this cursed ladder up here in +such a breakneck night as this, _I_ can tell you, and I am glad enough +to rest a bit." + +"Well, it's all over now, Mr. Coe." + +"Except that I have got to take it back again," grumbled Solomon. + +"True, I had forgotten that. We must not leave it here, must we?" + +"Of course not. I do not complain of the trouble, however, only you must +admit I've kept my tryst under some little difficulties, eh, partner?" +and Solomon chuckled self-approval. + +"You will be paid in full for all, my good Sir," answered Balfour, +gravely; "that is," he added, hastily, "if the mine should turn out as +you predict. How deep is it? That ladder of yours will surely never +reach the bottom." + +"No, indeed. Did I not tell you that there are three levels, each about +the same depth? The copper lode lies at the bottom of the last, in the +northeastern corner. You will find I have concealed nothing from you. +Well, I have got my breath again now. Are you ready, Mr. Balfour?" + +"Quite; but walk slowly, I beg, for your lantern is very dim." + +"Yes, yes. But wait a minute; I came here yesterday and hid something." +Solomon seated himself upon the edge of the pit, with his legs hanging +over, and began to peer and feel about him. + +"Take care what you are at," cried Balfour, eagerly; "you may slip down +and kill yourself, sliding along like that." + +Solomon laughed contemptuously. "Never fear, Sir; I have had too many +mischances with mines to fear them. I have fallen down worse places, and +been shut up in others far deeper and darker than Wheal Danes, without +food or candle, for a week, and yet lived through it. The shaft has not +yet been dug, I reckon, as will prove--Oh, here's the torch." + +He dragged from under the overhanging rim of the pit a piece of wood +like a bludgeon, one end of which was smeared with pitch; and placing +the lantern with its back to the wind, pushed the stick inside, which +came out a torch, flaming and dropping flame. + +"There's our corpse-candle!" cried Coe, triumphantly; "that would keep +us without witnesses, even if any one were so bold as, in a night like +this, to venture near Wheal Danes, to trespass on Tom Tiddler's ground, +where we shall pick up the gold and the silver." There was a wild +excitement, quite foreign to his habit, about this man, and he whirled +the torch about his head in flaring circles. + +"Keep your wits steady, if you please," observed Balfour, sternly. + +"It is over now, Sir, and I am in the counting-house again," answered +Solomon, submissively. "I felt a little exhilarated at the prospect of +plucking a fruit that has been ripening for fifty years, that's all. +This Wheal Danes is the very aloe of mines, and it is about to blossom +for us only. You had better take the torch yourself; the lantern will +serve for me; but just show a light here while I place the ladder." + +Balfour held the blazing pine aloft, and disclosed the gaping mouth of +the old pit, its margin wet with the rain, and its sheer sides slippery +with the damps of ages. + +"It would be easy enough to get down without this contrivance," observed +Solomon, grimly, as he carefully adjusted the ladder, the foot of which +was lost in gloom; "but it would take us some trouble to find our way +back again without wings." + +"In daylight, however, I dare say it looks easier," said Balfour, +carelessly. + +"It may look so, but it ain't. Nothing but a sea-gull ever goes in and +out of Wheal Danes; even the bats keep there, where indeed they are snug +and warm enough." + +"It doesn't feel very warm at present," replied the other, who did not +seem to be in a hurry to explore this unpromising territory. + +"Ay, but you wait till we get to the lower level; you might live there, +if the rats would let you, for a whole winter, and never need a fire." + +"Oh, there are rats, are there? Why, what do _they_ live upon?" + +"Well, that's _their_ look-out," laughed Solomon; "they would be very +glad to have _us_, no doubt. It would be only just in my case, for I +have lived on them before now; with rats and water a man may do very +well for a week or two." + +"What! there is water laid on in this establishment, is there?" + +"No; the low levels are quite dry. But come, let us see for ourselves. +We are losing time. I will start first, and do you follow close upon me, +but without treading on my fingers;" and Solomon placed his heavy foot +upon the first rung. + +"No, no," said Balfour, drawing back; "I will not trust myself on the +same ladder with a man of your weight. When you are at the bottom give +me a call, and then I'll join you." + +"As you like, Sir," responded Solomon, civilly; but his thick lips +curled contemptuously, and he muttered, "So this man is lily-livered +after all; so much the better: it is well to have a coward for a +partner." + +The next moment his descending form was lost in the gloom. + +Balfour waited, torch in hand, until an "All right," that sounded like a +voice from the tomb, assured him that his companion had reached terra +firma. Then he descended very carefully, and joined him. + +"Stand close to the wall, Sir, while I move the ladder," said Coe; "your +head don't seem made for these deep places. Ah, here's the spot. This is +a drop of twenty feet." + +"And what is the depth of the last level?" + +"Five-and-twenty. But don't you be afraid; the ladder will just reach +it, only you won't have so much to hold on by at the top. It's only the +getting down that's unpleasant; you'll find going back quite easy work. +And then, just think of the lode!" + +Solomon began to be anxious lest his companion's fears should induce him +to give up the expedition altogether. It had never entered into his mind +that what was so easy to himself could prove so formidable to another; +and, besides, he had somehow concluded that Balfour was a man of strong +nerves. + +"Make haste," said the latter, in the tone of one who has achieved some +mental victory: "let us go through with it." + +In the second level it was perceptibly warmer. Dark, noiseless objects +began to flit about the torch, and once something soft struck against +Balfour's foot, and then scampered away. + +He looked behind him, and not a trace of light was to be discerned, +while before him was impenetrable gloom, except for the feeble gleam of +his companion's lantern. Above him the roof was just discernible, from +which long strings of fungi, white and clammy, hung down and brushed +against his face as he moved slowly forward. + +"Come on!" said Solomon, impatiently, whose spirits seemed to rise in +this familiar scene. "We are only a few score yards from Golconda." + +Balfour stopped short. "I thought you said there was another level?" +There was a strange look of disappointment in his face, and even of +rage. + +"Yes, yes, and here it is," cried the other, putting down the ladder, +which he had carried from place to place. "It is only depth that +separates us from it. They dug well, those Romans, but left off, as you +shall see, upon the very threshold of fortune. You have only to be a +little careful, because the ladder does not quite reach." + +He descended, as before, in advance, while Balfour followed slowly and +cautiously. "How steep and smooth the rock is!" observed he, examining +its surface. + +"Yes, indeed; it is like a wall of marble. But what matters that? It +baffles the rats, but not us. Here is the land of gold, here is--What +the devil are you at?" + +Solomon, in his impatience, had stridden on to the object of his +desires; and Balfour, halting midway in his descent, suddenly retraced +his footsteps, and having reached the top, was dragging the ladder up +after him. + +Solomon heard this noise, with which his ear was familiar, and his tone +had some alarm in it as he cried out, "I say, no tricks, Mr. Balfour." + +There was no reply. He hastened back to the spot he had just left, and +from thence could dimly perceive his late companion sitting on the verge +of the steep wall, peering down upon him. + +"Come, come, a joke is a joke," remonstrated Coe. "What a fellow you are +to be at such games when an important matter is at stake! Why, here is +the lode, man." + +"It is very valuable, I dare say, Mr. Coe, but it is worth more to one +man than to two." + +"Great Heaven! what do you mean?" cried Solomon, while a sudden sweat +bedewed his forehead. "You would not murder a man to dissolve a +partnership?" + +"Certainly not. I shall leave him to die, that's all. He and the rats +will have to settle it together. Six months hence, perhaps, we may have +a picnic here, and explore the place. Then we shall find, where you are +now standing, some well-picked bones and the metal part of your lantern. +That will cause quite an excitement; and we shall search further, and in +the northeast corner there will be found a copper lode. I will take your +word for that." + +"Mr. Balfour, I am sure you will not do this," pleaded the wretched man. +"It is not in man's nature to treat a fellow-creature with such +barbarity. You are trying to frighten me, I know, and I own you have +succeeded. I know what it is to be shut up in desolate, dark places +alone, out of reach of succor; and even for eight-and-forty hours or so +it is terrible." + +"_What must it be, then, to suffer so for twenty years?_" + +It was a third voice that seemed to wake the echoes of that lonesome +cavern. Solomon looked up in terror, and beheld a third face, that of +Robert Balfour, but transfigured. He held the glowing brand above him, +so that his deep-lined features could be distinctly seen, and they were +all instinct with a deadly rage and malice. There was a fire in his eyes +that might well have been taken for that of madness, and Solomon's heart +sank within him as he looked. + +"Mr. Balfour," said he, in a coaxing voice, "come and look at your +treasure. It sparkles in the light of my lantern like gold, and you +shall have it all if you please; I do not wish to share it with you." + +"So you take me for a madman, do you? Look again; look fixedly upon me, +Solomon Coe. You do not recognize me even yet? I do not wonder. It is +not you that are dull, but I that am so changed by wrong and misery. My +own mother does not know me, nor the woman of whom you robbed me +nineteen years ago. Yes, you know me now. I am Richard Yorke!" + +"Mercy, mercy!" gasped Solomon, dropping on his knees. + +Richard laughed long and loud. The echoes of his ghastly mirth died +slowly away, and when his voice was heard again it was stern and solemn. +"It is my turn at last, man; I am the judge to-day, as you were the +witness nineteen years ago who doomed me wrongfully to shame and misery. +Night and day I have had this hour in my mind; the thought of it has +been my only joy--in chains and darkness, in toil and torment, fasting +and wakeful on my prison pillow, I have thought of nothing else. I did +not know how it would come about, but I was sure that it would come. You +swore falsely once that I was a thief; I am now about to be a murderer, +and your whitening bones will not be able to witness against me." + +"I never swore it, Mr. Yorke," pleaded Solomon, passionately. + +"Your memory is defective," answered Richard, gloomily; "you forget that +I was in court myself on that occasion. You did your very worst to +blacken me before judge and jury, and you succeeded." + +"But it was Trevethick--it was father-in-law who urged me to do it; it +was indeed." + +"I know it," replied the other, coldly; "he was a greater villain than +yourself, but unhappily an older one. Death has robbed me of him, and +made my vengeance incomplete. Still there is something left for me. +While you die slowly here--But no; I shall wait at Turlock for that to +happen. A strong man like you, who have rats to live upon, may last ten +days, perhaps. Well, when you are dead, I shall return to your London +house, and lead your son to ruin. You permitted me to begin the work in +hopes of getting half this mine; I shall finish it while you are in sole +possession of the whole of it." + +"Devil!" cried Solomon, furiously. + +"The appellation is a true one, my good Sir; but I was a man once. Evil +is now my good, thanks to your teaching. Look at me--look at me, and see +what you have brought me to at eight-and-thirty! You almost drove me +mad, and it was easy, for I had the Carew blood in my veins; but I +contrived to keep my wits for the enjoyment of this hour. I feel very +old, and have few pleasures left, you see. It is impossible, +unfortunately, to return here and see you rot; there would be danger in +it; just the least risk in the world of somebody coming here to look for +us. I must be off now, too, for there is a worthy man sitting up for me +at the inn, and I have got to take this ladder back to Gethin." + +A cry of mingled rage and despair burst forth from Richard's foe. + +"What! you had calculated upon the absence of that ladder producing +suspicion? It is curious how great wits jump together: that had also +struck me. I shall take it back, for I well know where it ought to be; I +am quite familiar with your house at Gethin, as you may remember, +perhaps. You may keep the lantern, which will not be missed; but, if you +will take my advice, you will put out the light, to preserve the +candle--as an article of food. Put it somewhere where the rats can not +eat it, and it may prolong your torments half a day. You can also eat +the horn of the lantern, but you will doubtless preserve that for a +_bonne bouche_. You are not superstitious, else I would suggest that +your father-in-law's spirit is exceedingly likely to haunt that +northeastern corner down yonder." + +Here there was a dull scrambling noise, a violent struggle as of feet +and hands against a wall, and then a heavy thud. + +"Now that is very foolish of you, Solomon, to attempt to get out of a +place which you yourself informed me could never be escaped from without +wings. I sincerely hope you have not hurt yourself much. I hear you +moving slowly about again, so I may leave you without anxiety. Good-by, +Solomon." Richard waited a moment, a frightful figure of hate and +triumph, peering down into the pit beneath, where all was now dark. "You +are too proud to speak to a convict, perhaps. Well, well, that is but +natural in so honest a man. I take my leave, then. You have no message, +I conclude, for home?" + +An inarticulate cry, like that of a wild animal caught in a snare, was +the only reply. + +"That is the worst of letting his candle go out," mused Richard, aloud; +"some rat has got hold of him already." Then, with a steady foot and +smiling face, which showed how all his previous fears had been assumed, +he retraced his steps, and mounted to the upper air. The sky was clearer +now; and, casting the torch, for which he had no further need, far into +the mine, and shouldering the ladder, he started for Gethin at good +speed. It was past two o'clock before he reached his inn at Turlock; but +before he retired to rest he sat down to the supper that had been +prepared for him, but without the appetite which he had anticipated. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +THE SMOKING-ROOM OF THE GEORGE AND VULTURE. + + +Robert Balfour did not remain at Turlock, as he had originally intended. +Perhaps the vicinity to Wheal Danes was not so attractive to him as he +had promised himself that it would be, although not for a single instant +did his purpose of revenge relax. Other considerations, had he needed +them, were powerful, now that he had taken the first step, to keep him +on that terrible path which he had so long marked out for himself. To +disclose the position of his victim now would have been not only to make +void his future plans, but to place his own fate at Solomon's mercy. Yet +he found his heart less hard than the petrifaction it had undergone, the +constant droppings of wrong and hardship for twenty years, should have +rendered it. He did not wake until late, and the first sound that broke +upon his ear was the tinkling of the bell of the little church, for it +was Sunday morning. He compared it for a moment with something that he +had been dreaming of: a man in a well chipping footsteps for himself in +the brick wall, up which he climbed a few feet, and then fell down +again. Then a pitiful, unceasing cry of "Help, help!--help, help!" rang +in his ears, instead of the voice that called people to prayers. Even +when that ceased, the wind and rain--for the weather was wild and +wet--beating against the window-pane, brought with them doleful shrieks. +Sometimes a sudden gust seemed to bear upon it confused voices and the +tramp of hurrying feet; and then he would knit his brow and clench his +hand, with the apprehension that they had found his enemy, and were +bringing him to the door. Not the slightest fear of the consequences to +himself in such a case agitated his mind; he had quite resolved what to +do, and that no prison walls should ever hem him in again; but the bare +idea that Solomon should escape his vengeance drove him to the brink of +frenzy. He would have left the place at once, but that he thought the +coincidence of his departure with the disappearance of his foe might +possibly awaken suspicion; so he staid on through the day, waiting for +the news which he knew must arrive sooner or later. At noon he thought +the landlady wore an unusually grave air, and he felt impelled to ask +her what was the matter. But then, if there was nothing--if she only +looked sour, as folks often did, just because it was Sunday--she might +think him too curious. + +From his window, a little later, he saw a knot of people in the rain +talking eagerly together, and one of them pointing with his hand toward +Gethin. But they were too far off to be overheard, and he did not dare +go down and interrogate them. It was his object to appear utterly +indifferent to local affairs, and as a total stranger. He felt half +stifled within doors, and yet, if he should go out, he knew that he +would be incontrollably impelled to take the cliff path that he had +followed the preceding night, to watch that nobody came near the place +that held his prey, and thereby, like the bird who shows her nest by +keeping guard too near, attract attention. The tidings for which he +waited came at six o'clock, just as he was sitting down to his dinner. +The parlor-maid who served him had that happy and excited look which the +possession of news, whether it be good or bad, but especially the +latter, always imparts to persons of her class. + +"There's strange news come from Gethin, Sir," said she, as she arranged +the dishes. + +"Indeed," said Balfour, carelessly, though he felt his brain spin round +and his heart stop at the same moment. "What is it?" + +"Mr. Coe, Sir, a very rich man--he as owns all Dunloppel--has +disappeared." + +"How's that?" + +"Well, Sir, he went to his room last night, they say, at his usual hour, +but never slept in his bed, and the front-door was found unlocked in the +morning, so that he must have gone away of himself. That would not be so +odd, for he is a secret sort of man, as is always coming and going; but +he has taken nothing with him; only the clothes he stood in." + +"Well, I dare say he has come back again by this time, my good girl. +What's this? Is there no fish?" + +"No, Sir; the weather was too bad yesterday for catching them, and all +last night there was a dreadful sea: that's what they fear about Mr. +Coe--that he has fell into the sea. His footsteps have been tracked to +the cliff edge, and there they stop." + +"Poor fellow! Has he any relatives?" + +"Oh yes, Sir; a wife and son--a very handsome, nice young gentleman." + +"Then his widow will be rich, I suppose?" + +"Oh, pray, don't call her a widow yet, Sir; let us hope her husband may +be found. It's a dreadful thing to be drowned like that on a Sunday +morning; and for one who knows the cliff path so well as he did, too. He +was a hard man, and no favorite, but one forgets that now, of course." + +"You have also forgotten the Harvey Sauce, my good girl; oblige me by +bringing it, will you?" said Mr. Balfour, beginning to whistle something +which did not sound like a psalm tune. "You must excuse my +hard-heartedness, but I had not the pleasure of knowing this gentleman." + +An hour afterward the solitary guest had left the inn, and was on his +road to Plymouth. His departure caused little surprise, for the weather +was such as to induce no visitor to prolong his stay. + +Whether from his long enforced abstinence from society, or from the +unwelcome nature of his thoughts, Robert Balfour was always disinclined +to be alone. His expeditions with Charley in search of pleasure had +been, though he did not find pleasure, more agreeable to him than the +being left to his own resources; and now this was more the case than +ever. He preferred even such company as that which the smoking-room of +an hotel afforded to none at all. The voices of his fellow-creatures +could not shape themselves, as every inarticulate sound did to his +straining ear, into groans and feeble cries for aid. Not twenty-four +hours had elapsed since his prisoner was placed in hold, so that such +sounds of weakness and agony must have been in every sense chimerical; +and yet he heard them. What, then, if these echoes from the tomb should +always be heard? A terrible idea indeed, but one which bred no +repentance. It was not likely that remorse should seize him in the very +place where his hated foe had clutched and consigned him to _his_ living +grave. + +The hotel at which he now put up was the same at which he had then +lodged; this public room was the same in which he had smoked his last +cigar upon his fatal visit to the Miners' Bank. He had had only one +companion then, but now it was full of people. By their talk it was +evident that they were townsfolk, and all known to one another; in fact, +it was a tradesmen's club, which met at the _George and Vulture_ on +Sunday nights through the winter months. In spite of his willingness to +be won from his thoughts, he could not fix his attention on the small +local gossip that was going on about him. Men came in and out without +his observing them; and indeed it was not easy to take note of faces +through the cloud of smoke that filled the room; he was fast relapsing +into his own reflections, wondering what Solomon was doing in the dark, +and if he slept much, when an event occurred which roused him as +thoroughly as the prick of a lance or a sudden douche of cold water. + +"Let us have no misunderstanding and no obligation--that is my motto." + +The speaker was a thin, gray man, whose entrance into the apartment +Balfour had not perceived, and who was seated in an elevated chair, +which had apparently been reserved for him as president of the assembly. +The face was unfamiliar, for twenty years had made an old man of the +astute and lively detective; but his phrase, and the manner of +delivering it, identified him at once as his old friend Mr. Dodge. + +"It was in this very room," continued the latter, "that I sat and talked +with him as sociable as could be, not a quarter of an hour before I put +the darbies on him; and it's a thing that has been upon my mind ever +since. I was only doing my duty, of course, but still it seemed hard to +take advantage of such a frank young fellow. As for stealing them notes, +it's my belief he had no more intention of doing it than I had." + +"And yet he got it hot at the 'sizes, Mr. Dodge, didn't he?" inquired +one of the company. + +"Got it hot, Sir?" replied Mr. Dodge, with dignity; "he got an infamous +and most unjustly severe sentence, if you mean that, Sir. Of course what +he did was contrary to law, but it's my opinion as the law was strained +agin him. There was some as swore hard and fast to get him punished as +knew he deserved no such treatment. Why, the girl as he loved, and whose +picture I found upon him myself when I searched him, and gave it him +back, too--ay, that I did--even she took a false oath, as Weasel himself +told me, who was his lawyer, and had built up his case with that same +hussy for its corner-stone. Ah!" said Mr. Dodge, with a gesture of +abhorrence, "if there ever was a murdered man, it was that poor young +fellow, Richard Yorke." + +"But I thought he got twenty years' penal servitude," observed the same +individual who had interposed before, and whose thankless office it +seemed to be to draw the old gentleman out for the benefit of society. + +"I say he was murdered, Sir. He was shut up for nigh twenty years, and +then shot in the back in trying to get away from Lingmoor. It was the +hardest case I ever knew in all my professional experience. Lord, if you +had seen him--the handsomest, brightest, gayest young chap! And he was +what some folks call well-born, too; he was the son--that is, though, in +a left-handed sort of way, it's true--of mad Carew of Crompton, about +whose death the papers were so full a month ago or so; and that, in my +judgment, was the secret of all his misfortune: it was the Carew blood +as did it. To take his own way in the world; to seek nobody's advice, +nor use it if 'twas given; to be spoiled and petted by all the women and +half the men as came nigh him; to own no master nor authority; to act +without thought, and to scorn consequences--well, all that was bred in +the bone with him." + +"Then he had never any one to look after him at home, I reckon, Mr. +Dodge?" + +"Well, yes; he had a mother; and though she was a queer one too, she +loved him dearly. She was the cleverest woman, Weasel used to say, as +ever he had to do with; and a perfect lady too, mind you. She worked to +get the poor lad off like a slave; and when all was over, instead of +breaking down, as most would, she swallowed her pride, and went down on +her bended knees to that old miserly devil, Trevethick, the prosecutor, +and to his son-in-law, Coe, likewise: they lived down Cross Key +way--where was it?--at Gethin--and begged and prayed him to join in +petitioning in her son's favor. She got down there the very day after +his lying daughter was married to Solomon Coe, he as has got Dunloppel, +and is a big man now. But he'll never be any thing but a scurvy lot, if +he was to be king o' Cornwall. I shall never forget the way he insulted +that poor young fellow when he was took up. Damme, I would have given a +ten-pound note to have had _him_ charged with something, and I'd ha' +seen that the handcuffs weren't none too big for his wrists neither." + +"And this Trevethick refused to help the lady, did he?" + +"Why, of course he did. He broke her heart, poor soul. I saw her when +she passed through Plymouth afterward, and she looked twenty years older +than before that trial. Even then she didn't give the matter up, but +laid it before the crown. But poor Yorke had offended government--helped +some fool or another through one of them public examinations; he had +wits enough for any thing, had that young fellow. But there--I can't +a-bear to talk about him; and yet somehow I can't help doing on it when +I get into this room. He sat just where that gentleman sits yonder. I +think I see him now, smoking the best of cigars, one of which he offered +to me--for he was free as free; but I was necessitated to restore it, +for I couldn't take a gift from one as I was just a-going to nab. 'Thank +you kindly,' says I, 'but let us have no misunderstanding and no +obligation.' Poor fellow! poor fellow!" + +No more was said about the case of Richard Yorke; but it was evidently a +standing topic with the chairman of the _George and Vulture_ club. A +yearning to behold and embrace that mother who had done and suffered so +much for his sake took possession of Richard's soul. His heart had been +steeled against her when he found harbored under her roof the objects of +his rage and loathing; but he felt now that that must have come to pass +with some intention of benefit to himself. The very truth, indeed, +flashed upon him that she entertained some plan of frustrating his +revenge against them, with the idea of protecting him from the +consequences that were likely to ensue from it; and he forgave her, +while he hated his foes the more. He would carry out his design to the +uttermost, but very cautiously, and with a prudence that he would +certainly not have used had his own safety been alone concerned; and +then, when he had avenged himself and her, he would disclose himself to +her. The statement he had just heard affected him deeply, but in +opposite ways. The justification of himself in no way moved him--he did +not need that; it was also far too late for his heart to be touched by +the expression of the old detective's good-will, though the time had +been when he would have thanked him for its utterance with honest tears; +but the revelation of his mother's toil and suffering in his behalf +reawakened all his dormant love for her, while it made his purpose +firmer than ever to be the Nemesis of her enemies and his own. + +As he went to bed that night the clock struck twelve. It was just +four-and-twenty hours since he had left his victim in the bowels of +Wheal Danes. If a free pardon could have been offered to him for the +crime, and the mine been filled with gold for him to its mouth, he would +not have stretched out his hand to save him. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +STILL HUMAN. + + +Mr. Balfour atoned for his previous indifference to the wares of the +news-boy by sending him next morning to the station for all the local +papers. In each, as he expected, there was a paragraph headed +_Mysterious Disappearance_, and as lengthened an account as professional +ingenuity could devise of the unaccountable departure of Mr. Solomon Coe +from his house at Gethin. The missing man was "much respected;" and, "as +the prosperous owner of the Dunloppel mine, which had yielded so largely +for so many years, he could certainly not have been pressed by pecuniary +embarrassments, and therefore the idea of suicide was out of the +question." Unlikely as it seemed in the case of one who knew the country +so well, the most probable explanation of the affair was that the +unfortunate gentleman, in taking a walk by night along the cliff top, +must have slipped into the sea. The weather had been very rough of late +and the wind blowing from off the land, which would have accounted--if +this supposition was correct--for the body not having been washed +ashore. "In the mean time an active search was going on." + +Balfour had resolved not to return to London for at least ten days. Mrs. +Coe and her son would, without doubt, be telegraphed for, and he could +not repair to their house in their absence. The idea of being under the +same roof alone with his mother was now repugnant to him. He felt that +he could not trust himself in such a position. It had been hard and +grievous, notwithstanding his resentment against her, to see her in +company with others, and her absence of late from table had been a great +relief to him. With his present feeling toward her it would be +impossible to maintain his incognito; and, if that was lost, his future +plans--to which he well knew she would oppose herself--would be rendered +futile. He had seen with rage and bitter jealousy that both Harry and +her boy, and especially the latter, were dear to her; and it was certain +she would interfere to protect them, for their sake as well as for his +own. He had other reasons also for not returning immediately to town. It +might hereafter be expedient to show that he _had_ really been to +Midlandshire, where he had given out he had designed to go; and, +moreover, though his purpose was relentless as respected Solomon, he did +not perhaps care to be in a house where hourly suggestions would be +dropped as to the whereabouts of his victim, or the fate that had +happened to him. Harry and her son might even not have gone to Gethin, +and in that case their apprehensions and surmises would have been +insupportable. + +Richard was more human than he would fain believe himself to be. Though +he had gone to bed so inexorable of purpose, it had been somewhat shaken +through the long hours of a night in which he had slept but little, and +waked to think on what his feverish dreams had dwelt upon--the fate of +his unhappy foe, perishing slowly beside his useless treasure. More than +once, indeed, the impulse had been strong upon him that very morning to +send word anonymously where Solomon was to be found to the police at +Plymouth. Remorse had not as yet become chronic with him, but it seized +him by fits and starts. + +There had been a time when he had looked (through his prison bars) on +all men with rage and hatred; but now he caught himself, as it were, at +attempts at self-justification with respect to the retribution he had +exacted even from his enemy. Had he not been rendered miserable, he +argued, supremely wretched, for more than half his lifetime, through +this man's agency? for it was certain that Solomon had sworn falsely, in +the spirit if not in the letter, and caused him to be convicted of a +crime which his rival was well aware he had not in intention committed. +His conduct toward him on the occasion of his arrest had also been most +brutal and insulting; while, after conviction had been obtained, this +wretch's malice, as Mr. Dodge had stated, had known no cessation. In the +arms of his young bride he had been deaf to the piteous cry of a mother +beseeching for her only son. + +But, on the other hand, had not he (Richard) deeply wronged this man in +the first instance? Had he not robbed him--for so much at least must +Solomon have known--of the love of his promised wife? If happiness from +such an ill-assorted union was not to have been anticipated, still, had +he not rendered it impossible? If their positions had been reversed, +would not he have exacted expiation from such an offender to the +uttermost? He would doubtless have scorned to twist the law as Solomon +had done, and make it, as it were, the crooked instrument of his +revenge. He would not, of course, have evoked its aid at all. But was +that to be placed to his credit? He had put himself above the law +throughout his life; he had never acknowledged any authority save that +of his own selfish will; nay, he owned to himself that his bitterness +against his unhappy victim had been caused not so much by the wrong he +had suffered at his hands as by the contempt which he (Richard) had +entertained for him. Without materials such as his father had possessed +to back his pretensions he had imagined himself a sort of irresponsible +and sovereign being. (Such infatuation is by no means rare, nor confined +to despots and brigands, and when it exists in a poor man it is always +fatal to himself.) His education, if it could be called such, had +doubtless fostered this delusion; but Mr. Dodge was right; the Carew +blood had been as poison in his veins, and had destroyed him. + +All this might be true; but such philosophy could scarcely now obtain a +hearing, while his enemy was dying of starvation in his living tomb. It +was in vain for him to repeat mechanically that he had also suffered a +sort of lingering death for twenty years. The present picture of his +rival's torments presented itself in colors so lively and terrible that +it blotted out the reminiscence of his own. The recollection of his +wrongs was no longer sufficient for his vindication. He therefore strove +to behold his victim in another light than as his private foe--as the +murderer of his friend Balfour, the history of whose end may here be +told. + +On the night that Richard escaped from Lingmoor, it was Balfour, of +course, who assisted him, and who was awaiting him in person at the foot +of the prison wall. The old man's arms had received him as he slipped +down the rope; and the object at which the sentry had fired had been two +men, though in the misty night they had seemed but one. Balfour had been +mortally wounded, and it was with the utmost difficulty that, laden +with the burden of his dying friend, Richard had contrived to reach +Bergen Wood. As his own footsteps were alone to be traced along the +moor, the idea of another having accompanied his flight--though they +knew there was complicity--had not occurred to the authorities. Balfour +had hardly reached that wretched asylum when he expired, pressing +Richard's hand, and bidding him remember Earl Street, Spitalfields. +"What you find there is all yours, lad," was his dying testament and +last words of farewell. And over his dead body Richard swore anew his +vow of vengeance against the man that had thus, though indirectly, +deprived him of his only friend. He had watched by the dead body, on its +bed of rotten leaves, through that night and the whole of the next day; +then, changing clothes with it, he had fled under cover of the ensuing +darkness, and got away eventually to town. + +He had found the house in Earl Street a wretched hovel, tenanted by a +few abjects, whom the money found on Balfour--which he had received on +leaving prison--was amply sufficient to buy out. Once alone in this +tenement, he had easily possessed himself of the spoil so long secreted, +and, furnished with it, he had hastened down to Crompton--the news of +Carew's death having reached London on the very day that he found +himself in a position to profit by it. The very plan which he had +suggested to Balfour, whose name he also assumed, he himself put into +execution. He made a private offer for the disused mine, which was +gladly accepted by those who had the disposal of the property, acting +under the advice of Parson Whymper. Trevethick, the only man that had +attached any importance to the possession of it, was dead; and it was +not likely that any one at the sale should bid one-half of the sum which +this stranger was prepared to give for the mere gratification of his +whim. The mine itself, indeed, had scarcely been mentioned in the +transaction; it merely formed a portion in the lot comprising the few +barren acres on which this capricious purchaser had expressed his fancy +to build a home. "Disposed of by private contract" was the marginal note +written in the auctioneer's catalogue which dashed Solomon's +long-cherished hopes to the ground. + +Richard staid on in the neighborhood to attend the sale. It attracted an +immense concourse; and no less than a guinea a head was the price of +admission to those who explored the splendid halls of Crompton, +discussing the character of its late owner, and retailing wild stories +of his eccentricities. Poor Parson Whymper, who had not a shilling left +to him--for Carew had died intestate, though, thanks to him, not +absolutely a beggar--was perhaps the only person present who felt a +touch of regret. He had asked for his patron's signet-ring, as a +keepsake, and this request had been refused on the part of the +creditors; he wandered among the gay and jeering crowd like a ghost, +little thinking that the one man who looked at him with a glance of pity +was he whom he had once regarded as the heir of Crompton. It was the +general opinion now that the unhappy chaplain had been Carew's evil +genius, and had "led him on." Even Richard bestowed but that single +glance upon him; he _was_ looking in vain for the face that had so +terrible an interest for himself. He had not heard that Trevethick was +dead, but he knew it was so the instant that his eyes fell upon Solomon +Coe, and all his hate was at once transferred to his younger enemy. The +business upon which this man had come was as clear to him as though it +had been written on his forehead. The first gleam of pleasure which had +visited his dark soul for twenty years was the sight of Solomon's +countenance when, on the sixth day's sale, the auctioneer gave out that +lot 970 had been withdrawn. Solomon might have received the intimation +long before but for the cautious prudence which had prevented him from +making any inquiries upon the subject. For a minute or two he stood +stunned and silent, then hurriedly made his way to the rostrum. Richard, +who was sitting at the long table with the catalogue before him, kept +his eyes fixed upon its pages while the auctioneer pointed him out as +the purchaser of the lot in question. He knew the inquiry that was being +asked, and its reply; he knew whose burly form it was that thrust itself +the next minute in between him and his neighbor; every drop of blood in +his body, every hair on his head, seemed to be cognizant that the man he +hated most on earth was seated cheek by jowl with him--that the first +step in the road of retribution had been taken voluntarily by his victim +himself. The rest is soon told. Solomon at once commenced his clumsy +efforts at conciliation; and his endeavors to recommend himself to the +stranger's friendship were suffered quickly to bear fruit. He invited +him to his house in London, which, to Richard's astonishment and +indignation, he found to be his mother's home; and, in short, fell of +his own accord into the very snare which the other, had he had the +fixing of it, would himself have laid for him. + +And now, as we have said, when all had gone exactly as Richard would +have had it go, and Solomon was being punished to the uttermost, the +executor of his doom was beginning to feel, if not compunction, at all +events remorse. No adequate retribution had indeed overtaken Harry. To +have made her a widow was, in fact, to have freed her from the yoke of a +harsh and unloved master; but the fact was, notwithstanding the perjury +of which he believed her to have been guilty, he had never hated her as +he had hated the other authors of his wrongs. She had once on the +rock-bound coast at Gethin preserved his life; she had accorded to his +passion all that woman can grant, and had reciprocated it; not even in +his fiercest hour of despair had he harbored the thought of raising his +hand against her; he had hated her, indeed, as his betrayer, and as +Solomon's wife, but never regarded her with that burning detestation +which he felt toward her husband. There was another motive also, though +he did not even admit it to himself, which, now that his chief foe was +expiating his offense, had no inconsiderable weight in the scale of +mercy as regarded the others. + +His endeavors to win Charley's favor had had a reflex action. In spite +of himself, a certain good-will had grown up in him toward this boy, +whom his mission it was to ruin. If there had been less of his mother in +the lad's appearance, or any thing of his father in his character, his +heart might have been steeled against his youth and innocence of +transgression. As a mere son of Solomon Coe's he would have beheld in +him the whelp of a wolf, and treated him accordingly; but between the +wolf and his offspring there was evidently as little of affection as +there was of likeness. The very weaknesses of Charley's character--his +love of pleasure, his credulity, his wayward impulsiveness, of all which +Balfour had made use for his own purposes--were foreign to the nature of +the elder Coe; while the lad's high spirit, demonstrativeness, and +geniality were all his own. If he had one to guide as well as love +him--a woman with sound heart and brain, such as this Agnes Aird was +represented to be, what a happy future might be before this youth! +Without such a wise counselor, how easy it would be, and how likely, for +him to drift on the tide of self-will and self-indulgence to the devil! +The decision rested in Richard's own hands, he knew. Should he blast +this young life in the bud, in revenge for acts for which he was in no +way accountable, and which were already being so bitterly expiated? The +apprehension that Solomon might even yet be found alive perhaps alone +prevented Richard from resolving finally to molest Harry and her son no +further. If his victim should have been rescued, his enmity would have +doubtless blazed forth afresh against them as inextinguishable as ever, +but in the mean time it smouldered, and was dying out for want of fuel. +If he had no penitence with respect to the terrible retribution he had +already wrought, the idea of it disturbed him. If he had no scruples, he +had pangs: when all was over--in a day or two, for even so strong a man +as Solomon could scarcely hold out longer--he would doubtless cease to +be troubled with them; when he was once dead Richard did not fear his +ghost; but the thought of this perishing wretch at present haunted him. +He was still not far from Gethin, and its neighborhood was likely to +encourage such unpleasant feelings. He had only executed a righteous +judgment, since there was no law to right him; but even a judge would +avoid the vicinity of a gallows on which hangs a man on whom he had +passed sentence. + +He would go into Midlandshire--where he was now supposed to be--until +the affair had blown over. That watching and waiting for the Thing to be +discovered would, he foresaw, be disagreeable, nervous work. And when it +happened, how full the newspapers would be of it! How Solomon got to the +place where he would be found would be as much a matter of marvel as the +object of his going there. If the copper lode--the existence of which +Richard did not doubt--were discovered, as it most likely would be when +the mine became the haunt of the curious and the morbid, it was only too +probable that public attention would be drawn to the owner. The +identification of Robert Balfour with the visitor who had visited +Turlock might then be established, whence would rise suspicion, and +perhaps discovery. Richard had no terrors upon his own account, but he +was solicitous to spare his mother this new shame. He had been hitherto +guiltless in her eyes, or, when blameworthy, the victim of +circumstances; but could her love for him survive the knowledge that he +was a murderer? But why encourage these morbid apprehensions? Was it not +just as likely that the Thing would never be discovered at all? Once set +upon a wrong scent, as folks already were, since the papers had +suggested the man was drowned, why should they ever hit upon the right +one? Wheal Danes had not been explored for half a century. Why should +not Solomon's bones lie there till the judgment-day? + +At this point in his reflections the door opened--he was taking his +breakfast in a private sitting-room--and admitted, as he thought, the +waiter. Richard stood in such profound thought that it was almost +stupor, with his arms upon the mantel-piece, and his head resting on his +hands. He did not change his posture; but when the door closed, and +there was silence in place of the expected clatter of the breakfast +things, he turned about, and beheld Harry standing before him--in deep +black, and, as it seemed to him, in widow's weeds! + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +FACE TO FACE. + + +If Solomon himself, half starved and imbecile with despair, had suddenly +presented himself from his living tomb, Richard could not have been more +astonished than at the appearance of his present visitor. He had left +her but three days ago for Midlandshire. How was it possible she had +tracked him hither? With what purpose she had done so he did not ask +himself, for he had already read it in her haggard face and hopeless +eyes. + +"Have I come too late?" moaned she in a piteous, terror-stricken voice. + +"For breakfast?--yes, madam," returned Richard, coldly; "but that can +easily be remedied;" and he feigned to touch the bell. His heart was +steel again; this woman's fear and care he felt were for his enemy, and +for him alone. It was plain she had no longer fear of himself. + +"Where is my husband?" she gasped out. "Is he still alive?" + +"I am not your husband's keeper, madam." + +"But you are his murderer!" She held out her arm, and pointed at him +with a terrible significance. There was something clasped in her +trembling fingers which he could not discern. + +"You speak in riddles, madam; and it seems to me your humor is somewhat +grim." + +"I ask you once more, is my husband dead, and have I come too late?" + +"I have not seen him for some days; I left him alive and well. What +makes you think him otherwise, or that I have harmed him?" + +"This"--she advanced toward him, keeping her eyes steadily fixed upon +his own--"this was found among your things after you left my house!" + +It was a ticket-of-leave--the one that had been given to Balfour on his +discharge from Lingmoor. It seemed impossible that Richard's colorless +face could have become still whiter, but it did so. + +"Yes, that is mine," said he. "It was an imprudence in me to leave such +a token among curious people. You took an interest in my effects, it +seems." + +"It was poor Mrs. Basil who found it, and who gave it to me." Her voice +was calm, and even cold; but the phrase "poor Mrs. Basil" alarmed him. + +"The good lady is still unwell, then, is she?" + +"She is dead." + +"Dead!" Richard staggered to a chair, and pressed his hands to his +forehead. The only creature in the world on whom his slender hopes were +built had, then, departed from it! "When did she die?" inquired he in a +hollow voice, "and how?" + +"On the evening of the day you left, and, as I believe, of a disease +which one like you will scarcely credit--of a broken heart." + +Her manner and tone were hostile; but that moved not Richard one whit; +the cold and measured tones in which she had alluded to his mother's +death angered him, on the other hand, exceedingly. If his mother had +died of a broken heart, it was this woman's falsehood that had broken +it; and yet she could speak with calmness and unconcern of the loss +which had left him utterly forlorn! He forgot all his late remorse; and +in his eyes glittered malice and cruel rage. + +"I do not fear you," cried she, in answer to this look; "for the +wretched have no fear. The hen will do battle with the fox, the rabbit +with the stoat, to save her young. If I can not save my husband, I will +save my son. I have come down here to do it. You are known to me now for +what you are--a jail-bird. If you dare to meet my Charley's honest face +again, I will tell him who and what you are." + +"Did Mrs. Basil tell you that, then?" + +"Thus far she did," cried Harry, pointing to the ticket which Richard +had taken from her hand. "Is not that enough? She warned me with her +latest breath against you. 'Beware of him,' said she; 'and yet pursue +him, if you would save your husband and your son. Where Solomon is, +there will this man also be. Pursue, pursue!' I did but stay to close +her eyes." + +"And so she knew me, did she?" + +"She knew enough, as I do. Of course she could not guess--who +could?--your shameful past, the fruit of which is there!" and again she +pointed to the ticket. + +"_My_ shameful past!" cried Richard, rising and drawing himself to his +full height. "Who are you, that dare to say so? Do you, then, need one +to rise from the dead to remind you of _your_ past! Look at me, Harry +Trevethick--look at _me_!" + +"Richard!" It was but one word; but in the tone which she pronounced it +a thousand memories seemed to mingle. An inexpressible awe pervaded her; +she stood spell-bound, staring at his white hair and withered face. + +"Yes, it _is_ Richard," answered the other, mockingly, "though it is +hard to think so. Twenty years of wretchedness have worked the change. +It is you he has to thank for it, you perjured traitress!" + +"No, no; as Heaven is my judge, Richard, I tell you No!" She threw +herself on her knees before him; and as she did so her bonnet fell, and +the rippling hair that he had once stroked so tenderly escaped from its +bands; the color came into her cheeks, and the light into her eyes, with +the passionate excitement of her appeal; and for the moment she looked +almost as he had known her in the far-back spring-tide of her youth. + +"Fair and false as ever!" cried Richard, bitterly. + +"Listen, listen!" pleaded she; "then call me what you will." + +He sat in silence while she poured forth all the story of the trial, and +of the means by which her evidence had been obtained, listening at first +with a cold, cynical smile, like one who is prepared for falsehood, and +beyond its power; but presently he drooped his head and hid his +features. She knew that she had persuaded him of her fidelity, but +feared that behind those wrinkled hands there still lay a ruthless +purpose. She had exculpated herself, but only (of necessity) by showing +in blacker colors the malice of his enemies. She knew that he had sworn +to destroy them root and branch; and there was one green bough which he +had already done his worst to bend to evil ways. "Richard, Richard!" +said she, softly. + +He withdrew his chair with a movement which she mistook for one of +loathing. + +"He hates me for their sake," thought she, "although he knows me to be +innocent. How much more must he hate those who made me seem so guilty!" +But, in truth, his withdrawal from her touch had a very different +explanation. He would have kissed her, and held out both his hands, but +for the blood which he dreaded might be even now upon them. He saw that +she loved him still, and had ever done so, even when she seemed his foe: +all the old affection that he thought had been dead within him awoke to +life, and yet he dared not give it voice. + +"You have said my husband was alive and well, Richard?" + +"I said I had left him so," answered he, hoarsely. + +"Then you have spared him thus far; spare him still, even for my sake; +and, for Heaven's sake, spare my son! Harden not your heart against one +more dear to me by far than life itself. He has done you no wrong." + +Richard shook his head; he yearned to clasp her to his breast; he could +have cried, "I forgive them all," but he could not trust himself to +speak, lest he should say, "I love you." + +"You have seen my boy, Richard, many times. The friendship you have +simulated for him must have made you know how warm-hearted and kind and +unsuspicious his nature is. You have listened to his merry laugh, and +felt the sunshine of his gayety. Oh! can you have the heart to harm +him?" + +Still he did not speak; he scarcely heard her words. The murdered man +was standing between her and him; and he would always stand there, seen +by him, though not by her. From the grave itself he had come forth to +triumph over him to the end. + +"Richard"--her voice had sunk to a tremulous whisper--"I must save my +son, and save you from yourself, no matter what it costs me. You little +know on the brink of what a crime you stand." + +He laughed a bitter laugh; for was he not already steeped in crime? She +thought him pitiless and malignant when he was only hopeless and +self-condemned. + +"Do you remember Gethin, Richard, and all that happened there? Can you +not guess why I was made to marry--within--what was it?--a month, a +week, a day--it seemed but the next hour--after I lost you? You have had +twenty years of misery for my sake; but so have I for yours. Did my +husband love me, think you? Did he love my child? He had good cause, if +he had only known, to hate us both. Can you not guess it?" + +He looked at her with eager hope--a trembling joy pervaded him. But hope +and joy had been strangers to him so long that he could scarce recognize +them for what they were. + +"My Charley is yours also, Richard--your own son." + +Richard burst into tears. There was somebody still to love him in the +world--his own flesh and blood--somebody to live for! The thought +intoxicated him with delight; a vision of happiness floated before him +for an instant; then was swallowed up in darkness, as a single star by +the gloom of night. His own flesh and blood; ay, perhaps inheriting the +same nature as his father. It was only too likely, from what he had seen +of the lad; and he had himself done his best to develop the evil in him, +and to crush the good. + +"Don't weep, dear Richard: kiss me." + +He shrank from her proffered lips with a cold shudder. "Nay, I can not +kiss you. Do not ask me why, Harry. Never ask me; but I never can." + +She looked at him with wonder, for she saw that his wrath had vanished. +His tone was tender, though woeful, and his touch as he put her aside +was as gentle as a child's. + +"As you please, Richard," said she, humbly, and with a deep blush. "I +only wished for it as a token of your forgiveness. It is not necessary; +those tears have told me we are reconciled. But you will kiss Charley." + +"Nay; he must never know," answered Richard gloomily. + +"I had forgotten," said Harry, simply. "You can guess by that the +loyalty of my heart toward you, Richard. I forgot that to reveal it +would be to tell my darling of his mother's shame. But you will be kind +and good to him; you will undo what you have done of harm; you will lead +him back to Agnes, and then he will be safe." + +"Yes, yes," muttered Richard, mechanically; "I will undo so far as I can +what I have done of harm. I will do my best, as I have done my worst." + +He rose hastily, and rang the bell. Harry eyed him like some attached +creature that sympathizes with but can not comprehend its master. + +The waiter entered. + +"I shall not go by the train," said Richard; "let a carriage and pair be +brought round instantly, without a moment's delay." + +The waiter hurried out to execute the order. + +"But you will surely return home, Richard, after what has happened?" +said Harry, thinking of his mother's funeral. + +"The dead can wait," returned he, solemnly. "Go you back to town. In +three days' time, if you do not hear from me, come down to Gethin with +Charles and Agnes." + +"But I dare not, unless my husband send for me." + +"He _will_ send for you," said Richard, solemnly; "or others will in his +behalf." + +Without one word or sign of farewell he suddenly rushed by her, and was +gone. A carriage stood at the front-door of the hotel, which had just +returned from taking a bride and bridegroom to the railway station, and +she saw him hurry into it. + +"Fast! fast!" she heard him cry, through the open window; and then he +was whirled away. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +CURTIUS. + + +Richard had many subjects for thought to beguile his lonely way to +Gethin, but one was paramount, and absorbed the rest, though he strove +to dismiss it all he could. + +He endeavored to think of his dead mother. His heart was full of her +patient love and weary, childless life; but her portrait faded from his +mind like a dissolving view, and in its place stood that of Solomon Coe, +haggard, emaciated, hideous. Still less could he think of Harry and her +son, between whom and himself this spectre of the unhappy man rose up at +once, summoned by the thought of them, as by a spell. It did not occur +to Richard even now that he had had no right to kill him; but he +shuddered to think, if he had really done so, how this late opening +flower of love which he had just discovered would blossom into fear and +loathing. In that case his heart would have been softened only to be +pierced. His mother's death, the knowledge of Harry's fidelity, and of +the existence of his son, to whom his affection had been already drawn, +unknowingly and in spite of himself, had dissolved his cruel purpose. He +was eager to spare his mother's memory the shame of the foul crime he +had contemplated, and passionately anxious that in the veins of his +new-found son there should at least run no murderer's blood. + +"Faster! faster!" was still his cry, though the horses galloped whenever +it was practicable, and the wheels cast the winter's mire into his eager +face. This haste was made, as he well knew, upon the road to his own +ruin. To find Solomon alive was to be accused of having compassed his +death. There was no hope in the magnanimity of such a foe. But yesterday +Richard had cared little or nothing for his own safety, and was only +bent upon the prosecution of his scheme against his foe; now life had +mysteriously become dear to him, and he was about to risk it in saving +the man he had hated most on earth from the doom to which he had himself +consigned him. He had calculated the possibilities which were in his own +favor, and they had resolved themselves into this single chance--that +Solomon might be induced, by the unconditional offer of Wheal Danes and +its golden treasure, to forego his revenge. His greed was great; but his +malice, as Richard had good cause to know, was also not easily +satisfied. Moreover, even if his victim should decline to be his +prosecutor, he would still stand in great peril. It was only too +probable that he would be recognized at Gethin for the stranger that had +so lately been staying at Turlock; he had not, indeed, mentioned his +assumed name at the latter place; but his lack of interest in the fate +of Solomon--whose disappearance had been narrated to him by the +waitress--and his departure from the town under such circumstances, +would (in case of his identification) be doubtless contrasted with this +post-haste journey of his to deliver this same man. He had made up his +mind, however, to neglect no precautions to avoid this contingency. It +would be dark when he got to Gethin; and his purpose once accomplished +he might easily escape recognition, unless he should be denounced by +Solomon himself. In that case Richard was fully determined that he would +glut no more the curiosity of the crowd. He would never stand in the +prisoner's dock, or be consigned again to stone walls. The gossips +should have a dead man's face to gaze at, and welcome; they might make +what sport they pleased of that, but not again of his living agony. +Then, instead of his being Solomon's murderer, he would be his victim. +To judge by his present feeling, thought Richard, bitterly, this man +would not enjoy his triumph even then. Revenge, as his mother had once +told him, was like a game of battle-door--it is never certain who gets +the last stroke. If Solomon was now dead, starved skeleton or rat-eaten +corpse as he might be, Richard felt that he would still have had the +advantage over him. + +"What is it? Why are we stopping?" cried he, frantically, as the man +pulled up on the top of a hill. + +"Let me breathe the horses for an instant," pleaded the driver; "we +shall gain time in the end." + +"How far are we still from Gethin?" inquired Richard, impatiently. + +"In time, two hours, Sir, for the road is bad, though me and the horses +will do our best; but the distance is scarce twelve miles. Do you see +that black thing out to seaward yonder? That's the castled rock. He +stands out fine against the sunset, don't he?" + +"Yes, yes; make haste;" and on they sped again at a gallop. + +Within a mile or two of this spot Richard had first caught sight of that +same object twenty years ago. The occasion flashed upon him with every +minutest circumstance, even to the fact of how hungry he had been at the +moment. The world was all before him then, and life was young. Now, +prematurely aged, his interest centred in three human beings, and one of +those was his bitter enemy. + +The dusk thickened into dark; and the tired horses--for the stage had +been a very long one--made but slow way. + +"Faster! faster!" was Richard's constant cry, till the brow of the last +hill was gained, and the scanty lights of Gethin showed themselves. Then +it suddenly struck him for the first time what unnecessary speed had +been made. Why, this man, Solomon, strong and inured to privation, had, +after all, been but eight-and-forty hours in the mine, and would surely +be alive, unless the rats had killed him. Where had he somewhere read of +a strong man overpowered in a single night by a legion of rats, and +discovered a heap of clean-picked bones by morning? + +The inn, as usual at that season, showed few signs of life; but there +were some half dozen miners drinking at the bar. + +"Keep those men," said Richard to the inn-keeper; for Solomon had long +delegated that office to another, though his own name was still over the +door, and the _Gethin Castle_ was still his home. "I shall want their +help to-night." + +"Their help, Sir?" said the astonished landlord. + +"Yes; but say nothing for the present. Bring me a bottle of brandy and +some meat--cold chicken, if you have it; then let me have a word with +you." + +Richard did not order the food for himself. While it was being brought +he sat down in the very chair that he had used so often--for he had been +ushered into his old parlor--and gazed about him. There were the same +tawdry ornaments on the mantel-piece, and the same books on the dusty +shelf. Nothing was altered except the tenant of that room; but how great +a change had taken place in _him_! What a face the dingy mirror offered +him in place of that which it had shown him last! When the inn-keeper +returned his mind involuntarily conjured up old Trevethick, as he had +received from him the key of the ruin, and doggedly taken his +compliments upon its workmanship. Truly, "there is no such thing as +forgetting;" and to recall our past to its minutest details at the +judgment-day will not be so impracticable as some of us would desire. + +Richard had made up his mind exactly as to what he would say to this +man, but a question suddenly presented itself, which had been absent +from his thoughts from the moment that he had resolved to rescue his +enemy. It was a very simple one, too, and would have occurred to any one +else, as it had done already many times to himself. + +"Has Mr. Coe been found yet?" + +He listened for the answer eagerly, for if such was the case, not only +was his journey useless, but had brought him into the very jaws of +destruction. He would have thrown away his life for nothing. + +"No, Sir, indeed--and he never will be," replied the inn-keeper. "When +the sea don't give a man up in four-and-twenty hours, it keeps him for +good--at least we always find it so at Gethin." + +"Well, listen to me. My name is Balfour. I knew Mr. Coe, and have had +dealings with him. We had arranged a partnership together in a certain +mine; and it is my opinion that he came down here upon that business." + +"Very like, Sir. He was much engaged that way, and made, they say, a +pretty penny at it." + +"I was at Plymouth, on my way to join him, when I heard this sad news. I +came to-day post-haste in consequence of it. The search for him must be +renewed to-night." + +"Lor, Sir, it is easy to see you are a stranger in these parts! I +wouldn't like to go myself where poor Mr. Coe met his end, on so dark a +night as this. It's a bad path even in daylight along Turlock cliff." + +"He did not take that way, at least I think not. Have you a ladder about +the premises?" + +"Yes, sure." + +"And a lantern?" + +"Now that's strange enough, Sir, that you should have inquired for a +lantern; for we wanted one just now to see to your horses, and, though +they're looking for it high and low, it can't be found nowhere." + +"It doesn't strike you, then, that Mr. Coe might have taken it with +him?" + +"Lor, Sir," cried the inn-keeper, with admiration, "and so he must ha' +done! Of course it strikes one when the thing has been put into one's +head. Well, 'twas a good lantern, and now 'tis lost. Dear me, dear me!" + +Golden visions of succeeding to the management of the inn, and of taking +to the furniture and fixings in the gross, had flitted across this +honest gentleman's brain, and the disappearance of the lantern affected +him with the acute sense of pecuniary damage. The general valuation +would probably be no less because of the absence of this article. + +"Send out and borrow another, as many, in fact, as you can get," said +Richard, impatiently; "and get ready a torch or two besides. Pick out +four of the strongest men yonder, and bid them come with me, and search +Wheal Danes." + +"What! that old pit. Sir? You'll not find a man to do it--no, not if +they knowed as master was at the bottom of it. You wait till morning." + +"Your master _is_ at the bottom of it. I feel sure he took the lantern +with him to search that mine. I will give them a pound apiece to start +at once. Pack up this food, and lend them a mattress to bring him home +upon. Be quick! be quick!" + +Richard's energy fairly overpowered the phlegmatic inn-keeper, whose +conscience, perhaps, also smote him with respect to his missing master; +and he set about the execution of these orders promptly. Wheal Danes, he +had truly hinted, was a very unpopular spot with its neighbors after +nightfall; but, on the other hand, sovereigns were rare in Gethin, and +greatly prized. In less than half an hour the necessaries which Richard +had indicated were procured, and a party, consisting of himself, four +stalwart miners, and the inn-keeper, started for the pit. These were +followed by half the inhabitants of the little village, attracted by the +rumor of their purpose, which had oozed out from the bar of the _Gethin +Castle_. The windy down had probably never known so strange a concourse +as that which presently streamed over it, with torch and lantern, and +stood around the mouth of the disused mine. The night was dark, and +nothing could be seen save what the flare of the lights they carried +showed them--a jagged rim of pit without a bottom. Notwithstanding their +numbers there was but little talk among them; they had a native dread of +this dismal place, and, besides, there might now be a ghastly secret +hidden within it. A muffled exclamation, half of admiration, half of +awe, broke from the circling crowd as, the ladder planted, Richard was +seen descending it torch in hand. No other man followed; none had +volunteered, and he had asked for no companion. They watched him, as the +countrymen of those who had formerly worked Wheal Danes might have +watched Curtius when he leaped into the gulf; and as in _his_ case, when +they saw the ladder removed, and the light grow dim, and finally die out +before their eyes, it seemed that the pit had closed on Richard--that he +was swallowed up alive. No one, unless the strange story about their +missing neighbor which this man had brought was true, had ventured into +Wheal Danes for these fifty years! They kept an awe-struck silence, +straining eye and ear. Some thought they could still see a far-off +glimmer, others that they could hear a stifled cry, when the less +fortunate or the less imaginative could hear or see nothing. But after a +little darkness and silence reigned supreme beneath them; they seemed +standing on the threshold of a tomb. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +WHAT WAS FOUND IN WHEAL DANES. + + +A full half hour--which to the watchers above seemed a much longer +interval--had elapsed since Richard had disappeared in the depths of +Wheal Danes, and not a sign of his return had reached the attentive +throng. + +"I thought he'd come to harm," muttered a fisherman to his neighbor; "it +was a sin and a shame to let him venture." + +"Ay, you may say that," returned the other, aloud. "I call it downright +murder in them as sent him." + +"It was not I as sent him," observed the inn-keeper, with the honest +indignation of a man that has not right habitually on his own side. +"What _I_ said to the gentleman was, 'Wait till morning.' Why should _I_ +send him?" Here he stopped, though his reasons for not wishing to hurry +matters would have been quite conclusive. + +"Why was he let to go down at all, being a stranger?" resumed the first +speaker. "Why didn't somebody show him the way?" + +"Because nobody knowed it," answered one of the four miners whose +services Richard had retained, and who justly imagined that the +fisherman's remark had been a reflection on his own profession. "I'd ha' +gone down Dunloppel with him at midnight, or any other mine as can be +called such; but this is different." + +"Ay, ay, that's so," said a second miner. "We know no more of this place +than you fishermen. There may be as much water in it as in the sea, for +aught we can tell." + +"It's my belief they're more afraid of the Dead Hand than the water," +observed a voice from the crowd, the great majority of which was +composed of fisher folk. + +No reply was given to this; perhaps because the speaker, an old cripple, +the Thersites of the village, was beneath notice, perhaps because the +remark was unanswerable. The miners were bold enough against material +enemies, but they were superstitious to a man. + +"If Solomon Coe were alive," continued the same voice, "he wouldn't ha' +feared nothin'." + +"That's the first word, old man, as ever I heard you speak in his +favor," said a miner, contemptuously; "and you've waited for that till +he's dead." + +"Still, he would ha' gone, and you durstn't," observed the old fellow, +cunningly, "and that's the p'int." + +These allusions to the Dead Hand and to the missing Solomon were not of +a nature to inspire courage in those to whom it was already lacking, and +a silence again ensued. There was less light, for a torch or two had +gone out, and the mine looked blacker than ever. + +"Well, who's a-going down?" croaked the old cripple. "The gentleman came +from your inn, Jonathan, and it's your place, I should think, to look +after him." + +"Certainly not," answered the inn-keeper, hastily. "These men here were +hired for this very service." + +"That's true," said the first miner. "But what's the use of talking when +the gentleman has got the ladder with him?" + +"There's more ladders in the world than one," observed the cripple. +"Here's my grandson, John; he and half a dozen of these young fellows +would fetch Farmer Gray's in less than no time. Come, lads--be off with +ye." + +This suggestion was highly applauded, except by the miner who had so +injudiciously compromised himself, and was carried out at once. + +When the ladder arrived the three other miners, ashamed of deserting +their comrade, volunteered to descend with him. The excitement among the +spectators was great, indeed, when these four men disappeared in the +levels of Wheal Danes, as Richard had done before them. The light of +their combined torches lingered a little in their rear; the sound of +their voices, as they halloed to one another or to the missing man, was +heard for several minutes. But darkness and silence swallowed _them_ up +also, and the watchers gazed on one another aghast. + +It is not an easy thing, even for those accustomed to underground labor, +to search an unfamiliar spot by torch-light; the fitful gleam makes the +objects on which it falls difficult of identification. It is doubtful +whether one has seen this or that before or not--whether we are not +retracing old ground. Even to practiced eyes these objects, too, are not +so salient as the tree or the stone which marks a locality above-ground; +add to this, in the present case, that the searchers were momently in +expectation of coming upon something which they sought and yet feared to +find, and it will be seen that their progress was of necessity but slow. +They kept together, too, as close as sheep, which narrowed the compass +of their researches, and caused their combined torches to distribute +only as much light as one man would have done provided with a +chandelier. They knew, however, that their predecessor had descended +into the second level, so that they did not need to explore the first at +all. The ground was hard, and gave forth echoes to their cautious but +heavy tread; their cries of "Hollo!" "Are you there?" which they +reiterated, like nervous children playing hide-and-seek, reverberated +from roof to wall. + +Presently, when they stopped to listen for these voices of the rock to +cease, there was heard a human moan. It seemed to come up from a great +depth out of the darkness before them. They listened earnestly, and the +sound was repeated--the faint cry of a man in grievous pain. + +"There must be another level," observed the miner who had volunteered +the search. "This man has fallen down it." + +They had therefore to go back for the ladder. Pushing this before them, +the end began presently to run freely, and then stopped; it had adjusted +itself by the side of the shorter ladder which Richard had brought down +with him. + +"He could not have fallen, then," observed a miner, answering his +comrade's remark--as is the custom with this class of great doers and +small talkers--at a considerable interval. + +"Yes, he could," replied the one who had first spoken. "See, his ladder +was short, and he may have pitched over." + +They stood and listened, peering down into the darkness beneath them; +but there was no repetition of the cries. The wounded man had apparently +spent his last strength, perhaps his last breath, in uttering them. + +"He must be down here somewhere. Come on." + +The situation was sufficiently appalling; but these men had lost half +their terrors, now that they knew there was a fellow-creature needing +help. They descended slowly; and he who was foremost presently cried +out, "I see him; here he is." + +The man was lying on his face quite still; and when they lifted him, +each looked at the other with a grave significance--they had carried too +many from the bowels of the earth to the pit's mouth not to know when a +man was dead. Even a senseless body is not the same to an experienced +bearer as a dead weight. The corpse was still warm, but the head fell +back with a movement not of life. + +"You were right, mate. His neck is broke; the poor gentleman pitched +over on his head." + +"Stop a bit," exclaimed the man addressed; "see here. Why, it ain't him +at all--it's Solomon Coe." + +An exclamation of astonishment burst involuntarily from the other three. + +"Then where's the other?" cried they all together. + +"I am here," answered a ghastly whisper. + +Within but a few feet of Solomon, so that they could hardly have +overlooked him had not the former monopolized their attention, lay +Richard, grievously hurt. Some ribs were broken, and one of them was +pressed in upon the lungs. Still he was alive, and the men turned their +attention first to him, since Solomon was beyond their aid. By help of +the two ladders, side by side, they bore him up the wall of rock; and so +from level to level--a tedious and painful journey to the wounded +man--to the upper air. + +He was carried to the inn upon the mattress which his own care had +provided for another; while the four miners, to the amazement of the +throng, once more descended into the pit for a still more ghastly +burden. + +Richard could speak a little, though with pain. By his orders a +messenger was dispatched that night to Plymouth to telegraph the news of +the discovery of her husband's body to Mrs. Coe. His next anxiety was to +hear the surgeon's report, not on his own condition, but on that of +Solomon. This gentleman did not arrive for some hours, and Richard was +secretly well pleased at his delay. It was his hope, for a certain +reason, that he would not arrive until the body was stiff and cold. + +He saw Richard first, of course. The case was very serious; so much so +that he thought it right to mention the fact, in order that his patient +might settle his worldly affairs if they needed settlement. + +"There is no immediate danger, my good Sir; but it is always well in +such cases to have the mind free from anxiety." + +"I understand; it is quite right," said Richard, gravely. "Moreover, +since the opportunity may not occur again, let me now state how it all +happened." + +"Nay, you must not talk. We know it all, or at least enough of it for +the present." + +"What do you know?" asked Richard, with his eyes half shut, but with +eager ears. + +"That in your benevolent attempt to seek after Mr. Coe you met with the +same accident--though I trust it will not have the same ending--as that +unfortunate gentleman himself. He pitched upon his head and broke his +neck, while you fell upon your side." + +"That is so," murmured Richard. "He and I were partners, you see--" + +"There, there; not a word more," insisted the doctor; "your deposition +can wait." + +And having done what he could for his patient, he left him, in order to +examine the unfortunate Solomon. His investigation corroborated all that +he had already heard of the circumstances of his death, with which also +Richard's evidence accorded. An observation made by one of the miners +who had found the body, to the effect that it was yet warm when they had +come upon it, excited the surgeon's ridicule. + +"It is now Tuesday morning, my friend," said he, "and this poor fellow +met with his death on Saturday night for certain. He could not, +therefore, have been much warmer when you found him than he is now." + +"Well, me and my mate here we both fancied--" + +"I dare say you did, my man," interrupted the doctor; "and fancy is a +very proper word to apply to such an impression. If you take my advice, +however, you will not repeat such a piece of evidence when put upon your +oath, for the thing is simply impossible." + +"Then I suppose we be in the wrong," said Dick to Jack; and on that +supposition they acted. + +In this way too self-reliant Science, whose mission it is to explode +fallacies, occasionally assists in the explosion or suffocation of a +fact, for Solomon Coe had not been dead half an hour when his body was +found. + +When Richard, alone on his errand of mercy, was approaching the brink of +the third level, he could hear Solomon calling lustily for help. Nay, it +was not only "Help!" but "Murder!" that he cried out; and +notwithstanding the menace that that word implied toward himself, +Richard hurried on, well pleased to hear it; the vigor of the cry +assured him that his enemy was not only living, but unhurt. As the light +he carried grew more distinct to him, indeed, these shouts redoubled; +but when it came quite near, and disclosed the features of its bearer, +there was a dead silence. The two men stood confronting one another--the +one in light, distinctly seen, looking down upon the other in shade, +just as they had parted only eight-and-forty hours ago. To one of them, +as we know, this space had been eventful; but to the other it had seemed +a lifetime--an age of hopes and fears, and latterly of cold despair, +which had now been warmed once more to hope only to freeze again. For +was not this man, to whom he had looked for aid, his cruel foe come back +to taunt him--to behold him already half-way toward death, and to make +its slow approach more bitter? But great as was his agony Solomon held +his peace, nor offered to this monarch of his fate the tribute of a +groan. + +"I am come to rescue you," said Richard, in low but distinct tones; "to +undo the evil that I have already done, although it was no less than you +deserved, nor an overpayment of the debt I owed you. In return you will +doubtless denounce me as having meant to murder you." + +No answer. If Richard had not heard his cries, it would have seemed that +this poor wretch had lost the power of speech. His huge head drooped +upon his shoulder, and he leaned against the rocky wall as though his +limbs could not have otherwise supported themselves; they shook, +indeed--but was it with weakness or with hate?--as though he had the +palsy. + +"Well, you will have reason to do so," continued Richard, calmly, "for I +did mean to murder you. In ten minutes hence you will find yourself +among your neighbors, free to act as you please. I shall make no appeal +to your mercy; it would, I know, be as fruitless as was yours to mine +the other day; but if you abstain from molesting me, this mine, with all +its hidden treasure, shall be your own. I have nothing more to say." + +Solomon answered nothing. "Perhaps," thought Richard, "he still doubts +me.--Well, here is the ladder;" and he suited the action to the word. +Solomon's great hand flew out from his side, and clutched a rung as a +dog's teeth close upon a bone; a dog's growl, too, half triumph and half +threat, came from his deep chest; then he began slowly to ascend, +keeping his eyes fixed on Richard. The latter drew back a little to give +him space, and watched him with folded arms. + +"Now," said Solomon, stepping off the ladder with the prolonged "Ha!" of +one who breathes freely after long oppression, "it is _my_ turn!" + +"What are you about to do?" asked Richard, calmly. + +"What! you think we are quits, Richard Yorke, do you? or at least that +when I had seen you hung it would seem so to me? You don't know what it +is to die here slowly in the dark; you are about to learn that." + +"Indeed." + +"Yes. You complained the other day of my having used the law against +you. Well, you shall not have to reproach me with that a second time. We +are about to change places, you and I, that's all. You shall keep sentry +down yonder till Death comes to relieve _you_. It was indiscreet in you +to venture here alone to dictate terms, my friend." + +Solomon's voice was grating and terrible; it had grown hoarse with +calling. His form was gaunt and pinched with hunger; his eyes flashed +like those of some starving beast of prey. + +"I swear to you I came here to rescue you, and with no other purpose," +said Richard, earnestly. "I was not afraid of you when you were hale and +strong, and much less now when you are weakened with privation; but I do +not wish to have your blood upon my hands. I came here to-night--" + +"Is it night?" interrupted the other, eagerly. "I did not know that it +was night; how should I, in this place, where there is no day? Well, +that was still more indiscreet of you, for I shall get away unseen, +while you lie here unsought." + +"Your scheme is futile. There are fifty men about the pit's mouth now. I +have told them--" + +"Liar!" Solomon darted forward; and Richard, throwing away the torch, as +though disdaining to use any advantage in the way of weapon, grappled +with him at once. At the touch of his foe his scruples vanished, and his +hate returned with tenfold fury. But he was in the grasp of a giant. +Privation had doubtless weakened Solomon, but he had still the strength +of a powerful man, and his rage supplied him for the time with all that +he had lost. They clung to one another like snakes, and whirled about +with frantic violence. Whichever fell undermost was a dead man for +certain. For a few moments the expiring torch still showed them each +other's hot, vindictive faces; then they battled in the dark, with +laboring breath and eager strain, swaying they knew not whither. At last +the huge weight of Solomon overbore his lesser antagonist. Richard's +limbs gave way beneath him, and he fell, but fell through space; for in +their gyrations they had, without knowing it, returned to the top of the +ladder. His foe, fast clutched, fell with him, but, pitching on his +head, was killed, as we have seen, upon the instant. + +This was the true history of what had occurred in the mine, as Richard, +on his bed of pain, recalled it step by step, and strove to shape it to +his ends. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +MAKING PEACE. + + +Whether Richard's own injuries proved fatal or not was with him a matter +of secondary importance. His anxiety was to prove that they were +received by misadventure; upon the whole, matters promised favorably for +this, and were in other respects as satisfactory as could reasonably be +expected. The blood of Solomon Coe was upon his own head. Richard had no +need even to reproach himself with having struck in self-defense the +blow that killed his enemy; and he did not reflect that he was still to +blame for having, in the first instance, placed him in the mine. He had +at least done his best to extricate him, and his conscience was (perhaps +naturally) not very tender respecting the man who had repaid his attempt +at atonement with such implacable animosity. At all events, Richard's +mind was too much engaged in calculating the consequences of what had +happened to entertain remorse. The question that now monopolized it was, +what conclusion was likely to be arrived at by the coroner's inquest +that would, of course, be held upon the body. The verdict was of the +most paramount importance to him, not because upon it depended his own +safety (for he valued his life but lightly, and, besides, his inward +pain convinced him that it was already forfeited), but all that now made +life worth having--the good regards of Harry and her son. He had no +longer any scruple on his own part with respect to accepting or +returning their affection. His fear was, lest, having been compelled to +take so active a part in the rescue of the unhappy Solomon, something +should arise to implicate him in his incarceration. + +Fortunately he was far too ill to be summoned as a witness. His +deposition alone could be taken, and that he framed with the utmost +caution, and as briefly as was possible. His wounded lung defended him +from protracted inquiries. Solomon himself had proposed the idea of a +partnership in Wheal Danes, and his interest in the mine, the knowledge +of which had suggested to Richard the place of his concealment, had +evidently proved fatal to him. That he should have broken his neck just +as Richard had broken his ribs on such a quest was by no means +extraordinary; but how he ever reached the spot where he was found at +all, without the aid of a ladder, was inexplicable. The line of evidence +was smooth enough but for this ugly knot, and it troubled Richard much, +though, as it happened, unnecessarily. Had the place of the calamity +been a gravel-pit at Highgate, it would have been guarded by +constabulary, and all things preserved as they were until after the +official investigation. But Wheal Danes, from having been a deserted +mine, had suddenly become the haunt of the curious and the morbid. There +was nothing more likely than that Solomon's ladder had been carried off, +and perhaps disposed of at a high price per foot as an interesting +relic. The presence of the half-extinguished torch that Richard had +flung away in the second level (and which should by rights have been +found in the third) was still more easily explained: there were a score +of such things now lying about the mine, which had been left there by +visitors. In short, an "active" coroner and an "intelligent" jury could +have come to no other conclusion than that of "accidental death;" and +they came to it accordingly. + +Other comforters had arrived to the wounded man, before the receipt of +that good news, in the persons of Harry and her son and Agnes. There was +a reason why all three should be now warmly attracted toward him, which, +while it effectually worked his will in that way, gave him many a +twinge. They looked upon him, as did the rest of the world, as the man +who had lost his life (for his wound was by this time pronounced to be +fatal) to save his friend. He told them that it was not so, and they did +not believe him. He had not the heart to tell them how matters really +stood; but their praise pained him more than the agony of his wound, and +he peremptorily forbade the subject to be alluded to. This command was +not difficult to obey. Solomon's death, although the awful character of +it shocked them much, was, in reality, regretted neither by wife nor +son: such must be the case with every husband and father who has been a +domestic tyrant, no matter how dutifully wife and son may strive to +mourn: his loss was a release, and his memory a burden that they very +willingly put aside; and, in particular, his name was never mentioned +before Agnes without strong necessity. + +Mrs. Coe, always at her best and wisest in matters wherein her son was +concerned, had never told this girl of the part which Robert Balfour had +taken against her. It would have wounded her self-love to have learned +that the influence of a comparative stranger had been used, and with +some effect, to estrange her Charley. She would scarcely have made +sufficient allowance for a man of the world's insidious arts, +notwithstanding the circumstances that had so favored them. Thus Harry +had justly reasoned, and kept silence concerning him. Agnes had +therefore set down the gradual cessation of her lover's visits to Soho, +and his growing coldness, solely to the hostility of Solomon. They had +pained her deeply, though she had been too proud to evince aught but +indignation; still she strove to persuade herself it was but natural +that this lad, entirely dependent upon his father for the means of +livelihood, and daily exposed to his menaces or arguments, should +endeavor to steel himself against her; that he really loved her less she +did not in her own faithful heart believe. It was, however, with no +thought of regaining his affection that she had obeyed the widow's hasty +summons on the news of the catastrophe at Wheal Danes, but solely from +sympathy and affection. She had always loved and pitied her, for Harry +had shown her kindness and great good-will; and, notwithstanding the +girl's high spirit, she did not now forget, as many would have done, all +other debts in that obligation so easy of discharge, namely, "what she +owed to herself." + +Her presence, notwithstanding the sad occasion of it, at once reawakened +Charley's slumbering passion, and the coldness with which she received +its advances only made it burn more brightly, like fire in frost. He +felt that he had not even deserved the friendship she now offered him in +place of her former love, and was patient and submissive under his just +punishment. He hoped in time to re-establish himself in her affections; +but at present, somewhat to Mrs. Coe's indignation, she had showed no +sign of yielding. He did in reality occupy the same position in her +heart as of old; but now that he was rich, and his own master (for his +mother was his slave), she was not inclined to confess it. Had he been +poor and dependent, she would have forgiven him readily enough; nor are +such natures unparalleled in her sex, notwithstanding the pictures which +are nowadays presented to us as types of girlhood. + +Such, then, was the mutual relation in which these two young people +stood, who ministered by turns (for Harry was always with him) to the +wants of the dying Balfour. The feelings with which he was regarded by +all three were in curious contrast with their former ones. What those of +Harry were now toward him we can easily guess; her hate and fear had +vanished to make room for love--not the love of old times, indeed, but a +deeper and a purer passion; it could never bear fruit, she knew--it was +but a prolonged farewell. To-morrow, or the next day, Death would +interpose between them; but in the mean time they were together, and she +clung to him. + +Charley, on the other hand, with whom Balfour had once been such a +favorite, felt, though attentive to his needs, by no means cordially +toward him. Gratitude for the fancied service he had done to his late +father compelled him to give Richard his company; but it was not +accorded willingly, as heretofore. He could not but set down to the +account of his companionship the present frigidity of Agnes, and at +first he had even seen him a material obstacle to his hopes. This +audacious man of the world, who had at one time so excited his +admiration, had suddenly become in his eyes an impudent _roué_, who even +on his sick-bed was only too likely to make their past adventures +together the subject of his talk. True, his mother had told him that Mr. +Balfour was now an altered man; but the young gentleman had entertained +some reasonable doubts of this conversion. His manner to the sick man +was so reserved and cool, indeed, that it seemed to all but Richard (who +guessed the cause of it, and yet felt its effect more bitterly than all) +unkind. This behavior on the part of his former ally did not injure +Balfour in the regards of Agnes; she resented Charley's conduct, and did +her best to redress it by manifesting her own good-will; she had herself +had experience of his shifting moods and causeless changes of demeanor, +and perhaps she was willing to show what small importance she attached +to his capricious humors. Thus it happened that Richard and herself "got +on" together much better (as well, of course, as much more speedily) +than the former could have hoped for; for indeed he had, with reason, +expected to find a bitter enemy in Agnes. He improved this advantage to +the utmost by taking occasion, in Charley's absence, to praise the lad, +under whose displeasure he manifestly lay. She answered that he had not, +at least from Mr. Balfour's lips, deserved such praise. + +"Nay, nay," said Richard, gently; "it is I who have not deserved the +lad's good-will; and you, my dear young lady, ought to be the last to +pity me, as I see you do." + +"How so?" asked she, in surprise. + +"Because," answered he, gravely, "I once strove to keep him from you." + +She looked annoyed, and cast a hurried glance toward the place where +Mrs. Coe had been sitting; but there was now only an empty chair there. +The widow had purposely withdrawn herself, in accordance with Richard's +wish. Agnes could scarcely leave the sick man without attendance. + +"When I say, 'keep him from you,'" continued Richard, "I mean that, +being lonely and friendless (as you see I am but for you three), the +society of this bright boy was very dear to me, and I selfishly strove +to secure it when he would fain have been elsewhere. I needed, as you +may well imagine, authority to back me in such efforts, but, unhappily +for him, I possessed its aid. He now resents, and very naturally, the +restraint which my companionship once imposed upon him, and sets down to +my account the estrangement which he so bitterly rues. An old man's +friendship is of no great worth at any time; but weighed in the balance +against a woman's love--" + +"Sir!" interrupted Agnes, with indignation. + +"Pardon me," continued Richard, gently; "I see you do not love him. I am +deeply grieved, for the sake of this poor lad, who is as devoted to you +as ever, to find it so, and to feel that it was in part my fault. I will +ask him to forgive me if he can." + +"Nay, Mr. Balfour, I beseech you, don't do that," cried Agnes, with +crimson cheeks. + +"As you please," murmured he, gravely. "But, remember, a few days hence, +or perhaps a few hours, and I may be beyond his forgiveness. It will +then rest with you, young lady, to clear my memory. You are not angry +with me--you can not be vexed with a dying man." + +"No, no." She was sobbing violently; her heart was touched, not only by +his own condition, as she would have had him believe, but by these +confidences respecting Charley. There is nothing more dear to a young +girl than the testimony of another man to her lover's fealty; the +witness himself is even guerdoned with some payment of the rich store he +bears; and from that moment Balfour was not only forgiven by Agnes, but +even beloved by her. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +REST AT LAST. + + +That the termination of Richard's malady would be fatal did not from the +first admit of doubt, but he lingered on beyond all expectation. The +spring came on and found him yet alive at Gethin. He was never moved +from the room to which he had been carried after his mischance--the same +which had been his bedroom in the old times, when he was full of +strength and vigor--wherein he had so often lain awake, revolving +schemes to win his Harry, or slept and dreamed of her. The comparison of +his "now" and "then" was melancholy enough, but it was not bitter. His +pain was great, but not out of proportion to his comfort. He had still +Harry's love, and he had even that of two other hearts besides, which he +had reconciled and drawn together. In him Charles had had an unwearying +advocate with Agnes, and at last he had won his cause. She had been +driven to take refuge in her last intrenchment--her poverty--and +Richard had made that untenable. + +"You will not be an heiress, perhaps, my dear," he had said to her, +"though you deserve to be one; but neither will you be undowered. I have +left you all I have. Nay, it is not much--a few score acres by the +sea--but they will soon be yours." + +She had accepted them unwillingly, and under protest; but a day came +when it became necessary for her to remonstrate with the sick man once +again concerning this matter, sorry as she was to thwart or vex him; she +therefore requested, to have a few minutes' talk alone with him. + +"Dear Mr. Balfour," said she, gently, "I am going to disobey you in once +more reopening the matter of your kind bequest. Something has happened +which has given the affair a wholly different aspect. Among the visitors +yesterday to that dreadful mine, to which people still flock, there was +a Mr. Stratum--a young engineer, it seems, of some reputation; and in +his researches in Wheal Danes they say he has hit upon a great treasure, +or what may turn out to be such." + +"Ay," said Richard, with a smile; "what's that?" + +"A copper lode. It is curious that so many folks should have come and +gone there and never found it before; but there it is, for certain. Mr. +Stratum has seen Charles, and tells him that he can hardly trust himself +to speak of its probable value." + +"Well, I congratulate you, my dear, on being an heiress." + +"Nay, my dear Mr. Balfour, but this must not be. Overborne by your kind +pressure I consented to receive this bequest--a considerable one in +itself, indeed--for what it was. I could not now take advantage of your +ignorance of its real value; it distresses me deeply to give you trouble +in your present sad condition, but you must see yourself that +circumstances compel me." + +"Give me the will, my dear; it is in yonder drawer. Here is a letter +folded in it in my handwriting. What does the superscription say?" + +"_To Agnes Aird_." + +"Just so. You were to have opened it after my death, but you may read it +now. Please to do so aloud." + + + +"MY DEAR YOUNG LADY,--When I am gone, it is my earnest desire that your +marriage with Charles Coe shall take place as early as may be found +convenient. He will make a good husband to you, I think; I am sure you +will make him a good wife. He loves you for your own sake, which is the +only love worth having. But, as it happens, you are very rich. In the +mine which I have left you--in the northeastern corner of the bottom +level--there is a copper lode, the existence of which is known to me, +and to me only. I have every reason to believe that it will be found in +the highest degree productive, and for your dear sake I trust it may be +so. True, you will have money enough and to spare for your own needs, +but wealth will not spoil you--in your hands it will be a great good. To +the two injunctions which here follow I have no means to give effect, +and must trust solely to your loyal heart to carry them out. I do so +with the most perfect confidence. (1.) I wish that this bequest of mine, +be the value of it ever so great, be strictly settled, upon your +marriage, on yourself and your children, so that it can not be alienated +by any act of your husband; and this I do not from any preference to +yourself over him, or from any prejudice against him, God knows. (2.) In +case the estate of Crompton, of which Wheal Danes formed a fragment, +should again be in the market, and the mine turn out so valuable that +its proceeds should enable you to purchase such estate (without +inconvenience or damage to your interests), I do enjoin that you do so +purchase it, and make Crompton your future home. This is a 'sick man's +fancy,' some will tell you; and yet you will not neglect it." + + * * * * * + +"And you _will_ not, Agnes dear?" whispered Richard, eagerly, when she +had thus finished. "This is the last favor I shall ever ask of you. +Promise me! promise me!" + +"Oh, Sir, I promise you," cried Agnes, earnestly, and scared by his +anxious feebleness; "your wishes shall be obeyed in all points." + +"Good girl, good girl," sighed he; and though the effort pained him +sharply, his face exhibited a great content. "Send Charley to me," said +he, presently, in a faint voice. + +"But you are tired already," remonstrated Agnes. "You have talked enough +for to-day; see him to-morrow." + +"To-morrow!" repeated Richard, with a smile that chilled her heart. +"There will be no to-morrow, dear, for me. Reflect hereafter that you +made my last day a happy one. Kiss me, daughter." This term, which was +uttered very fondly, did not surprise her, for she little guessed its +full significance. She bent down, and kissed his forehead. "Send me +Charley." + +Those were the last words she ever heard him speak. + +Agnes had told the young fellow how much feebler Mr. Balfour seemed that +day, and warned him to make his interview as brief as possible; but +Charley was of a sanguine temperament, and to his view the sick man +looked better. The recent excitement had heightened his color, and, +besides, he always strove to look his best and cheerfulest with Charley. + +Balfour told him all that he had already said to Agnes respecting the +provision he had made for her; he thought it better to relieve her from +that task. But, to do Charley justice, he was neither grasping nor +jealous. Nothing seemed more natural to him, or even more reasonable, +than that Agnes should be made sole heiress. + +"As for me, I should only make a mess of so much money," said he, +laughing. "_She_ understands how to manage"--meaning that she had a +talent for administration of affairs--"five thousand times better than I +do. Her father has taught her all sorts of good things, and that among +them. You see the poor governor and I--we never pulled together. Perhaps +if I had had a father a little less unlike myself, I might have been a +better son, and a wiser one. It was unfortunate, as Mrs. Basil used to +say. You remember her, of course?" + +"Yes, indeed." + +The sick man's tone was so full of interest that Charley, with great +cheerfulness, proceeded to pursue this subject. + +"She was an excellent old soul; and, for her age, how sprightly and +appreciative! I remember--the very last time she came down to +dinner--telling her that story of yours about the stags in harness, and +it so interested her that she made me repeat it. It seemed to remind her +of something that she had heard before; and yet the incident was +original, and happened within your own experience, did it not?" + +"It did," said Balfour, hoarsely. + +"I am tiring you, my dear Sir," said Charley, anxiously. "What a fool I +have been to chatter on so, when Agnes particularly told me to be brief! +I shall leave you now, Sir; I shall indeed. Is there any thing I can do +for you before I leave?" + +"Nothing, nothing. If I strove to take Agnes from you, lad, I did my +best to make her yours again. You don't dislike me now, dear boy, do +you?" + +"Dislike you, Sir!" cried the young man. "That would indeed be base +ingratitude; you were always most kind to me, and you have loaded my +Agnes with benefits. I can not say, Sir, how unhappy it makes me to see +you lying here in pain, and--" + +"And dying, Charley. Yes, you are sorry for me, good lad." + +"Indeed, indeed I am, Sir." + +"When your Agnes left me last she kissed me on the forehead--here. I +would not ask it else--but--kiss me, Charley." + +The sick man's voice was very weak and faint, but its tones were full of +pathos. In some surprise, but without the least hesitation, the young +man stooped down and kissed him. "I shall leave you now, dear Mr. +Balfour, and only hope my thoughtless chatter may not have done you +mischief. I will send my mother to you, who is so quiet, and so good a +nurse, as an antidote. Good-by for the present, Sir." + +"Good-by, dear lad--good-by." + +Richard well knew it was good-by, not for the present, but forever. + +When Mrs. Coe came into the sick man's room she perceived in him a +change for the worse, so marked that it alarmed her greatly, and she was +about to softly pull the bell, when Richard stopped her with a look. + +"Don't ring," whispered he, faintly. "Sit down by me, Harry; put your +little hand in mine. I am quite happy. Our boy has kissed me." + +"You did not tell him? He does not know?" inquired Harry, anxiously. + +"Nay, dear, nay; I am not quite so selfish as that," answered he, +gently. + +There was a long pause. + +"Do you think my mother knew about him?" asked Richard, presently. + +"Oh yes--though I strove to deceive her--from the first moment she saw +him, Richard, she knew it well. We never spoke of it, but it was a +secret we had in common. She loved him as though he had been your very +self; I am sure of that." + +"And she knew _me_ too, Harry." + +"Impossible! She could never have concealed that knowledge--with you +before her; for you were her idol, Richard." + +"It was afterward," murmured the dying man. "When I had left the house +Charley told her something I had related to him, which convinced her of +my identity. I see it all now. She felt that I was bent on vengeance, +and sent you after me to use that weapon of which she knew you were +possessed. If we once came face to face, and you reproached me, my +secret was certain to come out--just as it did, Harry--and then you had +but to say, 'Charley is your son.'" + +"But why did she not tell me who you were?" + +"Because, if you were too late--if the mischief had been done on which +she deemed me bent--if your--if Solomon had come to harm, she would not +have had you know that Richard Yorke--the father of your child--had +blood upon his hands. Oh, mother, mother, your last thought was to keep +my memory free from stain!" + +He spoke no more for full a minute; no sound was heard except the +distant murmur of the sea, for the day was fine and windless. The April +sun shone brightly in upon the pair, as if to bless their parting. + +"Where is Charley?" murmured he. + +"He is gone with Agnes for a walk; they will not be long; they talked of +going to the Watch Tower. You remember the old Watch Tower, Richard?" + +"Well, ah, well!" answered he, smiling. "It is just twenty years ago. +How often have I thought of it!" + +For a moment--before they separated forever--these two seemed to +themselves to relive the youth to which another generation had +succeeded. + +"Agnes is a far better girl than I was, Richard; but she can not love +our boy more than _I_ loved _you_." + +Richard answered with a smile that glorified each ghastly feature, and +brought out in them a likeness to himself of old. + +"She will be his good angel, Harry," whispered Richard, gravely, "and +will guard him from himself. He will need her aid, but it will be +sufficient. I trust, I believe, that evil is not Bred in the Bone with +him, as it was with me." + +There was a long, long silence, broken by a silvery laugh, which came +through the half-opened window like a strain of cheerful music, then was +suddenly cut short. + +"Hush, Charley; you forget," said the soft voice of Agnes; "he may be +sleeping." + +Through the calm spring air the reproof was borne into the sick man's +room as clearly as the sound which had called it forth. + +"He is so happy," whispered Harry, gently; "you must forgive him; +remember he does not know." + +"Yes, yes; it is better so. Dear Charley--happy, happy Charley!" + +And a smile once more came over the sick man's face, which did not pass +away, for Death had frozen it there. + + + + +L'ENVOI. + + +Years have passed since Richard Yorke was laid in the church-yard on the +hill at Gethin, close beside his mother, whose bones Harry's pious care +had caused to be transported thither. + + If aught of things that here befall + Touch a spirit among things divine-- + If love has force to move us there at all, + +her ghost was glad. "In time," thought Harry, "I too shall lie by his +side, at last, once more." + +Old Trevethick's prophecy was accomplished in the almost fabulous +success that attended the working of Wheal Danes. If its shares are not +quoted in the market, that is because the family have retained it in +their own hands, in spite of the most dazzling offers. + +Mr. Dodge has a codicil to his story at _The George and Vulture_ now, +and expresses his infinite satisfaction at the fact that "that 'ere Coe" +came to grief in the end, as he had so richly deserved to do. "I don't +doubt," says he, "that while he was underground with the bats and rats +he thought of that poor lad as he had treated so spiteful. Things mostly +does work round all right" (he would add) "under Providence, whose motto +(if I may say so without disrespect) is summat like mine: 'Let us have +no misunderstandings and no obligation.'" On the other hand, what +"sticks in Mr. Dodge's throat," as he expresses it, and is "a'most +enough to make a man an infidel," is, that "the widow of that 'ere +Coe--she as was young Yorke's ruin--is living at Crompton (in the very +house his father had) with all her brood." + +Mr. Dodge is right in his facts, if not in his deductions. Out of the +proceeds of the mine the whole home-estate of Crompton has been +purchased by Charles Coe, or rather by his wife; and they both dwell +there quite unconscious that he is the lineal descendant of the mad +Carew, with whose wild exploits the country side still teems. If the old +blood shows itself, it is but in quick starts of temper, and occasional +"cursory remarks," which sound quite harmless in halls that have echoed +to the Squire's thunderous tones; and even at such times Agnes can calm +him with a word. If the open hand which is Bred in the Bone with him +scatters its _largesse_ somewhat broadcast, the revenues of Crompton, +thanks to her, are in the main directed to good ends. In that stately +mansion, whose hospitality is as proverbial though less promiscuous than +of old, not only is there room for Mrs. Coe the elder to dwell with her +young folks, without jar, but in a certain ground-floor chamber, the +same he used to inhabit in old times, there dwells an ancient divine, +once Carew's chaplain. He is still hale and stout, and has a quiet air +that becomes his age and calling. Life's fitful fever is past, and he +lives on in calm. The children--for there is small chance of Crompton +being heirless in time to come--are very fond of him; and grandmamma +spends so much time in the old gentleman's apartments, that Charley +declares it is quite scandalous. What _can_ Parson Whymper and she have +to talk about in common? In spite of the attractions of her beautiful +home, and the infirmities of advancing years, not a summer passes +without Mrs. Coe the elder revisiting Gethin. The castled rock, up which +she used to run so lightly, is beyond her powers; she is content to gaze +on that with dewy eyes; but she never fails to seek the church-yard on +the hill. + +"He was what one would call a hardish husband to her, was old Solomon," +say the neighbors; "and yet you see, when a man is dead, how a wife will +keep his memory green!" + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bred in the Bone, by James Payn + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12024 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f47a1d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12024 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12024) diff --git a/old/12024-8.txt b/old/12024-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..76530e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12024-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15569 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bred in the Bone, by James Payn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bred in the Bone + +Author: James Payn + +Release Date: July 15, 2004 [EBook #12024] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRED IN THE BONE *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Graeme Mackreth and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + +[Illustration] + +BRED IN THE BONE; OR, LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON + + +A Novel. + + + +BY THE AUTHOR OF + +"A BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK," "GWENDOLINE'S HARVEST," "CARLYON'S YEAR," "ONE +OF THE FAMILY," "WON--NOT WOOED," &c. + + +_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_. + + +NEW YORK: 1872. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +CAREW OF CROMPTON. + + +Had you lived in Breakneckshire twenty years ago, or even any where in +the Midlands, it would be superfluous to tell you of Carew of Crompton. +Every body thereabout was acquainted with him either personally or by +hearsay. You must almost certainly have known somebody who had had an +adventure with that eccentric personage--one who had been ridden down by +him, for that mighty hunter never turned to the right hand nor to the +left for any man, nor paid attention to any rule of road; or one who, +more fortunate, had been "cleared" by him on his famous black horse +_Trebizond_, an animal only second to his master in the popular esteem. +There are as many highly colored pictures of his performance of this +flying feat in existence as there are of "Dick Turpin clearing the +Turnpikegate." Sometimes it is a small tradesman cowering down in his +cart among the calves, while the gallant Squire hurtles over him with a +"Stoop your head, butcher." Sometimes it is a wagoner, reminding one of +Commodore Trunnion's involuntary deed of "derring-do," who, between two +high banks, perceives with marked astonishment this portent flying over +himself and convoy. But, at all events, the thing was done; perhaps on +more than one occasion, and was allowed on all hands not only as a fact, +but as characteristic of their sporting idol. It was "Carew all over," +or "Just like Carew." + +This phrase was also applied to many other heroic actions. The idea of +"keel-hauling," for instance, adapted from the nautical code, was said +to be practically enforced in the case of duns, attorneys, and other +objectionable persons, in the lake at Crompton; while the administration +of pommelings to poachers and agriculturists generally, by the athletic +Squire, was the theme of every tongue. These punishments, though severe, +were much sought after by a certain class, the same to which the +purchased free and independent voter belongs, for the clenched fist +invariably became an open hand after it had done its work--a golden +ointment, that is, was always applied after these inflictions, such as +healed all wounds. + +Carew of Crompton might at one time have been member for the county, if +he had pleased; but he desired no seat except in the saddle, or on the +driving-box. He showed such skill in riding, and with "the ribbons," +that some persons supposed that his talents must be very considerable in +other matters, and affected to regret their misuse; there were reports +that he knew Latin better than his own chaplain; and was, or had been, +so diligent a student of Holy Writ, that he could give you chapter and +verse for every thing. But it must be allowed that others were not +wanting to whisper that these traits of scholarship were greatly +exaggerated, and that all the wonder lay in the fact that the Squire +knew any thing of such matters at all; nay, a few even ventured to +express their opinion that, but for his recklessness and his money, +there was nothing more remarkable in Carew than in other spendthrifts; +but this idea was never mooted within twenty miles of Crompton. The real +truth is, that the time was unsuitable to the display of the Squire's +particular traits. He would have been an eminent personage had he been a +Norman, and lived in the reign of King John. Even now, if he could have +removed his establishment to Poland, and assumed the character of a +Russian proprietor, he would doubtless have been a great prince. There +was a savage magnificence about him, and also certain degrading traits, +which suggested the Hetman Platoff. Unfortunately, he was a Squire in +the Midlands. The contrast, however, of his splendid vagaries with the +quiet time and industrious locality in which he lived, while it +diminished his influence, did, on the other hand, no doubt enhance his +reputation. He was looked upon (as Waterford and Mytton used to be) as a +_lusus naturae_, an eccentric, an altogether exceptional personage, to +whom license was permitted; and the charitable divided the human race, +for his sake, into Men, Women, and Carew. + +The same philosophic few, however, who denied him talent, averred that +he was half mad; and indeed Fortune had so lavishly showered her favors +on him from his birth, that it might well be that they had turned his +head. His father had died while Carew was but an infant, so that the +surplus income from his vast estates had accumulated to an enormous sum +when he attained his majority. In the mean time, his doting mother had +supplied him with funds out of all proportion to his tender years. At +ten years old, he had a pack of harriers of his own, and hunted the +county regularly twice a week. At the public school, where he was with +difficulty persuaded to remain for a short period, he had an allowance +the amount of which would have sufficed for the needs of a professional +man with a wife and family, and yet it is recorded of him that he had +the audacity--"the boy is father to the man," and it was "so like +Carew," they said--to complain to his guardian, a great lawyer, that his +means were insufficient. He also demanded a lump sum down, on the ground +that (being at the ripe age of fourteen) he contemplated marriage. The +reply of the legal dignitary is preserved, as well as the young +gentleman's application: "If you can't live upon your allowance, you may +starve, Sir; and if you marry, you shall not have your allowance." + +You had only--having authority to do so--to advise Carew, and he was +positively certain to go counter to your opinion; and did you attempt to +oppose him in any purpose, you would infallibly insure its +accomplishment. He did not marry at fourteen, indeed, but he did so +clandestinely in less than three years afterward, and had issue; but at +the age of five-and-thirty, when our stage opens, he had neither wife +nor child, but lived as a bachelor at Crompton, which was sometimes +called "the open house," by reason of its profuse hospitalities; and +sometimes "Liberty Hall," on account of its license; otherwise it was +never, called any thing but Crompton; never Crompton Hall, or Crompton +Park--but simply Crompton, just like Stowe or Blenheim. And yet the park +at Crompton was as splendid an appanage of glade and avenue, of copse +and dell, as could be desired. It was all laid out upon a certain +plan--somewhere in the old house was the very parchment on which the +chase was ordered like a garden; a dozen drives here radiated from one +another like the spokes of a wheel, and here four mighty avenues made a +St. Andrew's cross in the very centre--but the area was so immense, and +the stature of the trees so great, that nothing of this formality could +be observed in the park itself. Not only were the oaks and beeches of +large, and often of giant proportions, but the very ferns grew so tall +that whole herds of fallow deer were hidden in it, and could only be +traced by their sounds. There were red deer also, almost as numerous, +with branching antlers, curiously mossed, as though they had acquired +that vegetation by rubbing, as they often did, against the high wooden +pale--itself made picturesque by age--which hedged them in their sylvan +prison for miles. Moreover, there were wild-cattle, as at Chartley +(though not of the same breed), the repute of whose fierceness kept the +few public paths that intersected this wild domain very unfrequented. +These animals, imported half a century ago, were of no use nor of +particular beauty, and would have dwindled away, from the unfitness of +the locality for their support, but that they were recruited +periodically, and at a vast expense. It was enough to cause their +present owner to strain every nerve to retain them, because they were so +universally objected to. They had gored one man to death, and +occasionally maimed others, but, as Carew, to do him justice, was by no +means afraid of them himself, and ran the same risk, and far oftener +than other people, he held he had a right to retain them. Nobody was +obliged to come into his park unless they liked, he said, and if they +did, they must "chance a tossing." The same detractors, whose opinion we +have already quoted, affirmed that the Squire kept these cattle for the +very reason that was urged against their existence; the fear of these +horned police kept the park free from strangers, and thereby saved him +half a dozen keepers. + +That his determination in the matter was pig-headed and brutal, there is +no doubt; but the Squire's nature was far from exclusive, and the idea +of saving in any thing, it is certain, never entered into his head. The +time, indeed, was slowly but surely coming when the park should know no +more not only its wild-cattle, but many a rich copse and shadowy glade. +Not a stately oak nor far-spreading beech but was doomed, sooner or +later, to be cut down, to prop for a moment the falling fortunes of +their spendthrift owner; but at the time of which we speak there was no +visible sign of the coming ruin. It is recorded of a brother prodigal, +that after enormous losses and expenses, his steward informed him that +if he would but consent to live upon seven thousand a year for the next +ten years, the estate would recover itself. "Sir," returned he in anger, +"I would rather die than live on seven thousand a year." Our Carew would +have given the same reply had twice that income been suggested to him, +and been applauded for the gallant answer. The hint of any necessity for +curtailment would probably have caused him to double his expenditure +forthwith, though, indeed, that would have been difficult to effect. He +had already two packs of hounds, with which he hunted on alternate days, +and he had even endeavored to do so on the Sunday; but the obsequious +"county" had declined to go with him to that extent, and this anomaly of +the nineteenth century had been compelled to confine himself on the +seventh day to cock-fighting in the library. He kept a bear to bait (as +well as a chaplain to bully), and ferrets ran loose about Crompton as +mice do in other houses. He had a hunter for every week in the year, yet +he often rode his horses to death. He had a stud of racers, and it was +this, or rather his belief in their powers, which eventually drained his +vast resources. Not one of them ever won a great race. This was not +their fault, nor that of their trainer, but his own; he interfered in +their management, and would have things his own way; he would command +every thing, except success, which was beyond his power, and in missing +that he lost all. Otherwise, he was lucky as a mere gambler. His +audacity, and the funds he always had at his disposal, carried him +triumphantly, where many a more prudent but less wealthy player withdrew +from the contest. Games of skill had no attraction for him, but at an +earlier date in his career he had been a terror to the club-keepers in +St. James's, where his luck and obstinacy had broken a dozen banks. It +was said--and very likely with truth--that he had once cut double or +quits for ten thousand pounds. + +His moral character, as respected the softer sex, was such as you might +expect from these traits. No modest woman had been seen at Crompton for +many a year; although not a few such--if at least good birth and high +position include modesty--had, since his majority, striven to give a +lawful mistress to the place. His eccentricities had not alarmed them, +and his shamelessness had not abashed them. Though his constitution was +said to be breaking up through unparalleled excesses, his heart, it was +currently reported in domestic circles, was sound: and what a noble feat +would it be to reclaim him! It was also reckoned impossible that any +amount of extravagance could have seriously embarrassed such a property +as he had inherited, indeed long since, but of which he had had the sole +control only a few years. At the time of which we speak Carew was but +thirty-five, though he looked much older. His muscles were still firm, +his limbs yet active, and his hand and eye as steady with the gun or +bridle as ever. But his bronzed face showed signs of habitual +intemperance; his head was growing prematurely bald; and once or twice, +though the fact was known to himself only, his iron nerve had of late +failed him. The secret consciousness of this last fact made him more +venturesome and reckless than ever. "Time," he swore, "should never play +_him_ tricks. He was as good a man as ever he was. There was a quarter +of a million, more or less, to be got through yet, and, by Jove, he +would see it out!" Of course he did not swear by Jove; for, as we have +said, he kept a chaplain, and was therefore no heathen. + +One of the arguments that the mothers of those young ladies who sought +his hand were wont to make use of, to their great comfort, was that Mr. +Carew was a churchman. There was a private chapel at Crompton, the +existence of which, of course, explained why his presence did not grace +the parish church. Then his genealogy was of the most satisfactory +description. Carews had dwelt at Crompton in direct succession for many +a century. Charles I., it is almost unnecessary to state, had slept +there--that most locomotive of monarchs seems to have honored all old +English mansions with a night's visit--and had hunted in the chase next +morning. Queen Elizabeth had also been most graciously pleased to visit +her subject, John Carew, on which occasion a wooden tower had been +erected for her in the park, from which to see "ten buckes, all having +fayre lawe, pulled down with grey-houndes;" she shot deer, too, with her +own virgin hands, for which purpose "a cross-bowe was delivered to her +by a nymph with a sweet song." These things, however, were in no way +commemorated. Carew was all in all: his devouring egotism swallowed up +historical association. His favorite female bull-dog, with her pups, +slept in the royal martyr's apartment. The places in Crompton Chase held +remarkable were those where its present owner had made an +unprecedentedly long shot, or had beaten off one of the wild cattle +without a weapon, or had run down a stag on foot. There was no relic of +ancient times preserved whatever, except that at midsummer, as in Lyme, +that very curious custom was kept of driving the red deer round the +park, and then swimming them through the lake before the house--a very +difficult feat, by-the-by, to any save those who have been accustomed to +"drive deer." One peculiar virtue of Carew--he was addressed, +by-the-way, by all his inferiors, and some of his equals, as "Squire" +only--was, we had almost forgotten to say, his regard for truth, which +may truly be said to have been "passionate," if we consider the effect +produced in him when he discovered that any one had told him a +falsehood. He would fall upon them tooth and nail, if they were menials; +and if guests, he would forbid them his house. This was surely one +excellent trait. Yet it was maintained by those carpers already alluded +to, that to tell truth was comparatively easy in one who was as careless +of all opinion as he was independent in means; moreover, that a love of +truth is sometimes found to exist in very bad company, as in the case of +the Spartan boy who stole the fox, and if the veracious Squire did not +steal foxes (which he did, by-the-by, indirectly, for a bagged one was +his delight), he was guilty of much worse things. However, this is +certain, that Carew of Crompton never told a lie. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WAITING FOR AN INTRODUCTION. + + +We have said that Carew was not exclusive; so long as he had his own way +in every thing he was good-tempered, and so very good-natured that he +permitted not only his friends but his dependents to do pretty much as +they would. He was a tyrant only by fits and starts, and in the mean +time there was anarchy at Crompton. Every soul in the place, from the +young lords, its master's guests, down to the earth-stopper's assistant, +who came for his quantum of ale to the back-door, did pretty much as +seemed right in his own eyes. There were times when every thing had to +be done in a moment under the master's eye, no matter at what loss, or +even risk to limb or life; but usually there was no particular time for +any thing--except dinner. The guests arose in the morning, or lay in bed +all day, exactly as they pleased, and had their meals in public or in +their own rooms; but when the great dinner-gong sounded for the second +time it was expected that every man should be ready for the feast, and +wearing (with the single exception of the chaplain) a red coat. The +dinner-parties at Crompton--and there was a party of the most +heterogeneous description daily--were literally, therefore, very gay +affairs; the banquet was sumptuous, and the great cellars were laid +under heavy contribution. Only, if a guest did happen to be unpunctual, +from whatever cause, even if it were illness, the host would send for +his bear, or his half-dozen bull-dogs, and proceed to the sick man's +room, with the avowed intention (and he always kept his word) of +"drawing the badger." In spite of his four-legged auxiliaries, this was +not always an easy task. His recklessness, though not often, did +sometimes meet with its match in that of the badger; and in one chamber +door at Crompton we have ourselves seen a couple of bullet-holes, which +showed that assault on one side had met with battery upon the other. +With such rough manners as Carew had, it may seem strange that he was +never called to account for them at twelve paces; but, in the first +place, it was thoroughly understood that he would have "gone out" (a +fact which has doubtless given pause to many a challenge), and would +have shot as straight as though he were partridge-shooting; and +secondly, as we have said, he had a special license for practical jokes; +the subjects of them, too, were not men of delicate susceptibilities, +for none such, by any accident, could have been his guests. In +consideration of good fare, good wine, a good mount in the +hunting-field, excellent shooting, and of a loan from the host whenever +they were without funds, men even of good position were found to "put +up" very good-naturedly with the eccentricities of the master of +Crompton, and he had his house full half the year. It is not to be +wondered at, therefore, that his servants were found willing to compound +for some occasional ill usage, in return for general laxity of rule, and +many unconsidered trifles in the way of perquisites. His huntsmen and +whips got now and then a severe beating; his grooms found it very +inconvenient when "Squire" took it into his mad head to sally forth on +horseback across country by moonlight; and still worse, when he would +have the whole stud out, and set every servant in his employ, not +excepting his fat French cook, in the saddle, to see how they would +comport themselves under the unaccustomed excitement of a steeple-chase. +But upon the whole, the retainers at Crompton had an easy berth of it, +and seldom voluntarily took their discharge. + +Perhaps the best situations, as being less liable to the _per contras_ +in the shape of the master's passionate outbursts, were those of the +park-keepers, of whom old Walter Grange was one. He was a bachelor, as +almost all of them were. It was not good for any one with wife or +daughter (if these were young, at least) to take service with Carew at +all; and living in a pleasant cottage, far too large for him, in the +very heart of the chase, Grange thought it no harm to take a lodger. The +same old woman who cooked his victuals and kept his rooms tidy would do +the same office for another who was not very particular in his food, and +could rough it a little in other respects; and such a one had Walter +lately found in the person of a young landscape-painter, Richard Yorke. +This gentleman was a stranger to Crompton and its neighborhood; but +having (as he said) happened to see a certain guarded advertisement in +the _Times_ headed, "To Artists and Others," that lodgings in the midst +of forest scenery could be procured for what seemed next to nothing, he +had come down from London in the autumn on the chance, and found them +suitable. + +To poet or painter's eye, indeed, the lodge was charming; it was small, +of course, but very picturesquely built, and afforded the new tenant a +bow-windowed sitting-room, with an outlook such as few dwellings in +England, and probably none elsewhere, could offer. In the fore-ground +was an open lawn, on which scores of fine-plumaged pheasants strutted +briskly, and myriads of rabbits came forth at eve to play and +nibble--bordered by crops of fern, above which moved statelily the +antlered deer. A sentry oak or two of mighty girth guarded this open +space; but on both sides vast glades shut in the prospect with a wall of +checkered light and shadow that deepened into sylvan gloom. But right in +front the expanding view seemed without limit, and exhibited all +varieties of forest scenery; coppices with "Autumn's fiery finger" on +their tender leaves; still, shining pools, where water-fowl bred and +dwelt; broad pathways, across which the fallow deer could bound at +leisure; or one would leap in haste, and half a hundred follow in +groundless panic. The wealth of animal life in that green solitude, +where the voice of man was hardly ever heard, was prodigious; the rarest +birds were common there; even those who had their habitations by the sea +were sometimes lured to this as silent spot, and skimmed above its +undulating dells as o'er the billow. The eagle and the osprey had been +caught there; and, indeed, a specimen of each was caged in a sort of +aviary, which Grange had had constructed at the back of the lodge; while +Yorke's sitting-room was literally stuffed full of these strange +feathered visitants, which had fallen victims to the keeper's gun. The +horse-hair sofa had a noble cover of deer-skin; the foot-stool and the +fire-rug were made of furs, or skins that would have fetched their price +elsewhere, and been held rare, although once worn by British beast or +"varmint." The walls were stuck with antlers, and the very handle of the +bell-rope was the fore-foot of a stag. Each of these had its story; and +nothing pleased the old man better than to have a listener to his +long-winded tales of how and where and when the thing was slain. All +persons whose lives are passed in the open air, and in comparative +solitude, seem in this respect to be descendants of Dame Quickly; their +wearisome digressions and unnecessary preciseness as to date and place +try the patience of all other kinds of men, and this was the chief cross +which Grange's lodger had to bear as an offset to the excellence of his +quarters. It must be confessed that he did not bear it meekly. To stop +old Walter in mid-talk--without an open quarrel--was an absolute +impossibility; but his young companion would turn the stream of his +discourse, without much ceremony, from the records of slaughter into +another channel (almost as natural to it)--the characteristics and +peculiarities of his master Carew. Of this subject, notwithstanding that +that other made him fret and fume so, Yorke never seemed to tire. + +"I should like to know your master," he had said, half musingly, after +listening to one of these strange recitals, soon after his arrival; to +which Grange had answered, laughing: "Well, Squire's a very easy one to +know. He picks up friends by every road-side, without much troubling +himself as to who they are, I promise you." + +The young man's face grew dark with anger; but the idea of self-respect, +far less of pride, was necessarily strange to a servant of Carew's. So +Grange went on, unconscious of offense: "Now, if you were a young +woman," he chuckled, "and as good-looking as you are as a lad, there +would be none more welcome than yourself up at the big house. Pretty +gals, bless ye, need no introduction yonder; and yet one would have +thought that Squire would know better than to meddle with the +mischievous hussies--he took his lesson early enough, at all events. +Why, he married before he was your age, and not half so much of a man to +look at, neither. You have heard talk of that, I dare say, however, in +London?" + +Richard Yorke, as the keeper had hinted, was a very handsome +lad--brown-cheeked, blue eyed, and with rich clustering hair as black as +a sloe; but at this moment he did not look prepossessing. He frowned and +flashed a furious glance upon the speaker; but old Grange, who had an +eye like a hawk, for the objects that a hawk desires, was as blind as a +mole to any evidence of human emotion short of a punch on the head, and +went on unheeding: + +"Well, I thought you must ha' heard o' that too. We folk down here heard +o' nothing else for all that year. She got hold o' Squire, this ere +woman did, though he was but a school-boy, and she old enough to be his +mother, bless ye, and was married to him. And they kep' it secret for +six months; and that's what bangs me most about it all. For Carew, he +can keep nothing secret--nothing: he blurts all out; and that's why he +seems so much worse than he is to some people. Oh, she must have been a +deep one, she must!" + +"You never saw her, then?" asked Yorke, carelessly shading his eyes, as +though from the westering sun, which Midas-like, was turning every thing +it touched in that broad landscape into gold. + +"Oh yes, I see her; she was here with Squire near half a year. Mrs. +Carew--the old lady, I mean--was at Crompton then; and the young +one--though she was no chicken neither--she tried to get her turned out; +but she wasn't clever enough, clever as she was, for that job. Carew +loved his mother, as indeed he ought, for she had never denied him any +thing since he was born; and so, in that pitched battle between the +women, he took his mother's side. And in the end the old lady took his, +and with a vengeance. I do think that if it had not been for her, young +madam would have held on--Why, what's the matter, young gentleman? That +was an oath fit for the mouth of Squire hisself." + +"It's this cursed toothache," exclaimed Yorke, passionately. "It has +worried me so ever since you began to speak that I should have gone mad +if I had not let out at it a bit. Never mind me; I'm better now." + +"Well, that's like the Squire again," returned the keeper, admiringly. +"He seems allus to find hisself better for letting out at things, and at +people too, for the matter of that. To hear him sometimes, one would +almost think the ground must open; not that he means any harm, but it's +a way he's got; but it does frighten them as is not used to him, surely. +I mind that day when he first took the fox-hounds out, and Mr. Howard +the sheriff as was that year--he's dead and gone long since, and his +grandson is sheriff now again, which is cur'ous--well, he happened to +ride a bit too forward with the dogs, and our young master--Oh dear, +dear," and the old man began to chuckle like a hen that has laid two +eggs at a time, "how he did swear at the old man!" + +"You were talking about Mrs. Carew the elder," observed the artist, +coolly. + +"Was I? True, so I was. Well, she and the young Squire was for all the +world like a deer with her fawn--all tenderness and timidity, so long as +he was let alone; but when this 'ere woman came, as she considered his +enemy, she was as bold as a red stag--nay, as one of our wild-cattle. It +was through her, I say, that the bride got the sack at last; and when +that was done the old lady seemed to have done her work, and was content +enough when her son portioned her off, and persuaded her to live at the +dower-house at Morden; and indeed she could hardly have staid at +Crompton, with such goings on as there are now--feastings and fightings +and flirtings--" + +"Just so," interrupted the young painter; "she got her way, I know. But +with respect to the younger lady, Mrs. Charles Carew, what was _she_ +like, and what did people say of her?" + +"Well, not much good, I reckon. What could they say of a school-mistress +who marries her pupil?" + +"A school-mistress, was she?" said Yorke, in a strange husky voice. "We +never heard that in London." + +"Well, she was summut of that sort, Sir, though I don't know exactly +what. Young as he was, Carew was not quite child enough to be at a +dame's school, that's true. But she was not a mere servant-girl, as some +said, any way, for she could play and sing--ay, songs that pleased him +too--and she had book-learning, I've heard, such as would have +astonished you; so that some folks said she was a witch, and had the +devil's help to catch Carew. But a woman don't want magic, bless you, to +come over a lad of seventeen--not she. What nonsense people talk! If +any pretty girl about Crompton was to take a fancy to _you_ now, as is +like enough, do you suppose--" + +"But I thought you said that Mrs. Charles Carew was not a girl?" + +"Nor more she was: she was five-and-thirty if she was a day; and +yet--_there_ was the wonder of it--she did not look much over twenty! +I've heard our gentlemen, when out shooting, liken her to some fine +Frenchwoman as never grew old, and was fell in love with unbeknown by +her grandson. Now, what was her name? I got it written down somewhere in +my old pocket-book; it was summut like Longclothes." + +"_Ninon de l'Enclos?_" suggested Yorke, without a smile. + +"Ay, that's the name. Well, Mrs. Charles Carew, as you call her, was +just like her, and a regular everlasting! She was not what you would +call pretty, but very "taking" looking, and with a bloom and freshness +on her as would have deceived any man. Her voice was like music itself, +and she moved like a stag o' ten; and the Squire being always manly +looking and swarthy, like yourself, there was really little difference +between them to look at. I dare say she's gone all to pieces now, as +women will do, while the Squire looks much the same as he did then." + +"I have never even seen him," said the landscape-painter, moodily. + +"Well, don't you stare at him, young master, when you do get that +chance, that's all. Some comes down here merely to look at him, as if he +was a show, and that puts him in a pretty rage, I promise you; though to +get to know him, as I say, is easy enough, if you go the right way about +it. If you were a good rider, for instance, and could lead the field one +day when the hunting begins, he'd ask you to dinner to a certainty; or +if you could drive stags--why, he would have given you a hundred pounds +last midsummer, when we couldn't get the beasts to swim the lake. +There's a pretty mess come o' that, by-the-by; for, out of the talk +there was among the gentlemen about that difficulty, the Squire laid a +bet as _he_ would drive stags; not as _we_ do, mind you, but in harness, +like carriage-horses; and, cuss me, if he hasn't had the break out half +a dozen times with four red deer in it, and you may see him tearing +through the park, with mounted grooms and keepers on the right and left +of him, all galloping their hardest, and the Squire with the ribbons, +a-holloaing like mad! For my part, I don't like such pranks, and would +much sooner not be there to see 'em. There will be mischief some day +with it yet, for all that old Lord Orford, down at Newmarket some fifty +years ago, used to do the same thing, they say. It ain't in nature that +stags should be druv four-in-hand, even by Carew. However, the Squire +won his wager; and we haven't seen none o' _that_ wild work o' late +weeks, though we may see it again any day." + +"I have heard of that strange exploit," observed Yorke; "but as driving +deer, even in the ordinary way, is not my calling, and as I am no great +rider, even if I had a horse, I don't see how I am to introduce myself +to your mad Squire, and yet I have a great fancy for his acquaintance. +Do you think he'd buy any of these drawings, taken in his own park, from +his own timber?" The young man touched a portfolio, already well stocked +with studies of oak and beech. "Here is a sketch of the Decoy Pond, for +instance, with the oldest tree in the chase beside it; would not that +interest him, think you? You think not?" + +"Well, young gentleman," said the keeper, frankly, "if I say no, it +ain't that I mean any slight to your drawing. It's like the tree enough, +for certain, with the very hoop of iron as I put round it with my own +hands twenty years ago--and, by the same token, it will want another +before this winter's out; but I don't think the Squire cares much for +such matters. He might, maybe, just give a look at it, or he might bid +you go to the devil for a paper-staining son of a--well--what you will. +He does not care a farthing, bless 'ee, for all the great pictures in +his own gallery, though they cost his grandfather a mint of money, and +are certainly a fine sight--so far as the frames go. And, on the other +hand, if he happens to be cross-grained that day, he might tear it up +before you could say 'Hold,' and kick you down the Hall steps into the +bargain, as he has done to many a one. That's where it is, you see, the +Squire is so chancy." + +"I don't think he would kick _me_ down his Hall steps," said Yorke, +grimly. + +The keeper grinned. "Well, you see, nobody can tell that till it's +tried. The Squire is a regular bruiser, I promise you, though I grant +you are a strapping young fellow, and you have told me that you know how +to use your fists. That's a great thing, mind you, for a man to ha' +learnt; a deal better than Latin or such-like, in my opinion. Folks talk +of life-preservers and pistols, but there's nothing like a good pair of +well-handled fists when one has to tackle a poacher. I've been at +Crompton, man and boy, these fifty years, and had a good many +rough-and-tumbles with that sort, and I have never had the worst of it +yet. It prevents bloodshed on both sides; for if you haven't no +shooting-iron, there's few Englishmen, poachers or not, who will draw +trigger on you; and as for a bludgeon, it's as likely to be in my hand +as another's after the first half minute." + +"Is there much poaching now at Crompton?" inquired Yorke, mechanically. +It would have been plain to any less obtuse observer than his companion +that he no longer gave him his attention. + +"Well, no; nothing to be called serious has happened lately; though I +dare say we shall have some scrimmages as the winter comes on; there's +allus a good deal of what I calls hanky-panky work in the fawn season. +Women and children--especially children--will come into the park, under +pretense o' picking up sticks; and they'll put away a new dropped fawn +in their bundles, if they get the chance; and then they take it home, to +be reared until it grows up, and can be sold for venison." + +"I should have thought there would have been no market for such a +commodity--that is, in the case of people such as you describe," +observed Yorke, yawning. + +"Market!" echoed the keeper, contemptuously; "there'd be a market +to-morrow morning for the whole herd o' our wild-cattle, if they were +stolen to-night; there'd be a market for a rhinoceros or a halligator, +if we happened to keep 'em, bless 'ee, as easy as for a sucking pig! But +I don't call that poaching--I mean the fawn-stealing. It's the +professionals from the Midland towns as come by tens and twenties at a +time as is our trouble. We generally gets wind of 'em beforehand, and +then out we all goes, and Squire with us--for he dearly loves a +fight--and then there's broken crowns and bloody noses; but, thank God, +there's been no murder done, at least, not in my time, at Crompton. And +that reminds me, Sir, that it's time for me to start on my evening +rounds." + +"Well, when you next have any news of such an incursion, Grange, I hope +you will let me make one of your party," said Yorke, good-humoredly. "I +can hit out straight from the shoulder; and perhaps I might get to know +the Squire _that_ way." + +"And as likely a road to lead you into his good graces, Sir," said the +keeper, rising, "as any I know. Are you for a walk round the park this +fine evening, Sir?" + +"No; not to-night, thank you, Grange. I have got to fill in this sketch +a bit that I took this morning." + +"Then, good-night, Sir, for I sha'n't return before daylight." + +But it was not till long after the keeper had taken his departure that +Richard Yorke turned hand or eye to his unfinished drawing. He sat +staring straight before him with steadfast eyes and thoughtful face, for +hours, murmuring to himself disjointed sentences; and ever and anon he +started up and paced the little room with rapid strides. "He shall see +me, and know me, too," muttered he, at last, between his clenched teeth, +"though it should cost one of us our lives. She shall not say I came +down to this wilderness, like some hunted beast to covert, for nothing." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE NIGHT-WATCH. + + +It was an easy thing enough, as Walter Grange had said, to make +acquaintance with Carew of Crompton, and possible even to become his +bosom friend at a short notice, for his friendships, all made in wine, +at play, or in the hunting-field, were soon cemented; but then, if the +introduction was effected in an unpropitious time or manner, it was like +enough to end in affront or downright insult. A gulf might be fixed just +where you wanted a causeway, and of this--though he had feigned to +inquire about it so innocently of the honest park-keeper--Richard Yorke +was well aware. He had, as has been hinted, come down to Crompton with +the express view of throwing himself in the way of its eccentric master, +and to do so opportunely, and he was content to bide his time. Thus, +though the autumn had far advanced, and the time had come for men of his +craft to hasten from the dropping, dripping woods, no longer fair, to +hive at home their sweet memorials of the summer time, Richard remained +at Crompton, not willingly, indeed, nor even patiently, but with that +sort of dogged resolve which is engendered, even in a restless spirit, +by long watching. He had stopped so long that he would not now give up +his watch; the fortress, indeed, showed no more sign of breach than when +he first sat down before it; but still he would not raise the siege. +This persistency excited no surprise in his house companion; Walter +Grange was no gossip, nor curious about other men's affairs; it was +easy, even for him, to see that his tenant had a proud stomach, and he +had set down his talk about desiring an introduction to Carew as merely +another phrase for wishing for a good chance of disposing of his wares +to best advantage in that market to which so many of such various +callings thronged. He did not think, as he had honestly confessed, that +there was much chance of the Squire becoming a patron of the fine arts, +but he wished the young fellow luck, and was glad, for more than one +reason, that he staid on. + +It was at least three months after his young lodger's arrival that +Walter burst into his sitting-room one afternoon, without his usual +knock at the door, with the great news that he had just had word, by a +safe hand, that a gang of poachers would be in the Home Park that very +night, and that all the staff of keepers would be out in waiting for +them. + +"You know," said he, quite indignant that the young man did not show his +enthusiasm, "you told me I was to be sure and let you know, Mr. Yorke; +but, of course, you needn't make one of us unless you like." + +"Oh yes, I'll come," laughed the young fellow--"that is, provided it is +fine. I can't fight in the rain, even for the game laws." + +"It'll be a lovely night, Sir, with just enough of moonlight to know +friends from foes," went on the keeper, rubbing his hands, and +unconsciously moistening them in his excitement. "I knew you'd come. I +said to myself: 'Mr. Yorke'll never turn tail;' and we shall be really +glad of your help, for the fact is we are short-handed. Napes is down +with the rheumatics, and two of our men are away from home, and there +ain't time to send to the out-beaters. So we shall be only +nine--including yourself--in all. Let's see," continued the old man, +counting on his fingers: "there'll be Bill Nokes, and Robert Sloane, +and--" + +"Spare me the roll-call, Grange," interrupted the painter; "and tell me +where I am to be, and when, and I'll be there." + +"Very good, Sir," said the keeper, musing. "I'll put you at the Squire's +oak--the one as you drawed so nicely--that'll be at the Decoy down +yonder, and close to home. You have only to use this whistle, and you'll +get help enough if you chance to be set upon; there will be a fight, no +doubt. They must be a daring lot to poach the near park, within sound of +the house: they ain't a done that these ten year; for the last time they +brought Squire and his bull-dogs out, which was a lesson to one or two +of 'em. However, he's for town, they say, to-day." + +"All right, Grange; we must do without him, then," returned the young +man, cheerfully. "What time am I to be on guard?" + +"You should be there at ten at latest, Sir. There'll be plenty of us +within whistle-call, you understand. But nobody will come aneist you as +has any business there; so whoever you see you must go in at." + +Yorke nodded, smiling, and doubling his white fists, hit out +scientifically with his right. + +"You're one after the Squire's own heart," exclaimed the keeper, +admiringly; "and I do wish you could foregather with him. What a reach +of arm you've got, and what a play of muscle! The fist is the weapon for +a poacher--that is, I mean _agin_ him--if you only know how to use it. I +can depend on the Decoy being guarded by ten, Sir, can I? for I must be +off to the head-keeper's with the rest." + +"Yes, you can." + +"Then, good-by, Sir, for the present." + +"Now what a poor fool is that!" soliloquized the young painter, +contemptuously, as the door closed upon his late companion. "To think +that I should risk my life against a poacher's on even terms! Of course, +if they suffice, I shall only treat him to my knuckles; but if not--if +he be a giant, or there be more than one of them--then here is a better +ally than mere bone and sinew." Yorke took out of a drawer a +life-preserver, made of lead and whalebone, struck with it once, to test +its weight and elasticity, then slipped it into his shooting-jacket +pocket. "That will enlarge their organs of locality," said he, grimly; +"they will not forget the Decoy Pond in a hurry whose heads knock +against this." + +He made a better supper than was usual with him that night; filled his +pocket-flask with brandy, and his pouch with tobacco; and then making +sure that the whistle Grange had given him, and which he had hung round +his neck, was within easy reach of his fingers, sallied out, well +wrapped up as to his throat, and with his hands in his pockets. If +Richard Yorke was doomed not to have life made easy for him, he made it +as easy as he could. He never omitted a precaution, unless it gave him +trouble to take it out of proportion to the advantage it conferred; he +was never imprudent, unless the passion of the moment was too strong for +him; but sometimes, unfortunately, his mere whims were in their +intensity passions, and his passions, while they lasted, fits of +madness. He was a landscape-painter, partly because he had some taste +that way, but chiefly because he hated regular work of any sort. He had +no real love for his art, and not the least touch of poetic feeling. He +knew an oak from a beech-tree, and the sort of touch that should be used +in delineating the foliage of each; a yellow primrose was to him a +yellow primrose, and he could mix the colors deftly enough which made up +its hue. His education had been by no means neglected, but it had been +of a strange sort; every thing he had learned was, as it were, for +immediate use, and of a superficial but attractive character. The +advocates of a classical curriculum would have shaken their heads at +what Richard Yorke did know, almost as severely as at his lack of +knowledge. He had read a good deal of all kinds of literature, including +much garbage; he could play a little on the piano, and speak French +with an excellent accent. In a word, he had learned every thing that had +pleased him, as well as a little Latin and some mathematics, which had +not. He knew English history far better than most young Englishmen; but +the sight of tomb or ruin had never made his heart pulse faster with an +evoked idea by a single beat. Historical associations had no charm for +him. This mighty oak, for example, under the shadow of which he now +stands sentry, and which he had transferred so deftly to his portfolio, +has no longer any interest for him. He has "done it," and its use and +pleasure are therefore departed in his eyes. He knows quite well that +though it is called the Squire's, in token, probably, of some wholesale +slaughter of wild-ducks effected by Carew from its convenient cover, +that this tree is hundreds of years old--the oldest in all the chase. He +has read the "Talking Oak," for indeed he can quote Tennyson by the +yard, and in dulcet voice; and it would have been natural enough, one +would think, in such a time and place, that some thoughts of what this +venerable monarch of the forest must have witnessed would perforce come +into his mind. The same moonlight that now shines down between its +knotted naked branches must have doubtless lit on many a pair of lovers, +for it was ever a favorite place for tryst in by-gone years. The young +monk, perhaps, may here (when Crompton was an abbey) have given double +absolution, to himself and to the girl who confessed to him her love. +Roundhead maiden and Cavalier gallant must many a time have forgotten +their political differences beneath this oak, as yet a tree not sacred +to royalty; nay, perhaps even those of. York and Lancaster may here have +been compounded for, in one red rose of a blush. Bluff Harry had haply +hunted beneath its once wide-spreading arms, and certainly the martyr +king had done so, with a score of generations of men of all sorts, dead +and gone, God alone knows whither. Though no more the bugle sounded, nor +the twanging bow was heard, there was surely an echo of their far-away +music in the young painter's ear! No, there was none. + + Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter, + +was a line Richard Yorke had read, perhaps, but certainly had not +understood. He heard the bare branch creak and sway above his head as +the wind slowly took it; he heard the night-jar croak, as it flew by on +silent wing; and now and then he heard, or thought he heard, the sound +of the voices of his fellow-watchers a great way off, which was his only +touch of fancy. They were all silent, and in close hiding. + +It is not to be supposed, however, that his mind was fixed upon the +matter in which he was engaged, so that other subjects were thereby +excluded from it. The repression of night-poaching was not a matter that +interested him either in principle or practice. He would just as soon +that the keeper had not reminded him of his offer to share his +watch--the whim that had once seized him to do so had died away; but +having once promised his company, he was not one to break his word. So +here he was. + +The young man's thoughts were busy, then, neither with the past nor the +present, but with the future--that is, _his own_ future. The path of +life did not lie straight before Richard Yorke, as it does before most +men of his age, and in fact it came, so to speak, abruptly to a +termination exactly where he stood. + +In such a case, the choice of the wayfarer becomes boundless, and is +only limited by the horizon and circumstances. As matters were, he had +scarcely enough to live on--not nearly enough to do so as his tastes and +habits suggested; and yet, by one bold stroke, with luck to back it, he +might, not "one day" (_that_ would have had small charm for him), but at +once, and for his life-long, be rich and prosperous. He could not be +said to have expectations, but his position was not without certain +contingencies, the extreme brilliancy of which might almost atone for +their vagueness. It was from a dream of future greatness, or what seemed +to him as such, wherein he saw himself wealthy and powerful, surrounded +with luxury and with the ministers of every pleasure, that he was +suddenly and sharply awakened by a trifling incident--the snapping of a +dead twig in the copse hard by. In an instant the glittering gossamer of +thought was swept aside, and the young fellow was all ear and eye. The +wind had dropped for some time, and the silence was intense; that solemn +hush seemed to pervade the forest which some poet has attributed to the +cessation of spiritual life, as though the haunters of the glade were +_waiting_ for the resumption of their occupations until the interloping +mortal should pass by. Nothing stirred, or, if so, it was motion without +sound, as when the full-feathered owl slid softly through the midnight +air above him. Not a dead leaf fell; and where the leaves had fallen +there they lay. How was it, then, that a twig broke? The deer were +couched; the pheasants sat at roost, their heads beneath that splendid +coverlet, their wing; and though there were creeping things which even +midnight did not woo to rest in that vast wilderness, Yorke had imbibed +enough of forest lore to know that the noise which he had heard was +produced by none of these. A rat in the water-rushes, or a stoat pushing +through the undergrowth, would have announced itself in a different +fashion. Again the sound was heard, and this time it was no longer the +crackling of a twig, but the breaking of a branch; then cautious +footsteps fell upon the frosty leaves, and, with a light leap on the +bank that fringed the copse, the poacher stood in the open. + +That such he was, Yorke had no doubt whatever; the moonlight streamed +full upon him, and showed him to be none of the Crompton keepers, +unless, indeed, he was disguised. For an instant, it passed across his +mind that this might be Walter Grange himself--he was about the same +height and build--come to play a trick upon him to test his courage, for +the man's face was blackened like a burglar's; but this idea was +dismissed as soon as entertained. The keeper, he reflected, thought far +too seriously of the night's doings to make jest of them, and besides, +he could never have sprung upon the bank as yonder fellow did, his +limbs, though sturdy, being stiff with age and occasional rheumatism. +The intruder seemed quite alone, and it was probable, while his +confederates paid attention to the pheasants in the Home Park, that he +was bent upon making a private raid upon the sleeping water-fowl. He +had no gun, however, nor, as far as Yorke could make out, any other +weapon; and as soon as he had got near enough to the pond to admit of +it the watcher sprang out from beneath the shadow of the oak, and +placed himself between the stranger and the copse from which he +had emerged. Yorke was the taller by full six inches, and believing +himself to be more than a match for his antagonist, had not so +much as laid finger on his concealed weapon; but if he had now +any thought of doing so, it was too late; for, with a cry +of eager rage, the man turned at once, and sprang at him like a tiger. +It needed all his skill and coolness to parry the fierce blows which +fell upon him like hail, and which he had scarcely time to return. Yorke +was an adept at boxing, and in the chance encounters into which a +somewhat dissipated and reckless youth had led him, he had been an easy +victor; but it now took all he knew to "keep himself." An instant's +carelessness, or the absence of a hand in search of that which he would +now have gladly seized, and his guard, would have been broken through, +and himself placed at his foe's mercy. Nothing but his long reach +preserved him from those sledge-hammer blows, which seemed as though +each must break the arm they fell upon. As for using his whistle, the +opportunity, of course, was not afforded him; and, moreover, he had no +breath to spare for such a purpose. Breath, however, was also a +desideratum with the poacher, and the more so inasmuch as he accompanied +every blow--as Brian de Bois-Guilbert was wont to hammer home his +mace-strokes with "Ha! Beauseant, Beauseant!"--with some amazing oath. +It is recorded of an American gentleman, much given to blasphemy, that +he could entertain "an intelligent companion" for half a day with the +mere force and ingenuity of his expletives; and this singular talent +seemed to be shared by Richard Yorke's antagonist. That one of the most +accomplished roughs of the Midlands had fallen to the young painter's +lot in that night's _mêlée_, he could not for a moment doubt; but this +reflection did not go far to soothe him. He did not care for fighting +for its own sake, while his pride revolted against thus being kept at +bay by a brutal clown. If he could but get the chance, he made up his +mind to end this matter once for all, and at last the opportunity seemed +to be afforded. The poacher suddenly stepped back to the very margin of +the pond, a long oval piece of water, and not very deep, and quick as +thought, Yorke drew his deadly weapon. But at the same moment there was +a sound of racing feet, and down the drive there came two men at +headlong speed. Yorke did not doubt that they were poachers; but his +blood was up, and he was armed--he felt like an iron-clad against whom +three wooden ships were about to pit themselves. "Where I hit now I make +a hole," he muttered, savagely, and stood firm; nor did he even put his +lips to the whistle that hung round his neck. + +[Illustration: "THE MAN TURNED AT ONCE, AND SPRANG AT HIM LIKE A +TIGER."] + +But as the men came nearer, in the foremost he recognized Walter Grange, +and at the same moment saw his late antagonist plunge wildly into the +ice-cold pond, and begin to wade and swim across it. + +"Cuss him! I durst not do it," gasped Walter, just too late, and +mindful, even in his passionate disappointment, of rheumatic pains. +"Dash after him, Bob, while Mr. Yorke and I run round." + +But Bob had had the rheumatism too, or had seen the unpleasant effects +of it in others, and shook his shaggy head. + +A mocking laugh burst from the poacher, already nearing the opposite +bank. + +"Dang him! If I'd got a gun, I'd shoot him. Run, man!" cried Walter, +excitedly--"run, man, run! He can never get along in his wet clothes." +And off the two men started in hot pursuit. + +Yorke watched them toiling round the pond, while the poacher landed, +shook himself like any water-dog, and leisurely trotted off. + +"It was lucky for him," murmured he, as he replaced his weapon in his +pocket, "that the help came on _my_ side;" then lit his pipe, and +leisurely walked home. + +Three hours later returned the keeper (for whose arrival he had been +sitting up), with twinkling eye and a look of triumph. + +"Well, you caught the beggar, did you, Grange?" + +"Oh yes, we caught him fast enough," responded the other, grinning; "we +caught the whole lot of them. And who d'ye think they were? Why, it was +the whole party from the house, as had come out to play at poachers! Who +ever heard of such a game? Some on 'em got it hot, I reckon, in the new +spinney yonder. But _that_ was no matter. We've all had our skins full +of rum punch, and a sov. apiece, because Squire says we proved ourselves +good watch-dogs. And here," continued the old man, exultingly, "are a +couple of sovs. for yourself. 'Give them to that tall young fellow,' +says Squire, 'as you posted by the Decoy Pond, for he knows how to use +his fists.' Why, that 'ere chap as you had the tussle with was Carew +hisself!" + +A deadly paleness overspread the young man's cheeks. + +"Was that Carew?" he said. + +"Yes, indeed, it was; though none of us know'd it. You needn't look so +skeared. He ain't annoyed with you; he's pleased, bless 'ee, and here's +the proof of it." + +"You may keep the guineas, Grange," said Yorke, gravely; "only keep my +secret too. If he thinks I was a night-watcher, let him continue in that +belief." + +"Why, it's the best introduction to Carew as you could have!" insisted +the astonished keeper. "You have only to go up to the great house +to-morrow, and say: 'Here's the man as proved your match last night,' +and--" + +"You must allow me to be the best judge of my own affairs," interrupted +the young fellow, haughtily; "so you will be so good as to say nothing +more about the matter." + +"Just as you please, Sir; and I am sure you are very kind," answered the +keeper, slipping the coins into his pocket. "Squire hisself could not be +more liberal, that's certain. You are tired, I see; and I wish you +good-night, Sir, or rather good-morning." + +"Good-night, Grange." + +"Now, that's what I call pride," said Walter, grimly, as he closed the +door upon his lodger; "and I am sure I hope, for his sake, it may never +have a fall." + +When Richard Yorke was thus left to himself he did a curious thing; he +took out the life-preserver from its receptacle, and having made up the +fire, placed it in the centre of the burning mass, so that in the +morning there was nothing left of it save a dull lump of lead. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ACROSS THE THRESHOLD. + + +A day or two passed by, and nothing more was heard of Carew's combat +with the young watcher; some other mad frolic had doubtless entered into +the Squire's head and driven that one out. The hot punch imbibed after +his swim in the Decoy Pond seemed to have averted all evil consequences, +or perhaps he was case-hardened to such things. It was not uncommon with +him to spend whole winter nights on a neighboring "broad," in pursuit of +the mere-fowl that haunted it, in water or ice or swamp. He treated his +body as an enemy, and strove to subdue it--though not for the good +reasons of the Apostle--by every sort of harshness and imprudence; or +rather he behaved toward it as a wayward father toward his child--at one +time with cruel severity, at another with the utmost luxury and +indulgence. No rich man, probably, ever gave his heir so many chances of +inheritance, or excited in him so many false hopes, as did the Squire of +Crompton, who had no heir. + +The hunting season had begun with him after its usual fashion; he seldom +troubled himself to find a fox, but turned one out of a bag to insure +sport, or ran a drag over the most difficult and dangerous country that +could be selected. + +Yorke had almost made up his mind to take the keeper's advice, and +distinguish himself by putting his neck to the same risks as Carew, on +horseback, in order to recommend himself to his notice, when an event +occurred by which he attained his end in another way. + +Tired of the park, wherein he had dwelled so long, and which every day +the approach of winter made more bare and desolate, he had taken a +solitary walk along the highway which led to the market-town. He was +returning, and had reached the top of the long hill where the park fence +began, and a high solid gate--so that no dogs could enter--gave access +to that wild domain, when a confused murmur in the keen blue air caused +him to look back. For a mile or more the road was straight, and the +leafless trees and hedges left the prospect open to him in all +directions; at the extremity of the road was some huge moving object, +which, advancing at great speed, disclosed the Squire's mail phaeton, +drawn by four antlered stags, and followed at some distance by three or +four mounted grooms, apparently unable to keep up with him. Carew +himself was standing up like some charioteer of old, and, although he +already outstripped the very wind, was laying about him frantically with +his whip, as up the hill the frightened creatures tore as if the ground +were level. The reason of this headlong speed was at the same time made +evident by the appearance of a pack of hounds, which, followed by a +numerous field in scarlet, was coming across the grass-land in full cry. +The spectacle, though weird and strange, was by no means without a +certain grandeur--like some barbarous pageant. Yorke understood the +situation at a glance. He had heard the keeper say that, not content +with his wild progresses through the park, the Squire had sworn to drive +his stags one day into the market-town, and this he had doubtless +actually accomplished; but, on his return, he had had the misfortune to +be caught sight of by one of his own packs of hounds, which were now in +full pursuit of him, like another Actaeon. The terrified stags, with +that deep-mouthed menace of their natural enemies ringing in their ears, +at once threw off all control, and had left their grooms behind them in +half a dozen bounds. If only the harness held, they would be at the +lodge gate in a very few minutes; but, on the other hand, the hounds +were nearer to that point, which they were approaching diagonally. They +were running, of course, by sight, like greyhounds, and with greyhounds' +speed. Above their eager mellow notes, and the mad shouting of the +excited sportsmen, and the ceaseless winding of the disregarded horn, +above the thunder of his own wheels, and of the hoofs of his strange +steeds upon the wintry road, rang out Carew's hoarse tones: "The gate, +the gate!" If only that wooden wall could be interposed between his +stags and their pursuers, all might yet be well. But, though the +lodge-keeper had been drawn by the tumult to his door, he stood there +like one amazed and fascinated by the spectacle before him, and +paralyzed with the catastrophe that seemed impending. + +"Gate, gate, you gaping idiot!" roared the Squire, with a frightful +curse; but the poor shaking wretch had not the power to stir; it was +Yorke himself who dashed at the latch, and threw the long gate wide to +let the madman pass, and then slammed it back upon the very jaws of the +hounds. They rushed against the solid wood like a living battering-ram, +and howled with baffled rage; and some leaped up and got their fore-paws +over it, and would have got in yet, but that Richard beat them back with +his bare hands. + +In the mean time Carew and his stags swept up the park like a whirlwind, +and presently, coming to a coppice, the frightened creatures dashed into +it, doubtless for covert, where wheel and rein and antler, tangling with +trunk and branch, soon brought them to a full stop. + +"Good lad!" exclaimed Carew, as Yorke hurried up to help him; "you are a +good plucked one, you are; you shall keep the lodge, if you will, +instead of that lily-livered scoundrel who was too frightened to move. +Oh, I ask pardon; you are a gentleman, are you?" + +"Sir, I hope so," answered the young man, stiffly, his anger only half +subdued by the necessity for conciliation. + +"Then, come up to the house and dine, whoever you are; I'll lend you a +red coat. Curse those grooms! what keeps them? One can't sit upon a +stag's head to quiet him as though he were a horse." (Two of the stags +were down, and butting, at one another with their horns.) "What a pace +we came up White Hill! I tried to time them, but I could not get my +watch out. You moved yourself like a flash of lightning, else I thought +we must have pinned you against the gate. It was well done, my lad, well +done; and I'm your debtor." + +The Squire held out his hand, for the first time, for Yorke to shake. + +"Why, what's this?" said he, peering into the other's eyes. "I have +seen your face before, my friend." + +"Yes, Sir; a week or two ago I played the part of night-watcher in your +preserves--it was a mad prank; but"--and here the young fellow smiled +roguishly--"it was better than poaching, you must admit." + +"What!" cried the Squire, delighted, "are you the fellow that had that +bout with me in the Decoy Pond? Why, I thought you were one of my own +men, and sent you something; but, of course, my scoundrels drank it. I'm +glad to see you, Sir, by daylight. It was the uncertain moonshine that +hampered me, else, by Jove, I'd have given you 'one, two!' We must have +it out another day, for a drawn battle is just the thing I hate. What's +your name, young gentleman, and where do you live?" + +"I live close by, Sir; I am in lodgings for the present." + +"Ay, ay, for the hunting, I suppose," said the impetuous Squire. "Hark +to those devils of dogs; they are howling yet; they would have had my +stags by this time but for you. Well, well; send for your portmanteau, +and take up your quarters at Crompton; you shall have a hearty welcome; +only don't be late for dinner--seven, Sir, sharp. Here are my knavish +grooms at last." + +And, under cover of the fire of imprecations which the Squire poured +upon his approaching retainers, the young landscape-painter withdrew. He +had obtained his end at last, and he wished to retire before Carew +should put that question to him for a second time--what is your +name?--which, at such a moment, it would, for certain reasons, have been +embarrassing to answer. + +He betook himself at once to the keeper's lodge, and packing up his +wardrobe, which, though of modest dimensions, comprised all that was +requisite for a gentleman's costume, dispatched it to the great house. +He followed it himself shortly afterward, only waiting to dash off a +note by the afternoon's post for town. It was literally a "hurried +line," and would have better suited these later telegraphic days, when +thoughts, though wire-drawn, are compressed, and brevity is the soul of +cheapness, as of wit. "_I have got my foot in, and however it may be +pinched, will keep the door open. Direct to me at Crompton_." + +It was not a nice trait in the young man, if it was a characteristic +one, that he did not take the trouble even to leave so much word as that +for the old keeper, who was engaged in his outdoor duties, but simply +inclosed the few shillings in which he was indebted to him inside an +envelope, addressed to Walter Grange. The old man liked him, as he well +knew, and would have prized a few words of farewell; but Yorke was in a +hurry to change his quarters for the better; he had climbed from low to +high, and gave no further thought to the ladder which had so far served +him. But yet he had some prudence too. Though he had dwelled so long in +the Carew domains, so careful had he been not to intrude his presence +inopportunely on its master, that he had never so much as seen, except +at a distance, the mansion to which he was now an invited guest. How +grand it showed, as his elastic step drew near it, with tower and turret +standing up against the gloomy November sky, and all its broad-winged +front alive with light! How good it would be to call so fine a place his +home! How excellent to be made heir to the childless man who ruled it, +and who could leave it to whomsoever his whim might choose! + +It was unusual for a guest to approach Crompton for the first time on +foot. The Squire's jovial friends used for the most part strange +conveyances, such as tandems and randoms, and the great flower-beds in +the lawn in front gave sign that some such equipage had been lately +driven up not altogether with dexterity. It is difficult at all times to +drive "unicorn," and more so if the horses are not used to that method +of progression, and still more so if the charioteer is somewhat +inebriated; and all these conditions had been fulfilled a few minutes +previously in the case of Mr. Frederick Chandos, a young gentleman of +twenty-one years of age, but of varied experience, who had just arrived +that day on his first visit. But when Yorke appeared at the front-door, +there was no less attention paid to him than if he had driven up with +four-in-hand. Obsequious footmen assisted him to take off his wrappers +in the great hall, whose vastness dwarfed the billiard-table in its +centre to bagatelle proportions. A profusion of wax-lights--and no +others were permitted at Crompton, save in the servants' offices--showed +eight shining pillars of rare marble, and a grand staircase broad enough +for a coach-and-four, and up which, indeed, Carew _had_ ridden horses +for a wager; while all the walls were hung with huge-figured +tapestry--"The Tent of Darius" and "The Entry of Alexander into +Babylon," both miracles of patient art. The grandeur of the stately +place was marred, however, by signs of revel and rough usage. The +Persian monarch, spared by his Grecian conqueror, had been deprived, by +some more modern barbarian, of his eyes; while the face of his royal +consort had been cut out of the threaded picture, to judge by the ragged +end of the canvas, by a penknife. The very pillars were notched in +places, as though some mad revelers had striven to climb to the pictured +ceiling, from which gods and men looked down upon them with amaze; the +thick-piled carpet of the stairs was cut and torn, doubtless by horses' +hoofs; and here and there a gap in the gilt balusters showed where they +had been torn away in brutal frolic. A groom of the chambers preceded +the new guest up stairs, and introduced him to a bachelor's apartment, +small, but well furnished in the modern style, whither his portmanteau +had been already taken. "Squire has given orders, Sir," said he, +respectfully, "that he should be informed as soon as you arrived. What +name shall I say, Sir? But here he is himself." + +As the groom withdrew, Carew made his appearance at the open door. He +was smoking a cigar, although it was within an hour of dinner-time; and +at his heels slouched a huge bull-dog, who immediately began to growl +and sniff at the new guest. "Quiet, you brute!" exclaimed the Squire, +with his customary garnish of strong expletive. "Welcome to Crompton, +Mr.--I forget your name; or rather you forgot, I think, to favor me with +it." + +"My name is Richard Yorke, Sir." + +"Yorke, Yorke--that sounds easterly. You are of the Cambridgeshire +stock, I reckon, are you not?" + +"No, Sir," returned the other, with a slight tremor in his voice, which +he could not control; "I come from nearer home. Your wife's first +husband was called Yorke, if you remember, and I bear his name, +although I am her lawful son, by you, Sir." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AT CROMPTON. + + +After the bold avowal made at the conclusion of the last chapter, +Richard Yorke and his father (for such indeed he was) stood confronting +one another, for near a minute, without a word. A tempest of evil +passions swept over Carew's swarthy face, and his eyes flashed with a +fire that seemed to threaten personal violence. The bull-dog, too, as +though perceiving his master's irritation with the stranger, began to +growl again; and this, perhaps, was fortunate for the young man, as +affording a channel for the Squire's pent-up wrath. With a great oath, +leveled alike at man and brute, he raised his foot, and kicked the +latter to the other side of the room. + +"Impudent bastard!" cried he; "how dare you show your face beneath my +roof?" + +"How _dare_ I?" responded the young man, excitedly, and with his +handsome face aglow. "Because there was naught to fear; and if there +were, I should not have feared it." + +"Tut, tut! so bold a game could never have entered into your young head. +Your mother must have set you on to do it--come, Sir, the truth, the +truth." + +"She did not set me on, father," insisted the other, earnestly. "I came +here of my own will. I have been dwelling within a stone's-throw of your +house these six months, in hopes to see you face to face. She told me +_not_ to come--I swear she did." + +"So much the better for her," ejaculated the Squire, grimly. "If I +thought that she had any hand in this, not another shilling of my money +should she ever touch. It was agreed between us," he continued, +passionately--"and I, for my part, am a man who keeps his word--that she +and hers should never meddle more with me and mine; and now she has +broken faith." + +"Nay, Sir, but she has not," returned the young man, firmly. "I tell you +it was against her will that I came hither." + +"The devil it was!" exclaimed the Squire, suddenly bursting into a wild +laugh. "If you get your way with _her_, when she says 'no,' you must be +a rare one. You are my son for certain, however, or you would never dare +to stand here. It was a rash step, young Sir, and might have ended in +the horse-pond. I had half a mind to set my bull-dog at you. Since you +_are_ here, however, you can stay. But let us understand one another. I +am your father, in a sense, as I am father, for aught I know, to half +the parish; but as to being lawfully so, the law has happened to have +decided otherwise. I know what you would say about 'the rights of it;' +but that's beside the question; the law, I say, for once, is on my side, +and I stand by it. Egad, I have good reason to do so; and if your mother +had been _your_ wife, as she was mine, you would be with me so far. Now, +look you," and here again the speaker's manner changed with his shifting +mood, "if ever again you venture to address me as your father, or to +boast of me as such, I will have you turned out neck and crop; but as +Mr. Richard Yorke, my guest, you will be welcome at Crompton, so long as +we two suit each other; only beware, young Sir, that you tell me no +lies. I shall soon get rid of you on these terms," continued the Squire, +with a chuckle; "for to speak truth must be as difficult to you, +considering the stock you come of, as dancing on the tight-rope. Your +mother, indeed, was a first-rate rope-dancer in that way, and I rarely +caught her tripping; but you--" + +"Sir," interrupted the young man, passionately, "is this your +hospitality?" + +"True, lad, true," answered the Squire, good-humoredly; "I had intended +to have forgotten Madam Yorke's existence. Well, Sir, what _are_ +you?--what do you do, I mean, for a livelihood--beside 'night-watching?'" + +"I am a landscape-painter, Sir." + +"Umph!" grunted Carew, contemptuously; "you don't get fat on that +pasture, I reckon. Have you never done any thing else?" + +For a single instant the young man hesitated to reply; then answered, +"Never." + +"You are quite sure of that?" inquired the other, suspiciously. + +"Quite sure." + +"Good! Here, come with me." + +His host led the way along an ample corridor, hung with tall pictures of +their common ancestors, and opened the door of another bedroom. It was +of a vast size; and even when the Squire had lit the candles upon the +mantle-piece, and those which clustered on either side of the great +pier-glass, the darkness did but give place to a sort of shining gloom: +the cause of this strange effect was the peculiarity of the furniture; +the walls were of bog-oak, relieved, like those of a ball-room, by +silver sconces; the chairs were of the same material. The curiosity of +the room was, however, the bedstead; this was of an immense size, and +adorned above with ostrich feathers, which gave it the appearance of a +funeral car; the pillars were of solid ebony, as were also the carved +head and foot boards; it was hung with crimson damask curtains, trimmed +with gold braid; and upon its coverlet of purple silk lay a quilt of +Brussels point lace of exquisite design. + +"I will have your traps brought in here," said Carew, throwing away the +end of his cigar, and drawing from his pocket a heap of filberts; "it +will be more convenient. You will find a room through yonder door, where +you can sit and paint to your heart's content." + +"You lodge me so splendidly, Sir, that I shall feel like Christopher +Sly," observed the young fellow, gratefully. + +"Ay, sly enough, I'll warrant," returned the Squire, who had just +cracked a nut and found it a bad one. "That's Bred in the Bone with you, +I reckon. Look yonder!" As he spoke, a porcelain vase clock upon the +chimney-piece struck the half hour, and a gilt serpent sprang from the +pedestal, showing its fang, which was set in brilliants. "That's my +serpent clock, which always reminds me of Madam, your mother, and the +more so, because it goes for a twelvemonth, which was just the time she +and I went in double harness. But here are your clothes, and you must be +quick in getting into them, for we dine sharp at Crompton.--Watson, go +to my man, and bid him fetch a red coat for this gentleman.--You'll +hear the gong, Mr. Yorke, five minutes before dinner is served." And +with a careless nod to his guest, and a whistle to his four-footed +companion, Carew sauntered off. + +The young man would have given much to have had half an hour at his +disposal to think over the events of the last few minutes, and to +reflect upon his present position; but there was no time to lose, if he +would avoid giving umbrage to his host by being late. He therefore +dressed in haste, and before the first note of the gong was heard was +fully equipped. If the Squire, in introducing him to this splendid +lodging, had had it in his mind to overcome him by a mere exhibition of +magnificence, the design had failed; it was only Yorke's artistic sense +that had been impressed; the fact was that the young fellow was of that +character on whom superiority of any sort has small effect; while in the +present case the signs of wealth about him gave him self-confidence, +rather than any feeling of inferiority; insomuch as he considered +himself "by rights," as the Squire had said, the heir of all he saw, and +by no means despaired of becoming so, not only _de jure_, but _de +facto_. Certainly, as he now regarded himself in the pier-glass in his +scarlet coat, it was not to be wondered at that he reflected +complacently that, so far as personal appearance went, he was not likely +to find a superior in any of the company he was about to meet. A +handsomer young fellow had indeed never answered the importunate summons +of the Crompton gong. + +He had no difficulty about finding his way to the drawing-room, for a +stream of red-coated guests was already setting thither from their +respective chambers, and he entered it with them unannounced. This was +the only apartment in the house which did not bear traces of mischievous +damage, because, as on the present occasion, it was used for exactly +five minutes every evening, and at no other time whatever. After dinner +the Squire's guests invariably adjourned to the billiard-table or the +library, and the yellow drawing-room was left alone in its magnificence. +This neglected apartment had probably excited more envy in the female +mind than any at Crompton, although there were drawing-rooms galore +there, as well as one or two such exquisite boudoirs as might have +tempted a nun from her convent. It was a burning shame, said the matrons +of Breakneckshire, that the finest room in the county should not have a +lawful mistress to grace it; and it was not their fault (as has been +hinted) that that deficiency had not been supplied. It was really a +splendid room, not divided in any way, as is usual with rooms of such +vast extent, but comprehending every description of architectural +vagary--bay-windows, in each of which half a dozen persons might sit and +move, and recesses where as many could ensconce themselves, without +their presence being dreamed of by the occupants of the central space. + +At present, however, the flood of light that poured from chandelier and +bracket, and flashed upon the gorgeous furniture and on the red coats of +the guests, seemed to forbid concealment, and certainly afforded a +splendid spectacle--a diplomatic reception, or a fancy-ball, could for +brilliancy scarcely have exceeded it, though the parallel went no +farther; for, with all this pomp and circumstance, there was not the +slightest trace of ceremony. New guests, like Yorke himself, flocked in, +and stood and stared, or paraded the room; while the less recent +arrivals laughed and chatted together noisily, with their backs to the +fires--of which there were no less than three alight--or lolled at full +length upon the damask sofas. These persons were not, upon the whole, of +an aristocratic type; many of them, indeed, were of good birth, and all +had taken the usual pains with their costume, but a life of dissipation +had set its vulgarizing mark on them: on the seniors the pallid and +exhausted look of the _roué_ was indeed rarely seen--country air and +rough exercise had forbidden that--but drink and hard living had written +their autographs upon them in another and worse handwriting. Blotches +and pimples had indeed so erased their original likeness to gentlemen +that it was even whispered by the scandalous that it was to prevent the +confusion with his menials, that must needs have otherwise arisen, that +the Squire of Crompton compelled his guests to wear red coats. The +_habitués_ of the place, who were the contemporaries of the Squire, had, +as it were, gone to seed. But there was a sprinkling of a better class, +or, at all events, of a class that had not as yet sunk so low as they in +the mire of debauchery: a young lord or two in their minority, whom +their parents or guardians could not coerce into keeping better company; +and other young gentlemen of fashion, in whose eyes Carew was "A +devilish good fellow at bottom;" "Quite a character, by Jove!" and "A +sort of man to know." Among these last was Mr. Frederick Chandos, who +had so lately got among the chrysanthemums with his gig-wheels, and Mr. +Theodore Fane, his bosom friend, who always sat beside him on his +driving-seat, and in return for sharing his perils, was reported to have +the whip-hand of him. Nor was old age itself without its representative +in the person of Mr. Byam Byll, once a master of fox-hounds, now a +pauperized gourmand, who, in consideration of his coarse wit and +"gentlemen's stories," was permitted to have the run of his teeth at +Crompton. This Falstaff to the Squire's Prince Hal was a rotund and +portly man, like his great prototype, but singularly handsome. His smile +was winning yet, and, in spite of his load of years and fat, he still +considered himself agreeable to the fair sex. + +For this information and much more, respecting the character of his +fellow-guests, Yorke was indebted to a very singular personage, who had +introduced himself to him as "Parson Whymper," and whom he now knew to +be the Squire's chaplain. The reverend divine was as proud of that +office (and infinitely more comfortable in it) as though he had been +chaplain to an archbishop. He was the only man present who wore a black +coat, and he had a grave voice and insinuating manner, which really did +smack something of the pulpit. + +"Mr. Yorke," said he, blandly, "I make no apology for introducing myself +to you; Carew and I have been just having a talk about you, and he has +no secrets from his ghostly adviser. I take your hand with pleasure. I +seem to feel it is the flesh and blood of my best friend. Sooner or +later, mark me, he will own as much, and, be sure, no effort of mine +shall be wanting to insure so desirable a consummation." + +Yorke flushed with pleasure, not at the honeyed terms, nor the good-will +they evidenced, but at the news itself--the fact of his father having +revealed their relationship to him seemed so full of promise--and yet he +resented the man's professions, the audacity of which seemed certainly +to imply that he was taken for a fool. + +"I am sure, Mr. Whymper," said he, stiffly, "I ought to be greatly +obliged to you." + +"Hush! Not Mr. Whymper, if you please, for that's a fine here. Every +body at Crompton calls me 'Parson.' Obliged, Sir! Not at all. It is only +natural that, being what I am, I should wish you well. The law, it is +true, has decided against your legitimacy, but the Church is bound to +think otherwise. In my eyes you are the Squire's only son"--here he made +a whispering-trumpet of his brawny hands, and added with great +significance--"and heir." + +"I see," said Yorke, smiling in spite of himself. + +"Of course you do; did you think I was trifling with your intelligence? +I tell you that it is quite on the cards that you may recover your lost +position, and regain what is morally your own again. Carew is delighted +with you, not so much because you saved his stags as because you fought +such a good battle with him by the Decoy Pond. He has been consulting me +professionally as to whether it would be contrary to the tables of +affinity to have another set-to with you. I am sorry my reply was in the +negative, for, now I look at you, I do believe you would have thrashed +him; but I was so afraid of his getting the better of you, which might +have ruined your fortunes." + +Richard could only repeat his thanks for the good clergyman's kindness. +"You know nobody here, I suppose," observed the latter, "and, with a few +exceptions, which I will name to you, that is not of much consequence. +It is a shifting lot: they are here to-day and gone to-morrow, as says +the Scripture, and I wish they were all going to-morrow except Byam +Ryll. That's old Byam yonder, with the paunch and his hands behind him; +he has nowhere else to put them, poor fellow." And here Parson Whymper +launched into biography as aforesaid. + +The clock on the chimney-piece, on which the two were leaning, broke in +upon the divine's scarcely less dulcet accents with its silver quarter. + +"This is the first time," said Whymper, "that I have ever known your +father late; and to you belongs the honor of having caused him to +transgress his own immutable rule." + +While he was yet speaking a hunting-horn was blown in the hall beneath, +and the whole company turned _en masse_, like a field of poppies before +a sudden wind, to the door where Carew was standing. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FEAST OF LAPITHAE + + +The host himself led the way down stairs; while the rear of the party +was brought up by Mr. Whymper, to whom Yorke attached himself. + +When they reached the dining-room, and before they took their seats at +the ample table, the chaplain, with sonorous voice, gave a view holloa! +which was the Crompton grace. + +"It is very distressing to me to have to act in this way," whispered he +to his young friend, whose countenance betrayed considerable +astonishment; but it is the custom of the house; and, after all, there +is no great harm in it. _De minimis non curat lex_, you know." + +"That does not hold good with respect to the law of affiliation, +parson," observed Mr. Byam Ryll, who sat on the other side of him, "if, +at least, I have not forgotten my _Burns_." + +"I always understood that Burns had very loose views upon such matters," +returned the chaplain, demurely. + +"My dear parson, your remark is like that excellent condiment which I +wish I could see at this otherwise well-provided table--caviare to the +multitude. Why is it not furnished? You have only to say the word." Here +he addressed himself to Yorke: "This worthy divine who sits at the +bottom of the table, young gentleman, and who has neglected his duty in +not having introduced us, is all-powerful here; and we all endeavor to +make friends of him; nor is that circumstance, it is whispered, the only +respect in which he resembles the mammon of unrighteousness." + +A shadow of annoyance crossed the parson's smiling face. + +"Mr. Richard Yorke," said he, "this is Mr. Byam Ryll, our unlicensed +jester." + +"The parson, on the contrary," retorted the other, with twinkling eyes, +"is our Vice, and gives himself every license. What is the matter with +Carew to-night? He looks glum. I dare say he has been eating greens and +bacon at some farm-house, and is now regretting the circumstance. He has +no moral courage, poor fellow, and knows not how to deny his appetite." + +"You never did such a wasteful thing in your life, Byam, I'll warrant," +said the parson, smiling; "and yet some say that you have been a +profligate." + +"I know it," replied the gourmand, shaking his head; "and I forgive +them. They call me a slave to my stomach; if it be so, I at least serve +a master of some capacity, which is not the case with every body." + +"You are saying something about _me_, you big fat man," cried Carew, +from the other end of the table, and his voice had a very unpleasant +grasp in it. "Come, out with it!" + +"If our venerable friend does not stoop to deception," whispered the +parson into Yorke's ear, "he will now find himself in an ugly hole." + +"I was observing that you did not eat your lamperns, Squire," said the +stout gentleman, "and remarked that you were in no want of a feeder." + +"What's a feeder?" returned the host, ill-temperedly. "If it's a bib, +you'll soon want one yourself, for, egad, you're getting near your +second childhood!" + +"It must have been my plumpness and innocence which suggested that +idea," responded the other, smiling. "But if you have never known a +feeder, you have missed a great advantage, Squire. When you dine with my +Lord Mayor the question is always asked, will you have a feeder, or will +you not? If you say 'Yes,' you pay your half-guinea, and get him. He is +generally a grave old gentleman like myself, and much resembles a +beneficed clergyman. He stands behind your chair throughout the feast, +and delicately suggests what it is best for you to eat, to drink, and to +avoid. 'No; _no_ salmon,' he murmurs, if you have had turbot already; +and, '_Now_, a glass of Burgundy, _if_ you please, Sir;' +or, '_Now_, a glass of sherry.' If an indigestible or ill-compounded +_entree_ is handed, he will whisper 'No, Sir: neither now nor never,' +with quite an outburst of honest indignation; nor will he suffer you to +take Gruyere cheese, nor port with your Stilton. The consequence is, +that the next morning you feel as lively as though you had not feasted +on the previous evening, and convinced that you made a good investment +of your half-guinea in securing his services. If there was a feeder at +Crompton," concluded the old gourmand, sighing, and with a hypocritical +look, "it would be a boon to some of you young fellows, and might +produce a healthy and devout old age." + +"That's a good one!" "Well done, Byam!" "You won't beat that!" resounded +from all sides, for such were the terms in which the gallery at Crompton +expressed their approbation, whether of man or beast; but Mr. Frederick +Chandos and a few others, inclusive of Mr. Theodore Fane, kept a +dignified silence, as over a joke that was beyond their capacities--they +reserved their high approval for "gentlemen's stories" only. As for the +grim Squire, for whom alone the narrative had been served and garnished, +at so very short a notice, he observed upon it, that "when he had used +up old Byam's brains he should now have the less scruple in turning him +out-of-doors, inasmuch as it seemed there was a profession in town that +was just suited to him." + +How wondrous is the power of naked wealth--of the mere money! Simply +because he had a large rent-roll, this mad Carew could find not only +companions of his own calibre--reckless good-for-naughts, or dull +debauchees--but could command gray beard experience, wit, the art of +pleasing, in one man; and in another (what he was not less destitute of, +and needed more), politic management and common-sense. We do not say, as +the Squire himself sometimes did, when in a good-humor with his two +satellites, that Parson Whymper and Byam Ryll had more brains in their +little fingers than all his other friends had in their whole bodies, but +it was certain that, even when drunk, they were wiser than the others +when sober; the one had astuteness enough for a great statesman (or what +has passed for such in England) to hold the most discordant elements +together, and to make what is rotten seem almost sound; and, indeed, +without his chaplain's dextrous skidding, Carew would long ago have +irretrievably lost social caste, and dissipated his vast means to the +last shilling. On the other hand, Byam Ryll was gifted with even rarer +qualities; he was essentially a man of mark and character, and might +have made his fortune in any pursuit by his own wits; but his fortune +had been ready-made when he came of age, and he had occupied himself +very agreeably instead in getting through it, in which he had quite +succeeded. Parson Whymper, who had never known what it was to have a +ten-pound note to call his own, was now no worse off than he. They would +both have frankly owned, had they been asked, that they detested work of +any kind. Yet the chaplain had almost as much business on his hands as +the bursar of a great college, in the administration of Carew's affairs, +besides filling an office which was by no means a sinecure, in that of +his master of the ceremonies. Many a rudeness in that house would have +been bitterly avenged, and many a quarrel would have had a serious +termination, but for the good offices of Parson Whymper. Nor would Mr. +Byam Ryll have been considered by every body to earn an easy livelihood +in making jests out of every occasion, to tickle the fancy of a +dull-witted audience and of a patron, as often as not, morose; yet the +flesh-pots of Egypt had attracted both these men to the Squire's +service, their poverty as well as their will consenting; and in exchange +for meat and drink, and lodging of the best, they had sold themselves +into slavery. Upon the whole, they were well disposed to one another; +the bond of intelligence united them against the rich "roughs" with whom +they had to deal; they tilted together, side by side, against the +_canaille_; yet each, from the bitter consciousness of his own +degradation, took pleasure in the humiliation or discomfiture of the +other, at the rude hands of their common master. + +"Profession," said Chandos, in reply to Carew's last remark; "gad, your +ancient friend is lucky to have found one in these days. They tell me +that no young gentleman can now get his living without answering +questions, writing down things, drawing maps, and passing--What the +deuce do they call them?" + +"Hanged if _I_ know," said the Squire. "Ask Byam; he knows every thing." + +"I say, Mr. Byam," drawled the young man, somewhat insolently, but +without being aware that he was addressing a stranger by his Christian +name, "Carew says you know every thing. What is it that a gentleman is +now obliged to go through before he can get any of these snug things one +used to get for the asking? What is the confounded thing one has to +pass?" + +"Muster," answered Ryll, derisively, as though it was a riddle. + +Carew laughed aloud. The nearer a retort approached to a practical joke, +provided it was not at his own expense, the better he liked it. + +"What did the old beggar say?" inquired Mr. Frederick Chandos, his fair +face crimson with anger. + +"He asked for the mustard; he didn't hear you," answered the Squire, +mischievously; "he never does hear a fellow who lisps." + +"I asked you, Mr. Byam," repeated the young man with tipsy gravity, +"what is the name of those examinations?" + +"The name of the gentleman on my left, Mr. Chandos, is Ryll, and not +Byam--except to his intimate friends," interposed the chaplain; "and the +name you are in want of is competitive." + +"That's it," said the young man, slapping the table, and forgetting both +his mistake and his anger in the unaccustomed acquisition of an idea. +"Competitive examination is what they call it Well, you know, there was +my young brother--confound him!--looking to me to pay his bills; and, in +fact, having nothing to live upon, poor devil, except what I gave him. +So, of course, I was anxious to get him off my hands." + +"Very natural," assented Carew. "For my part, I could never see what +younger brothers were born for." + +"You'd see it less if you had one to keep," continued Chandos. "In old +times, now, I could have got Jack something warm and snug under +government, or in the colonies; and so I should now, but for one +thing--that he had to pass one of these cursed examinations first. +However, as it had to be done, and as Jack, according to his own +account, was as much out of form for one as another of them, I +recommended him to try his luck for something in India; for as long as +you can keep a fellow on the other side of the world he can't dun +you--not to hurt; it ain't like coming and calling _himself_; and you +needn't read his letters unless you like. Well, 'India be it,' says +Jack; 'that's as good a place as another;' though, in my opinion, he +never expected to go there. He thought he had no chance whatever of +pulling through, and so did I, for the fact is, Jack is a born fool." + +"Did you say he was your brother, or only your half-brother?" inquired +Mr. Byam Ryll, with an appearance of great interest. + +"My very own brother, Sir," replied the unconscious Chandos, flattered +to find such attention paid to him; "and as like to me as one thimble, I +mean as one pea, is to another. Well, the strange thing is, the deuce +alone knows how it happened, but _Jack got through_." Here he took a +bumper of port, as though in honor of that occasion. "It's a perfect +marvel, but the best thing for _him_ (as well as for me) in the world. +Nobody ever went out under better auspices, for the governor of Bengal +is our cousin, and Jack was to school with his private sec.: it's a +first-rate connection. Our family has been connected with India for ever +so long. I'll tell you how." + +"It is a most admirable connection," observed Mr. Byam Ryll; "and the +whole circumstances of the case will, I have no doubt, be interesting in +the highest degree to the natives of Bengal. Your brother should embody +them in a neat speech, and deliver it from the deck of the steamer +before he lands." + +It is probable that Mr. Frederick Chandos would have so far +misunderstood the nature of this observation as to have accepted it as a +compliment had not Carew burst into a series of wild laughs, which +betokened high approval, and was one of his few tokens of enjoyment. He +had evinced unmistakable signs of discontent and boredom before his +intellectual henchman had thus struck in on his behalf; and he was +really gratified for the rescue. Chandos was muttering some drunken +words of insolence and anger; but Carew bore him down. + +"Pooh, pooh! Old Byam was right!" cried he, with boisterous mirth. "I +dare say all that long story of yours _may_ interest those black +fellows; but for me, I care nothing about it. It's all rubbish. Be +quiet, you young fool, I say; it's too early yet for buffets. Here, +bring the beaker." + +This was a magnificent tankard, the pride of Crompton, which, at the +conclusion of dinner, was always filled with port-wine, and passed round +the table. It was lined with silver gilt, but made of ivory, and had a +cover of the same, both finely carved. On the bowl was portrayed a +Forest Scene, with Satyrs pursuing Nymphs; on the lid was the Battle of +the Centaurs; while the stem was formed by a sculptured figure of +Hercules. If the artist, Magnus Berg, who had fashioned it long ago in +his own Rhine Land, had had foresight of the sort of company into whose +hands his work was in these days to pass he could not have hit upon more +apt devices. His Satyrs and his Centaurs had here their representatives +in the flesh; while the thews and sinews of the son of Alcmene had their +counterpart in those of the man who now stood up at the head of that +splendid table, and drank such a draught as though the port were porter. +It was a feat to hold it with one hand, and therefore Carew did so; but +to empty it at a draught was, even for him, an impossibility, for it +held three bottles of wine. Though the Squire could be acquitted of +entertaining reverence for any thing human or divine, he had a sort of +superstitious regard for his beaker, and believed that so long as he had +it in his possession--like the "Luck of Eden Hall"--no great harm could +happen to him. He attached all the importance of a religious +ceremony--and, indeed, it was the only one he practiced--to the using of +this goblet, and resented any levity during the process as though it +were sacrilege. But to stand up after dinner, and much less to support +this elaborate drinking-vessel, was not always an easy matter with the +Squire's guests, and so it happened on the present occasion. The usage +was, that one held the cover while his neighbor drank from the cup, +after a ceremonious bow to him; and it fell to the lot of Mr. Frederick +Chandos to perform this latter duty immediately after his host, and +while there was still much wine in the goblet. Uncertain as to his +footing, and trembling with irritation, as well as with the weight of +his burden, he hesitated to drink. Perhaps, in his already wine-muddled +brain, he had some vague idea of passing the vessel on, and thereby +showing his displeasure; but, at all events, the hesitation was +unfortunate for him, for, with a fierce ejaculation of impatience, Carew +crammed the great cover on the young man's head, which, like the helmet +of Otranto, came down over nose and chin. Maddened with the insult, +Chandos dashed the contents of the goblet into what he thought was the +Squire's face, but which was indeed the white cravat and waistcoat of +his opposite neighbor; and then began a scene that Smollett alone could +have described or Hogarth painted. It was as though a concerted signal +had been given for a free fight among all the Squire's guests. The one +art that was practiced among them was that of boxing, and almost every +man present had a neat way of hitting out with one hand or the other, +which he believed to be unique, and the effect of which he was most +curious to observe. The less skillful with their fists used any other +weapons that came handy. The dessert service of Dresden porcelain, +elaborately enameled with views of the chief towns of Germany, had once +been the marriage portion of a princess, and was justly held to be one +of the rarest treasures of Crompton; but it was no more respected now +than if it had furnished forth the table of Pirithous. The plates +skimmed about like quoits, and all the board became a wreck of glass and +china. Above the clamor and the fighting could be heard Carew's strident +voice demanding his beaker, pouring unimaginable anathemas against any +one who should do it damage, and threatening to unmuzzle and bring in +his bear. The servants, not unused to such mad tumults, gathered in a +mass at the doorway, and awaited with equanimity the subsidence of the +storm among their betters. It came at last, and found the scene of +contest not unlike a ship after storm--the decks all but clean swept, +and the crew (who had broken into the spirit-room) exhausted. + +Richard Yorke, who, with his two neighbors, had taken no part in the +affray beyond defending himself from blows or missiles, was even more +astonished at the general good-humor that now succeeded than at the +fracas itself. If there had been any bad blood among the combatants, it +seemed to have been spilled, for there was now nothing but laughter and +applausive drumming of fists upon the table. The company were as pleased +with their own performance as the holiday faces that greet with such +exuberant joy the havoc upon the stage at pantomime time. The _habitués_ +of Crompton, indeed, were not unlike wild school-boys, with a Lord of +Misrule for their master, and "give and take" for their one good +precept. Nay, the rude outbreak had even a beneficial effect, for it cut +short the orgie, which might, and probably would, have otherwise been +prolonged for hours. There was no dissentient voice when Mr. Byam Ryll +arose and observed, in demure accents: "Suppose, my dear friends, that +we join the ladies." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +YORKE REPORTS PROGRESS. + + +I trust it will not be imagined, and far less hoped for, by any reader +of this sober narrative, that the phrase which concluded the last +chapter implies that he or she is about to be introduced to bad company. +The fair sex will not be without their representatives in our story, and +that soon; but they will not be such as blushed unseen (if they blushed +at all) in the bowers at Crompton. Mr. Ryll's suggestion, "Let us join +the ladies," was only an elegant way he had, and which was well +understood by his audience, of proposing an adjournment to the +billiard-room. If that worthy old gentleman could be said to have had +any source of income whatever, it was the billiard-table; and hence it +was that he was always ready to proceed thither. Nor had he boasted +without reason, a while ago, of his powers of self-denial, for he would +often forego a glass of generous wine (when he felt that he had had +enough), in order to keep his hand steady for the game at pool, which +invariably took place at Crompton after dinner. His extreme obesity, +though it deprived him of some advantages in the way of "reach," was, +upon the whole, a benefit to him. His antagonists lost the sense of his +superiority of skill in their enjoyment of the ridiculous and +constrained postures in which he was compelled to place himself, and he +was well content to see them laugh and lose. None but a first-rate +player could have held his own among that company, whose intelligence +had been directed to this particular pursuit for most of their natural +lives; and even "Tub Ryll," as they called him, had to supplement his +dexterity by other means to make success secure. His liveliest sallies, +his bitterest jests, were all reserved for these occasions, so that +mirth or anger was forever unstringing the nerves of his competitors, +and diminishing their chance of gain. It was difficult to unstring the +nerves of Parson Whymper, who ran him very close in skill, and sometimes +divided the spoil with him; but on the present occasion he had a wordy +weapon to baffle even that foe. This consisted in constant allusion to +the latter's supposed reversionary interest in the living at Crompton, +the incumbent whereof was ancient and infirm, and which was in the +Squire's gift. This piece of preferment was the object of the chaplain's +dearest hopes, and the last subject he would have chosen to jest upon, +especially in the presence of its patron. + +"Is he to have it, Squire, or is he not?" would be Tub Ryll's serious +inquiry, just as it was the parson's turn to play on him, or, "Who backs +the vicar elect?"--observations which seldom failed to cost that +expectant divine a sovereign, for the play at the Hall table, although +not so high as was going on in the Library with those who patronized +cards, was for considerable stakes. Carew, who enjoyed, above all +things, this embarrassing pleasantry, would return an ambiguous reply, +so that the problem remained without a solution. But when the disgusted +chaplain at last threw up his cue, in a most unusual fit of dudgeon, the +Squire put the question to the company, as a case of church preferment +of which he was unwilling to take the sole responsibility. "The sum," he +said, "which had been offered to him for the next presentation would +exactly defray the cost of his second pack of hounds, which his chaplain +himself had advised him to put down; so the point to be considered--" + +"The hounds, the hounds!" broke in this impatient audience, amidst roars +of laughter. And nobody knew better than poor Parson Whymper that this +verdict would be more final than that of most other ecclesiastical +synods, and that he had lost his preferment. It was Carew's humor to +take jest for earnest (as it was to turn into ridicule what was +serious), and to pretend that his word was pledged to decisions to which +nobody else would have attached the slightest weight; it pleased him to +feel that his lightest word was law, or perhaps it was a part of the +savage adoration which he professed to pay to truth. + +Byam Ryll felt a genuine regret that he had pushed matters so far, +though Whymper himself was to blame for having shown temper, and thereby +precipitated the catastrophe. But he did not play the less skillfully on +that account; and, moreover, had no rival to divide the pool with him. + +"I would give five pounds if somebody would beat him," muttered the +discontented parson within Yorke's hearing, who was standing aloof with +his cigar watching the game. + +"I think I _could_," said the young man, quietly, "if I _had_ five +pounds." + +As the pool was two pounds, and the lives were one, this was exactly the +amount of pecuniary risk to be run, and which want of the necessary +funds had alone prevented the young man from incurring. + +"Here is a fiver," replied the parson, softly. + +"But I really have no money," remonstrated Yorke, though his fine face +lit up for a moment with delight (for he was a gambler to the core), +"nor any expectation of--" + +"Yes, yes; you have expectations enough," answered the other, hurriedly. +"You may give me that living yet yourself--who knows? Take a ball, +man--take a ball." + +So, when another game commenced, the young landscape-painter, who had +spent at least as much of his short life at those boards of green cloth +called "public tables" as in studying the verdant hues of nature, made +one of the combatants, and not a little astonished them by his +performance. He had the eye of a hawk, with the litheness of a young +panther; and his prudence during the late debauch had preserved his +steadiness of hand. Mr. Theodore Fane had the misfortune to be his +immediate predecessor, and was "potted" at long distances. + +"By Jove!" exclaimed he, sulkily, upon losing his last life by a double, +"you must have lived by your wits, young gentleman, to have learned to +play pool like that." + +"I have," returned Yorke, without moving a muscle, and preparing to +strike again. "You will come to do the same, if you play much at this +game--but your sad end will not be protracted. You will starve to death +with considerable rapidity." + +"My dear Mr. Yorke," said Byam Ryll, approvingly, "you have won my +heart, though I can't afford to let you win my sovereigns; I like you, +but I must kill you off, I see." + +"Unless--" said Yorke. + +"Unless what?" inquired Ryll, as he made his stroke at Yorke's ball, +which was quite safe, and grazed it with his own, which, gliding off +another ball, found its way into a pocket. For once, he had really +allowed himself to be "put off" his aim. + +"Unless you commit suicide," replied the young fellow, smiling. "I was +about to warn you of the danger of that kiss." + +"You are worse than a highway robber, young Sir," said the annoyed old +gentleman. + +"That's true," returned Yorke, "for I take your money and your 'life.'" + +The young fellow repaid his loan that night, besides putting half a +dozen sovereigns into his own pocket; and there was other fruit from +that investment. + +Carew was delighted with his son's skill, though his wit was somewhat +wasted on him. "Why the deuce did you not play in the first game?" said +he, when the party broke up to adjourn to the hazard-table. "I suppose +it was your confounded cunning" (and here his face grew dark, as though +with some recollection of the past); "you wanted to see how they played +before you pitted yourself against them--did you? How like, how like!" + +"I had no money, Sir, until Parson Whymper lent me some." + +"Oh, that was it--was it?" said the Squire. "Well, well, that was not +your fault, lad, nor shall it be mine--here, catch," and out of his +breeches-pocket he took a roll of crumpled notes and flung them at him; +then suddenly turned upon his heels, with what sounded like a muttered +execration at his own folly. + +Yorke did not risk this unexpected treasure on the chances of the dice, +but retired to his own room. It was a dainty chamber, as we have said, +and offered in its appointments a curious contrast to his late +sleeping-room in the keeper's lodge. He opened the door of communication +to which the Squire had referred, and found himself in a sort of +boudoir, in which, as in his own room, a good fire was burning. By the +lover of art-furniture, this latter apartment would have been pronounced +a perfect gem. Here also every article was of ebony, and flashed back +the blaze from the red coals like dusky mirrors. Yorke lit the +candles--huge waxen ones, such as the pious soul in peril sees in his +mind's eye, and promises to his saint--and looked around him with +curiosity. Like the little Marchioness of Mr. Richard Swiveller, he had +never seen such things, "except in shops;" or rather, he had seen single +specimens of such exposed in windows of great furniture warehouses, +rather as a wonder and a show than with any hope to tempt a purchaser. +On one hand stood an ebony cabinet, elaborately carved with fruit and +flowers; it was divided into three parts, and their shut doors faced +with plate-glass gave it the appearance of a tripartite altar with its +sacred fire kindled. A casket almost as large glowed close beside it, +enriched with figures and landscapes, and with shining locks and hinges, +as he afterward discovered, of solid gold. A book-case of the same +precious wood was filled with volumes bound in scarlet--all French +novels, superbly if not very decorously illustrated. But the article +which astonished the new tenant of this chamber most was the ebony +escritoire that occupied its centre, with every thing set out for +ornament or use that is seen on a lady's writing-table. It was +impossible that such nick-nacks as he there beheld could be intended for +male use, and still less for such men as were the Squire's guests. Did +this chamber and its neighbor apartment usually own a female +proprietress? and if so, why was _he_ placed there? This idea by no +means alarmed the young landscape-painter, who had no more _mauvaise +honte_, nor dislike to adventures of gallantry, than Gil Blas de +Santillane. He sat down at the escritoire, and, taking up a gilt pen +with a ridiculous silk tassel, began a letter to the same person to whom +that day he had already dispatched a missive; but this time it was not +so brief: the day of brilliant dies and illuminated addresses had not as +yet set in, so he wrote at the top of the little scented sheet, in a +bold free hand, the word Crompton! and put a note of admiration after +it. Had you seen his face as he did so, you would have said it was a +note of triumph. + +"My DEAR MOTHER,--_Veni, vidi, vici_--I have come, I have seen him, and +I am at all events tolerated. The perilous moment was when I told him +who I was. He said he was half disposed to set his bull-dog at me, but +he didn't; on the contrary, he at once bid me exchange my bachelor's +quarters for the two chambers I at present occupy, and which remind me +of the _Arabian Nights_. I have never seen any thing like them; the +furniture of both is of ebony; but the most curious part of the affair +is, that they are evidently designed for a lady. Imagine your Richard +sleeping under a coverlet of real Brussels lace! Every thing in the +house, however, is magnificent, or was so once, before it was damaged by +barbarous revel. Such orgies as I have witnessed to-night would seem +incredible, if I wrote them; the _Modern Midnight Entertainment_ of old +Hogarth will supply you with the _dramatis personae_; but the splendor +of the surroundings immensely heightened the effect of it all. Carew and +his friends might have sat for Alaric and his Goths carousing amidst the +wreck of the art treasures of Rome. Nothing that he has affords him any +satisfaction; though, if it is of great cost, Chaplain Whymper tells me +that he derives a momentary pleasure from its willful damage. This man +and one other are the only persons of intelligence about Carew; but even +they have no influence with him that can be depended on. If madness were +always hereditary indeed, I might consider myself doomed. You were right +there, I own; but you must needs allow that in undertaking this +adventure contrary to your advice I have effected something. The +chaplain is already speculating upon my future fortunes, and he knows +his patron better than any body; at all events, if I am turned out of +doors to-morrow (which I am aware is quite on the cards), I shall have +three hundred pounds in my pocket, which Carew, with a 'Catch that,' +threw me in notes, exactly as you throw a chicken-bone to _Dandy_ as he +sits on his hind-legs, though I did not 'beg' for them, I do assure you. +The immediate cause of my being invited hither was as follows [here the +writer described his exploit with the stags]. This, with our match at +fisticuffs by moonlight, had greatly inclined Carew to favor me; yet, +when the disclosure of my identity was made, I thought for a moment all +my pains were lost. He resented the intrusion exceedingly; but then he +had himself invited me to be his guest; and he holds his word as good as +his bond. Indeed, by what the chaplain tells me, it will soon be held +something better, for even his vast estate is crumbling away, acre by +acre, beneath the load of lavish expenditure it has to bear. There must +be much, however, at the worst, to be picked up among the _debris_ of +such a fortune." + +"I am aware that it is in the last degree improbable that Carew will be +persuaded to make a will in _any body's_ favor at present. He imagines, +I think, that the whole world is made for his sole enjoyment--it almost +might be so, for all he sees to the contrary--and never dreams that he +will die. But it is also certain that he will die early; and more than +likely that he will come to grief, when he has lost his nerve, in one or +other of the mad exploits which he will be too proud to discontinue. +Then will your Richard become the most assiduous and painstaking of +nurses that ever humored crack-brained patient. But there! I have made a +dozen programmes of what is to happen, and this is but a specimen. Who +can tell? I may be heir of Crompton yet, or I may come back to you +to-morrow like a bad penny, and with what the vulgar describe as a flea +in my ear." + +"It will not surprise you to learn that you are personally held in great +disfavor here, though the chaplain (who has heard all from the Squire's +lips) speaks of you with due respect. The last thing that is desired at +Crompton is, of course, the return of its lawful mistress. Carew himself +is very bitter against you, which is doubtless owing to the good offices +of grandmamma. The clock has just struck four, which bids me close this +letter, though of all the Squire's guests, to judge by the wrangling +that is going on in the Library below stairs, the first to retire will +be your affectionate son, RICHARD YORKE." + +"P.S.--I forgot to say that Carew made the most pointed inquiries as to +whether I had any other profession than that of landscape-painting. +Would it not be strangely comical if he should bestir himself to get me +some Civil appointment! I almost fancied he must have been thinking of +doing so, from some scraps of talk I heard him let fall at dinner. +Curiously enough, by-the-by, who should have been sitting at his +right-hand, but Frederick Chandos, Jack's brother! 'Good Heaven!' (you +will say), 'suppose it had been Jack himself;' however, it was not." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +HOW BENEDICT BECAME A BACHELOR. + + +Notwithstanding the late hour at which Yorke retired to his sumptuous +couch, he was up the next morning betimes. He was restless, and eager to +explore the splendors of the house, that had been so nearly his +inheritance, for it was not without a stubborn contest that the law had +deprived him of what he still believed to be his rights. Nor had +Crompton, in his eyes (as we have hinted), only the interest of +Might-have-been; it had that of Might-be also. If not absolutely +sanguine, he was certainly far from hopeless of fortune making him that +great amends; at all events, while the opportunity was afforded him, +which he well knew might be lost forever by his own imprudence, or +through the caprice of another, he resolved not to neglect it. It was +broad daylight, yet not a soul was stirring in all the stately place; +nothing but the echo of his own footsteps, as he trod the corridor, and +entered the great Picture-gallery, met his attentive ear. The collection +of old masters at Crompton was varied and valuable; he could have spent +hours among them with infinite pleasure, if the intoxicating thought +that they all might be one day his own had not been present to mar their +charms. He regarded them less as an admiring disciple, or a connoisseur, +than as an appraiser. The homely life-scenes of Jan Stein, the saintly +creations of Paul Veronese, the warmth of Rubens, and the stateliness of +Vandyck, were all measured by one standard--that of price. The contents +of this one room alone, thought he, "represent no moderate fortune." + +When his eye strayed to the tall windows, and rested on the wooded acres +which owned in mad Carew a nominal master, the beauty of dale and upland +touched him not at all. "I wonder now," sighed he, "how much of this is +dipped?" It was a good sign, he thought, that in one room he found a +cabinet containing no less than fifty antique cameos; for, if the +pressure of pecuniary difficulty had really begun to be severe, the +Squire would surely have parted with what must have been in his view +useless lumber, and was so easily convertible into cash. The Library +offered a strange spectacle: chairs thrown down, and broken glasses, +bore witness to the wildness of last night's revel; the splendid carpet +was strewn with the ends and ashes of cigars, and with packs of cards; +and on the table, scratched in all directions by the sharp spurs of +fighting-cocks, still lay the dice and caster. The atmosphere was so +heavy with the fumes of wine and smoke that Yorke was glad to escape +from it, through a half-opened window, into the morning air. + +How bright and fresh it was! How much there was of bracing enjoyment, of +wholesome gayety, in the mere breath of it; how much of invigorating +delight in the mere sight of the glittering turf, the beaded trees, to +which the hoar-frost had lent its jewels! But such cheap luxuries are +not only unknown to those who are sleeping off their debauch of the past +night during the brightest hours of the day; they are also lost upon +those who rise early in the morning, to follow the strong drink of greed +and envious expectation. Richard Yorke enjoyed them not, save that he +felt his lungs play more freely. A couple of gardeners were at work upon +the lawn, of one of whom he asked the way to the stables, the report of +the completeness and perfection of which had often reached him. The +house and its furniture--nay, the house and its inmates--were of less +consequence in the Squire's eyes than the arrangements of his +loose-boxes. The old dynasty of Houyhnhnms was re-established at +Crompton; the Horse bare sway, or was at least held in higher account +than the Human. The Horse, the Hound, the Pheasant, the Bag-fox, and, +fifthly, Man, were there the gradations of rank; and a compound +being--half man, half brute--was, by a not unparalleled freak of +fortune, the master of all. Carew had never fed his mares with human +flesh, but there was a legend that he had rubbed a friend over with +anise-seed, and offered that dainty morsel to his dogs. The victim was +snatched away again, however, by some officious underling, who justified +his interference upon the ground that the hounds would have been spoiled +by such an indulgence; and the Squire had pardoned him. This was one of +the stories about the Master of Crompton which divided the country into +those who believed it and those who did not; but Walter Grange had told +it to Richard as a characteristic fact. + +The stables were indeed a marvel, not only of cleanliness and comfort, +but, if it had been possible by any arts of daintiness to make them +cox-combs, such would Carew's horses have become. They had +looking-glasses in their own glossy coats, and yet it was not well for +one of them to be an especial favorite with its master, for it more than +once happened that he would ride such so often and so long that it fell +under him, killed with kindness, overwhelmed with his oppressive favor. +On such occasions, if the Squire happened to have been as devoted as +usual to his brandy flask, he would shed copious tears, which many +instanced as a proof that he was neither selfish nor cold-hearted. + +The kennels were of vast proportions, hedged in by high palisades, +through the interstices of which many a black muzzle now protruded, +sniffing like ill-tempered women, or uttering shrill whines of despair. +As Yorke, with his hands buried in his pockets, for they were cold, +though his head was too well provided with clustering hair to be +conscious of the absence of a hat, was contemplating this spectacle with +cynical amusement, up strode the chaplain, wholesome and ruddy-looking. + +"You are up betimes--as Crompton hours go--Mr. Yorke; I hope such good +habits will not be undermined by evil associations. How I envy you your +constitution, to be able to face this November mist with a bare head!" + +"Nay, parson," rejoined the young man, "you must have risen early +yourself to know that there _was_ a mist. It's clear enough now all +round. I suppose our impatient friends yonder," pointing to the kennel, +where all the dogs, hearing the chaplain's voice, were now in full +chorus, "will have their will this morning?" + +"Yes; it is this pack's turn to hunt." + +"I wish, for your sake, Mr. Whymper, that there was only one pack," +observed Yorke, with good-natured earnestness. + +"Ah, you are referring to that foolish talk about the living last night. +Poor Ryll is quite broken-hearted about it this morning; and, in fact, +he did do me an ill turn, though, I am sure, without intending it. It is +the misfortune of a professed wit--and especially of a poor one--that he +can not afford to be silent." + +"You take it more good-humoredly than I should," said Yorke. "I should +be inclined to charge something for a joke made at my own expense, where +the loss was so considerable." + +"You don't look of a very revengeful disposition, neither," returned the +chaplain, critically. + +"I have never experienced the feeling of revenge," answered the young +man, frankly; "but I know what it is to feel wronged, and I think it is +lucky that it is the law, and not an individual, that has done me the +mischief--one can't have a vendetta against the law, you know. But, if +it were a man, ay, though he were my own flesh and blood, he should pay +for it--yes, sevenfold. I would not put up with injustice from any human +being; and where I could, if the law would not help me, I would right +myself with the strong hand." + +It was curious to see the effect which this objectless passion wrought +upon the young man's face, and even figure. His lithe limbs seemed to +grow rigid; his right hand was clenched convulsively; his handsome +Spanish countenance was lit up with a sort of dusky glow. + +"My dear young friend," said the chaplain, quietly, "my profession, +perhaps, ought to suggest to me some serious arguments against the +disposition which you so unmistakably evince; but I will confine myself +to saying that such a temper as yours is not to be kept for nothing. It +is only men in your father's position who can indulge themselves in such +a luxury, I do assure you. You'll come to grief with it some day." + +Yorke laughed, good-humoredly. "What must be, will be. Let us hope there +will be no occasion for the display of my fire-works. I suppose, what +with his two packs of hounds and the rest of it, even my father will be +brought to behave himself demurely, sooner or later." + +"I should like to see Carew demure," said the chaplain, smiling; +"although not reduced to that state by the extremities of poverty. Yes, +as you say," he added, in a graver tone, "the pace at which he has been +going these twenty years has begun to tell on his fortune. But it is not +the dogs that will ruin him (as they ruined poor Ryll, with his few +thousands), nor yet his hunters. It is his race-horses on the Downs +yonder that will bring him to his piece of bread." + +"I suppose so," said Yorke, sighing, not so much on Carew's account as +on his own; "he backs a horse because it is his own. That is his +confounded egotism." + +"Your tie of relationship, Mr. Yorke, does not, I perceive, make you +blind to your father's foibles." + +"Why should it?" rejoined the young man, passionately. "Am I to feel +grateful to him for begetting me? What has he done to make me feel that +I owe him aught? Do you suppose I thank him for being admitted here, +unacknowledged, uninvited in my own proper person? For being permitted +to take my fill at the common trough along with his drunken swine?" + +"Nay, my friend," interposed the chaplain, coldly; "the food and wine +are of the best; and we should never scoff at good victual. If you have +so proud a stomach, why are you here? It embarrasses you to answer the +question. Let me, then, shape the reply. 'I have a sense of my own +dignity,' you would say, 'far keener than that of my father's flatterers +and favorites; but, on the other hand, I humiliate myself for a much +greater stake.'" + +"_I_ humiliate myself?" reiterated the young man, angrily. + +"You take money that is not very gracefully offered for your acceptance, +my young friend," said the chaplain, quietly. + +"You saw him, did you?" cried Richard, hoarse with shame and passion. + +"No; I did not; but I heard him swearing at you at the hazard-table for +having emptied his pockets; and I am familiar with his mode of bestowing +presents. You must forgive me, Mr. Yorke," added Parson Whymper, dryly; +"but you ought to know that when a man has lost his own self-respect, he +is, naturally averse to the profession of independence in another." + +"If you deem yourself a dependent, Mr. Chaplain," replied Yorke, +bitterly, "you still permit yourself some frankness." + +"Yes; that is one of the few virtues which are practiced at Crompton. +You will find me speak the truth." + +There was irony in Parson Whymper's tone; and yet the young man felt +that he was not the subject of its cynicism. Was it possible that this +hard-drinking, hard-riding, hard-headed divine was scornful of himself, +and of his own degraded position? Yorke did not credit him with any such +fine feeling. He had read of Swift at Temple's, and could understand the +great Dean's bitterness against a shallow master and his insolent +guests, but that a man should become despicable to himself, was +unintelligible to him. + +"Of course," continued the chaplain, smiling at his evident +bewilderment, "I could have been as smooth-spoken as you please, my +young friend; but I had estimated your good sense too highly to endeavor +to conciliate you by such vapid arts." + +"I thank you," said Yorke, thoughtfully. "I hope you were right there; I +am sure at least that from your mouth I could hear home truths, which +from another's would be very unpalatable. You are good enough to speak +as though you would wish us to be friends. I am going to ask you, +therefore, to do me a favor." + +"I will do any thing that lies in my power; but do not, for your own +sake, press me to influence your father----" + +"No, no; it is not that," broke in the other, hastily. "It lies with +yourself to grant my request. I wish to hear from you the true story of +Carew's marriage with my mother." + +"The _true story_?" echoed Parson Whymper. "Nay; I can not vouch for +being possessed of that. I have only heard it from your grandmother: the +counsel for the prosecution is scarcely a reliable authority for the +facts of a case." + +"And I have only heard the defense," said Yorke. "Let me now, for the +first time, know what was urged upon the other side, and so weightily," +the young man gloomily added, "that it made my mother an outcast, and +myself a disgraced and penniless lad. You see, I know exactly what was +the end of it all, so do not fear to shock me." + +"There can be no disgrace where one has not one's self to blame," urged +the chaplain. + +"You think so?" broke in the other, bitterly. "What! not when one's +mother is to blame, for instance? Well, please begin." + +"I had much rather not," said the chaplain. "It would be much better for +you to get the newspaper report of the case--I can tell you the exact +date--and read both _pro_ and _con_." + +"No report was ever published, Mr. Whymper; the case was heard with +closed doors, or suppressed by Carew's influence. So much, perhaps--to +judge by your face--the better for me." + +"I think it would be better for you not to hear it, even now, Mr. +Yorke," returned the chaplain, not without a touch of tenderness in his +tone. "But, if you insist upon it, come to my private room, and let us +breakfast together first, then we will have the story over our cigars." + +Accordingly, the two repaired to the apartment in question--a very snug +one, on the ground-floor, but so strewn with documents and letters that +it resembled a lawyer's sanctum. The morning meal--which, in the host's +case, consisted of a game-pie and a tankard of strong ale--having been +here dispatched, and their cigars lighted, Parson Whymper began as +follows: + +"It must have been in the autumn of 1821 that Carew finally left +school--the public school of Harton. He got into some difficulties with +the authorities--refused, I believe, to apologize for some +misdemeanor--so that he had to be privately withdrawn----" + +"I beg your pardon there," remarked Yorke, hastily. "He was expelled, as +I happen to know for certain." + +"Very likely," said the chaplain, slowly expelling the smoke from his +lips; "indeed, I should say most likely. But remember mine is +professedly an _ex parte_ statement. Mrs. Carew--I mean Mrs. Carew the +elder--is solely responsible for it. Of course, she softened down the +facts against her son, and I have no doubt made compensation for so +doing by highly coloring the offenses of her daughter-in-law. I told +you, you would not like the story. Is it still your wish that I should +proceed with it?" + +"Yes, yes," said Yorke; "go on. I was a fool to interrupt you." But the +chaplain noticed that the young man held his open palm before his face, +under pretense of shielding it from the fire, and that his cheeks grew +scarlet as the tale went on, nevertheless. + +"Carew was not seventeen then, when he left school for the house of a +gentleman of the name of Hardcastle, in Berkshire, as his private pupil. +It was understood that he was to have his particular care and attention, +but not his exclusive services. There were one or two other +pupils--rather queer ones as it would seem; but Mr. Hardcastle +advertised in the newspapers for lads of position, but neglected +education--young fellows, in short, who had proved unmanageable at +home--and undertook to reform them by his system. It was no wonder, +then, that Carew found some strange companions. The strangest of all, +however, under the circumstances, was surely the tutor's niece, Miss +Hardcastle herself." + +"Why strangest?" interrupted Yorke. + +"I think Mrs. Carew the elder meant to imply that this young lady, being +possessed of great physical advantages, should have been the last person +selected by Mr. Hardcastle as his housekeeper, and the companion of his +pupils, and the more so since he was well aware, as it afterward turned +out, that she had already succeeded in victimizing (such was Mrs. +Carew's expression) one of these very lads. That was years ago, it is +true; and it might well be imagined that a lady of the mature age of +five-and-thirty might have outlived her charms; but in her particular +case this was not so. Miss Hardcastle, as she was called, was still very +beautiful, high-spirited, and an excellent horsewoman. She was also--if +that had been necessary to obtain her purpose--well-read and +accomplished. Being clever, good-looking, and not easily shocked, +however, she was more than competent to secure the affections of young +Carew. She was, nevertheless, as I have said, literally old enough to be +his mother; and the idea of the affair having been a love-match, in the +usual sense of the expression, was simply preposterous. That Miss +Hardcastle was herself of this opinion seems evident from her having +enjoined secrecy upon her youthful bridegroom. They lived together as +man and wife, under Mr. Hardcastle's roof, for near six months before +their marriage was proclaimed. Then young Mrs. Carew took a bold step: +she persuaded her husband to bring her to his house, under the roof of +which his mother was then residing. But they did not come (as one might +have imagined) in the fashion of two runaway lovers, who seek +forgiveness for their youthful ardor with penitence and submission. The +bridegroom was full of wild mirth at having at last done something +seriously to astonish the world. He was fond of his mother, after his +own fashion; but so far from entreating her forgiveness, he did not even +perceive any particular necessity for conciliation. The bride was full +of triumph; she had not risked much, and she had won a great stake. It +would have been better for her could she have borne her success with +more modesty. Her mother-in-law was transported with rage, which she was +too wise to exhibit. She knew her son far better than his new wife did; +and she felt that opposition was for the present hopeless; but she took +counsel with her son's guardian, and bided her time. It came at last, +though very slowly. Carew was devoted to his spouse for a whole +twelvemonth--a longer time than youth and beauty combined have ever +enthralled him since. Even when her tender tones--for she had the +sweetest voice that ever woman possessed--failed to thrill him, and her +queenly form to charm, he would probably not have consented to take part +against her, but for her own imprudence. She lost her temper with him +upon a matter where it is difficult for the wisest of her sex to keep +it: she grew jealous." + +"Without cause?" inquired Yorke, gloomily. His cigar had gone out, +though he still held it between his white lips. + +"No; not without cause. That is a point, I fancy, about which my +informant had her reasons for not being explicit." + +"What!" cried the young man, indignantly. "She threw some one in her +son's way, to divert his attention from his lawful wife?" + +"Perhaps; I can't say for certain. I am not defending her, Mr. Yorke; +but remember, she loved her son. She beheld him a victim to an artful +woman. He was not in her eyes as he is in mine, and perhaps in yours. He +had, she argued, capabilities of good, an affectionate and trustful +nature; he was the best _parti_ in the county, and had chosen his +tutor's niece--a woman old enough to have borne him. Besides, she was +_not_ his lawful wife. The dowager had secretly taken legal opinion upon +that matter, and was only waiting for an opportunity to test it. It was +essential for this that her son should desire his own freedom; and at +last he did so. I have told you the occasion. In the whirlwind of her +wrath, your mother told Carew some home truths; above all, let him know +she despised him, and had inveigled him into marriage. He had no other +name for her, henceforth, but Serpent." + +"I know," said Yorke. "Go on." + +"It was within two months of your birth that this quarrel took place. +Had you been born, and especially here at Crompton, I think the rupture +would never have happened. Your grandmother felt that too, and did her +utmost to precipitate matters, and, as you know, she was successful. Her +daughter-in-law was compelled to leave the house, and an action was +commenced in an ecclesiastical court. The validity of the marriage was +contested on the ground of undue publication of the bans, both parties +having a knowledge of the fact. I am a parson, you know, and this bit of +law lies in my way. The bride appeared in the register as spinster, +whereas she was the widow of an old pupil of her uncle's, whose surname +you bear. It was not an easy victory by any means. The judge of the +Consistory Court held that the inaccuracy in question was insufficient +to invalidate the ceremony; but Carew, or rather your grandmother, +appealed to the Court of Arches, and got the decision reversed. The +marriage was therefore declared null and void. Very hard lines it was +for you, Mr. Yorke; and--and that's the whole story." + +"I thank you," said the young man, gravely. "I can easily imagine that +it might have been told by other lips in harsher terms." + +They were silent for full a minute, Yorke busying himself with the +titles of the documents upon the table, written out in the chaplain's +sprawling hand. + +"Your mother must be a most remarkable woman," observed the latter, +thoughtfully. "Is she still young-looking for her age?" + +"Yes; very. What a queer docket is here! '_Tin Mine. Refused_:' What does +that mean?" + +"It is an application from one Trevethick, an inn-keeper, to purchase a +disused mine at Gethin, on the west coast of Cornwall, which Carew has +declined. Two thousand pounds was offered on the nail, a sum far beyond +its value; but it is one of his crazes that his property there is very +valuable, and it's evident that this Trevethick thinks so too--whereas +it is only picturesque. For grandeur of position, Gethin Castle, or +rather what is left of it, for it is a ruin, is indeed unequaled! You +should take your sketch-book down there, some day. May I ask, by-the-by, +are you only an amateur in that way, or a professional?" + +"I am an artist by profession. I live by my pencil, save for what my +mother allows me out of Carew's pittance. That is small enough, you +know. Hollo! there are the hounds coming round to the front! I suppose +Carew and the rest of them will soon be in the saddle?" + +"And you have never made money by any other means?" pursued the +chaplain, thoughtfully. + +"Never. Why do you ask?" + +"Well, it seemed so strange that a lad like you should find purchasers +for his works," returned the chaplain, carelessly. "The Picture-gallery +here will be of service to you, no doubt." + +"Yes. I shall get my education at Crompton, if I get nothing else," said +Yorke; "and indeed, as I have no desire to peril my neck out hunting, I +shall set to work at once. Good-morning, Mr. Chaplain, and many thanks." +And with a nod and a smile, the young man left the room. + +Parson Whymper looked after him with a grave face. "I wonder whether +Fane was right," he muttered. "He seemed quite positive; though, 'tis +true, he owed him a grudge for potting him at pool. There was something +wrong in that young fellow's face as he said 'Never,' when I asked him +that question as to whether he gained money by other means. If he lied, +the lying must have come from the mother's side. That woman must be a +marvel. Well, I'm sorry, for I should have liked Richard Yorke to have +had his chance here." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +IN BLOOMSBURY. + + +It was the evening of the day after Yorke had listened to his own +biography, and night had long fallen upon the shivering woods of +Crompton; the rain fell heavily also upon roof and sky-light with thud +and splash. It was a wretched night, even in town, where man has sought +out so many inventions to defy foul weather and the powers of darkness. +The waste-pipes could not carry off the water from the houses fast +enough, choke and gurgle as they would; the contents of the gutters +overflowed the streets; and wherever the gas-lights shone was reflected +a damp glimmer. In a large room on the ground-floor of Rupert Street, +Bloomsbury, sat a woman writing, and undisturbed by the dull beating of +the rain without. She often raised her head, intermitted her occupation, +and appeared to listen; but it was to the voices of her Past that she +was giving heed, and not to the ceaseless patter of the rain. What power +they have with us, those voices! While they speak to us we hear nothing +else; we know of nothing that is taking place; there is no Present at +all; we are living our lives again. If purely, so much the better for +us; if vilely, viciously, there is no end to the contaminating +association. It is to escape this that some men work, and others pray. +The furniture of the room was peculiar to the neighborhood; massive, yet +cheap. It had been good once; but long before it came into the hands of +her who now owned it. There was the round bulging looking-glass; the +side-board was adapted for quite a magnificent show of plate and +tankards--only there were none; a horse-hair sofa, from which you would +have seen the intestines protruding had it not been for the continuous +gloom. If the sun ever visited Rupert Street, it shone on the other side +of the way. On the mantel-piece were two of those huge shells in which +the tropic deep is ever murmuring. Who that has taken lodgings in London +does not know them? Who has not sometimes forgotten the commonplaces of +his life in listening to those cold lifeless lips? If you take them up +on their own tropic shore, they will tell you of the roar of London +streets. + +There were two articles in the room, however, which were peculiar to +itself. The one was a human skull--to all appearance, the same as all +other skulls, the virtue of which has gone out of them, though it had +once belonged to no common man. The second object could still less be +termed an ornament than the first, although it was a picture. It +depicted a woman of frightful aspect, having but one eye, and a +hare-lip; she was standing up, and appeared to be declaiming or +dictating; while an old cripple, at a table beside her, took down her +words in writing. If you had gone all over the rest of the house--and it +was a large one--you would have found nothing else remarkable, or which +did not smack of Bloomsbury. It was, indeed, nothing but a +lodging-house, and the room we have described was the private apartment +of its mistress. She might consult her own private taste, she +considered, in her own room, else the skull and the picture occasionally +rather shocked "the daintier sense" of the new lodgers, to whom the +landlady gave audience in this apartment. She is as little like a +lodging-house keeper, to look at, as can be imagined. Her cheeks are +firm and fresh-colored, her teeth white and shining, her eyes quite +bright, and her hands plump. To one who knows her age, as we do--she is +fifty-three--she looks like an old woman who has found out the secret of +perpetual youth, but has kept it for her own use, as, in such a case, +every woman probably would do. There is only one piece of deception in +her appearance; her black hair, which clusters over her forehead like a +girl's, is dyed of that color: it is in reality as white as snow. By +lamp-light, as you see her now, she might be a woman of five-and-twenty, +penning a letter to her love. But she is, in fact, writing to her son; +for it is Mrs. Yorke. Writing to him, but not thinking of him, surely, +when she frowns as now, and leans back in her chair with that menacing +and angry look. No; her anger is not directed against _him_, although he +has left her and home, long since, upon an adventure of which she +disapproved. + +"You will gain nothing for yourself, Richard," was her warning; "and, +perhaps, may wreck even _my_ scanty fortunes." But, as we know, her son +had taken his own way (as he was wont to do), and had so far prospered. +She was writing a reply to the letter she had received from him from +Crompton that very morning, and the task was one that naturally evoked +some bitter memories. + +"So he put him in the ebony chamber, did he?" they ran on. "Ay, that was +_my_ room once. What a pretty chime that serpent-clock had; and how +often have I heard it in the early morning as I lay there--alone! If it +had not been for that hateful woman, I might have been listening to it +now! He seems as mad as ever, by Dick's account, and, I do not doubt, as +brutal and as selfish! And yet it was _he_ that suffered, _he_ that was +wronged, _he_ that was to be pitied! His wife was the adventuress, +forsooth! who deserved all she got. Oh, these men, these men, that treat +us as they please, because they are so sure of sympathy, even from our +fellow-slaves and sisters!" + +She bent again to her occupation, but only for a minute. "All this is +labor in vain, Dick," muttered she, laying down her pen; "the luck is +gone both from you and from me. If I were thirty years younger, indeed, +and might have my chance once more, I would tame your father yet. I +ought to have beaten his meek-faced mother out of doors; I ought to have +trained his bold-eyed girl to work my will with him. She should have +been my accomplice, and not hers; but, now, what boots it that old age +has spared me? Yonder is the only woman!"--she looked toward the +picture--"who has found a way to win mankind, save as their toy. My +reign has been longer than that of most; but it is over." She rose, and, +holding up the lamp, surveyed herself, with a mocking face, in the round +glass. "And this was once Jane Hardcastle, was it? _This_ was her face, +and _this_ her figure! No drunkard, staggering home through such a night +as this, could take me for her now! She had wits too; and better for me +had I lost them with all the rest; then I should not have the sense to +be so bitter! What a future she must once have had before her, if she +had but known what men were made of! It is only when too late that such +women discover what they have missed. This mad Carew was tinder to a +flash of these bright eyes; and the fool Yorke, except in his wild +creeds, as pliant as a hazel twig. I used to think yonder woman was an +idiot, because she believed in a place of torment; but she was right +there. Yes, Joanna," she continued, apostrophizing the picture, "I'm +compelled to confess that you are right; for, being in hell, it is idle +to deny its existence." + +She placed the lamp once more upon the table, yet did not seat herself +beside it, but walked hastily up and down the room. "To be young no +more, to be poor and powerless, to have no hope in this world nor belief +in a better, to have lost even belief in one's self--is not that to be +in Gehenna? I am punished for my sins, men say. Hypocrites! liars! Why +is _he_ not punished? Why is he proud, and strong, and prosperous? Sins? +If Judgment-day should come to-morrow, my soul would be as pure as snow +beside that man's! ay, and beside most men's! Joanna here knew _that_--I +suppose by inspiration; for how else should she? What's that?" + +Amidst the pelting of the rain, which had increased within the last few +hours rather than diminished, the pulling of the house-bell could be +heard. Mrs. Yorke drew forth her watch--a jeweled trinket of exquisite +beauty, one of the few relics of her palmy time. "Past midnight," she +murmured, "and all the lodgers are within. Who can it be?" + +The bell pealed forth again. + +She went into the hall, where the gas was burning, and unlocked the +door. At the same time somebody flung himself violently against it, but +the chain was up. + +"Who is it?" inquired she; and it was strange, at such a moment, to hear +how very soft and musically she spoke, although, when talking to herself +a while ago, her tones had been harsh and bitter as her mood. + +"It is I, mother," returned the voice from outside. + +She unhitched the chain and let him in. "I knew it would be so, Dick," +said she, quietly. + +Richard was pale and haggard, and shone from head to foot with the rain, +which poured off his water-proof coat in streams. + +"You were right, mother," said he, as he kissed her cheek. "No +reproaches. Let me have food and fire." + +She brought him socks and slippers, made a cheerful blaze, and set cold +meat and spirits upon the table. + +He ate voraciously, and drank his hot brandy-and-water, while Mrs. Yorke +worked busily at an antimacassar, in silence. + +"You are not disappointed at seeing me, that's one thing, mother?" + +"No. Read that." She pushed across to him the letter she had been +writing to him that evening, and pointed to this sentence: "You have my +good wishes, but _not_ my hopes--I have no hopes. I shall be surprised +if I do not have you back again before the week is out." + +"Just so," said the young man, cynically. "You have the pleasure, then, +which your dear friend Joanna there never enjoyed, of seeing your own +prophecy accomplished; and I, for my part, have three hundred pounds to +solace myself with for what has certainly been a disappointment." + +"I am glad you are so philosophic, Dick. It is the best thing we can be, +if we can't be religious. How did it all happen?" + +"I scarcely know the plot (for there _was_ a plot), but only the +_dénouement_. I had offended a certain Mr. Fane, toady-in-ordinary to +Frederick Chandos." + +"Ah!" cried Mrs. Yorke, shaking her head. + +"Yes; you were right again, mother, there--the whole affair is a tribute +to your sagacity, if you will only permit me to narrate it to you. I say +that this fellow Fane, when walking with his patron's brother, stupid +Jack, had me pointed out to him in town one day as the man who had +'pulled him through,' as he called it. Can you imagine how even such a +fool as he could have been so mad? It was an act of suicide, which, so +far as I know, fools never commit. Well, Fane was pretty certain of the +identity of your humble servant, which he was, moreover, anxious to +establish, because I had beaten him at pool, and given him the rough +side of my tongue." + +"Oh, Dick, Dick! have skillful hand and ready speech been only given you +to make enemies?" + +Richard laughed, and lighted a cigar. + +"Well, sometimes, mother, the most prudent of us are carried away by our +own genius. I am told that even you, for instance, lost your temper upon +a certain occasion down at Crompton--gave a 'piece of your mind' to my +father, which, it seems, he took as a sample of the whole of it. There, +don't be angry: the provocation, it must be allowed, was in your case +greater than mine; but then you pique yourself on your self-control! +However, this Fane did hate me, and told the chaplain of his suspicions; +the good parson was my friend, however, and all might have gone well, +but for this oaf--this idiot Jack--coming down to Carew's in person. He +could never get any coin out of 'Fred,' it appears, by letter; or, +perhaps, he couldn't 'write!' But there he was in the big drawing-room +when I went in last night, and Carew saw his jaw drop at the sight of +me. He had not the sense to shut it even afterward, though I told him he +had made a mistake, and gave him every chance. I could have persuaded +him, indeed, out of his own identity--and much more mine--only that he +appealed to Fane; and then the game was up. It would have made me laugh +had I not been so savage. Carew turned us both out of the house +together. His love of truth would not permit him, it seems, to harbor +us. So Jack and I went to the inn, played _écarte_ all night, and parted +the best of friends this morning. But I'll be even with that fellow +Fane--yes; by Heaven, I will, if it's a score of years hence!" + +Perhaps the light satiric tone which the young man had used throughout +his narrative was little in accordance with the feelings which really +agitated him; but, at all events, his last few words were full of +malignant passion. + +"Be even, Dick, by all means, with every body," observed Mrs. Yorke, +coolly, "but do not indulge yourself in revenge. Revenge is like a game +at battle-door, wherein one can never tell who will have the last hit." + +"At the same time, it is one of those few luxuries which those who have +least to lose can best afford," said Richard, with the air of a +moralist. + +"It is not cheap, however, even to them," returned Mrs. Yorke, still +busy with her antimacassar. "It may cost one one's life, for instance." + +"And what then?" inquired Richard, carelessly. + +"Nobody knows 'what then,' Dick. Our fanatic yonder had one opinion; our +philosopher there"--she pointed to the skull--"another. Both of them +know by this time, and yet can not tell us. It is the one case where the +experience of others can not benefit ourselves." + +This subject had no charms for Richard. When we are what is vulgarly +called "in the sulks," and displeased (if we were to own it) with the +system of universal government in this world, the next seems of but +little importance. There may be a miscarriage of justice (that is, a +thwarting of our particular wishes) even _there_. Perhaps Mrs. Yorke was +aware that her son's clouded face did not portend religious or +metaphysical speculation, for she abruptly changed the subject. + +"And what are you going to do, Dick, now that this Crompton plan has +failed?" + +He did not answer, but stood with his back to the fire, moodily stroking +his silken mustache. + +"Richard"--she rose, and placed her plump white hand upon his +shoulder;--"it is very, very seldom that I ask a favor of you, but I am +about to do so now. Promise me that you will never again undertake for +another what you undertook for this man Chandos." + +He laughed, as he had laughed before, in bitter fashion. "Why not? It +was fifty pounds down; and apparently no risk: that is, no risk from the +law, which has omitted to provide for the contingency. Next to being +above the law is surely to be ahead of it. Besides, I am really a public +benefactor. Without my help, the state would already have been deprived +of the services of four young gentlemen, all of excellent families. Of +course, such a calling has its disadvantages. It is very difficult to +obtain clients. The offer of one's valuable assistance is liable to be +declined uncivilly--it requires the talents of a diplomatist to convey +it without offense--still, I possess those talents. Again, undoubtedly +the profession is in itself temporary, can never be permanent; but then, +has not nature especially favored me for it, after my mother's model? +Shall I not be a boy at forty, and blooming at fifty-three? The idea of +you being fifty-three, mother!" + +As they stood together side by side it seemed, indeed, impossible that +this young man could be her son, far less the offspring of her middle +age. She smiled upon him sadly, patting his handsome cheek. "And is my +Richard so full-grown a man," said she, "as, to flatter, and not to +grant?" It was impossible to imagine a more winsome voice, or a more +tender tone. + +"Nay, mother; I will promise, if you please," said the young fellow, +kissing her. "And now, let us divide this Crompton spoil together." He +pulled out his purse, and counted the contents. "There is Carew's three +hundred, a few pounds I won at pool, and dull Jack's IOU for +twenty--worth, perhaps, five. Come, we two are partners in the game of +life, you know, and must share alike." + +"No, Dick, no," returned his mother, tenderly; "it is enough for me to +see you win." She shut the purse, and forced it back into his unwilling +hand. "Some day, I trust, you will sweep away a great stake--though not +as you gained this." + +"Ah, you mean an heiress! You think that every woman must needs fall in +love with me, because _you_ have done so, mother." + +His rage and bitterness had vanished, as though by magic; her tone and +touch had spirited them away. + +"Perhaps I do, dear. Go to bed, and dream of one. You must be very +tired. I ought not to say that I am glad to see you back, Dick; yet how +can I help it?" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +OVER THE EMBERS. + + +It was one of the peculiarities of Jane Yorke that she took but little +sleep. The household had long retired, and she put the remains of her +son's meal away with her own hands, then sat down by the fire, thinking. +She had more subject for thought than most women; her life had been +eventful, her experience strange. We know what her second husband--the +man who repudiated her and her child--had been and was. Her first +husband had been scarcely less remarkable. Leonard Yorke was a young man +of respectable family, and of tolerable means. His parents were dead, +and his relatives and himself had parted company early. They were sober, +steady people, connected with the iron trade: a share in their house of +business at Birmingham, carried on in the name of his two uncles, was +the only tie between him and them, save that of kinship. They were +strong Unitarians, strong political economists, strong in their rugged +material fashion every way. They did not know what to do with a nephew +who was a religious zealot, and thought all the world was out of joint; +and they had characteristically sought for assistance in the advertising +columns of the _Times_. Mr. Hardcastle therein proclaimed himself as +having a specialty for the reduction and reform of intractable young +gentlemen, and they had consigned Leonard to his establishment. It was +the best thing that they could think of--for they were genuinely +conscientious men--and they did not grudge the money, though the tutor's +terms were high. Jane was then a very young girl--so young, indeed, that +parents and guardians would scarcely have taken alarm had they been +aware of her being beneath the same roof with their impressionable +charges; and she was childish-looking even for her tender years. Leonard +Yorke, gentle and good-humored, was moved with compassion toward the +orphan girl, as guileless-eyed as a saint in a picture; he pitied her +poverty, and, still more, the worldly character of her uncle and her +surroundings. She was wholly ignorant of the spiritual matters which +engrossed his being, and yet so willing to be taught. She sat at his +feet, and listened by the hour to the outpourings of his fervid zeal. If +she did not understand them, she was in no worse position than himself. +His tongue was fluent. His words were like a lambent flame, playing with +some indestructible material. His mind was weak, and devoted to +metaphysical speculations--mysticisms: the _arcana coelestia_ of +Swedenborg was Holy Writ to him. He believed in three heavens, and their +opposites. Jane's endeavors were directed to make him believe in a +fourth heaven. Childlike and immature in appearance, she was in +character exceedingly precocious. Her intelligence was keen and +practical. In very early years it had been instilled into her that her +future welfare would depend upon her own exertions, and she never forgot +the lesson. Her uncle was very generous to her; but he was not the man +to have saved money for his own offspring, if he had had any, and far +less for his niece; he spent every shilling of his income. Little Jane +would secretly have preferred to receive in hard cash the sums which he +lavished upon her in indulgences; she would have dispensed with her +pony, and kept a steed in the stable for herself of another sort. The +rainy day was certain to come some time or other to her, and she would +have liked to have made provision for it--a difficult matter for most of +us, and for her impossible. She was wise enough, even then, to know how +Uncle Hardcastle would have received any suggestion of a prudential +nature, and she held her tongue. + +In Leonard Yorke, if she did not comprehend his doctrine of "perpetual +subsistence," she perceived a provision for her future. At +one-and-twenty, indeed, he made his pupil his wife, to the astonishment +rather than the scandal of the neighborhood. They opined that it was +only in the East, or in royal families who wedded by proxy, that brides +ran so young. Jane Hardcastle, however, was in reality eighteen years of +age. + +Yorke Brothers, of Birmingham, had nothing to say against the match, but +they objected to a Swedenborgian partner in the iron trade, and bought +their nephew at a fair price out of the business. They did not offer to +take him back again, when, five years later, he became a true believer +in the faith of Mary Joanna Southcott and the coming of the young +Shiloh. This lady, whose portrait, with that of her spiritual +amanuensis, hung in Mrs. Yorke's sitting-room, had been her only rival +in the affections of her husband. She had not been jealous of her upon +that account, feeling pretty certain, perhaps, that the "affinity" +between them was Platonic; but she had rather grudged the money with +which he had so lavishly relieved the "perplexities" of "the handmaid." +The amanuensis used to issue I O U's at Joanna's dictation, to be paid +with enormous interest Hereafter, and Leonard Yorke was always ready to +discount her paper. There was no one that subscribed more munificently +than he did toward the famous "cradle," or looked more devoutly for its +expected tenant. Even when that long-looked-for 19th of October had come +and gone without sign, and two months later his poor deluded idol passed +away into that future with which she had been so rashly familiar, he was +faithful to her yet, and kept the "seal" which she had given him--his +passport to the realms of bliss--as his dearest treasure. He had +scarcely any other "effects" by that time, for, actuated by his too +fervent faith, he had been living upon the principle of his fortune; and +at five-and-thirty years of age Mrs. Yorke found herself a widow, with a +stock of very varied experience indeed, but not much more of worldly +wealth than she had had to start with. It was hard, after half a +lifetime, to resume the same semi-relative, semi-dependent position +under her uncle's roof which she had occupied before; but no better +offered itself, and she was glad to accept it. Her natural attractions +were still wondrously preserved to her; and, perhaps, on the occasion of +her second nuptials (and the fact of her first was carefully concealed), +her age excited less astonishment than her youth had done in the former +instance. + +Yet now at fifty-three, this woman, as remarkable for her talents as for +her beauty, and who, if but for a brief period, had once stood "on +fortune's crowning slope," found herself with little beyond a bare +subsistence, which she received without gratitude from the hands of +Carew. What she derived from her lodging-house defrayed the somewhat +lavish expenditure of her son Richard. She was far, however, from +complaining of his extravagances. She wished him to live like a +gentleman, and not to soil his hands with ignoble, pursuits. She felt a +genuine pleasure--only known to mothers--in gathering toilsomely +together what she knew he would lightly spend. She was for the present +amply repaid by the reflection that her Dick was as handsome and +well-appointed a young fellow as was to be seen in London, with an air +and manner that would become a prince. It was only a question of time, +she thought, when the princess should appear, be captivated, and raise +him to the sphere for which she had taken care to fit him. In the mean +time, it was only natural that he should enjoy himself after the manner +of other youth of great expectations. She was not averse to his +dissipations, for in them indeed lay his best chance of getting +acquainted with young men of this class; nor, so far, had she been +disappointed. It would be surprising to many a stately pater-familias to +learn how easily acquaintanceship, and even friendship, is contracted +with his male offspring, if they be among the pleasure-seekers of the +town. A young man of good address and exterior, with plenty of money in +his pocket, does not require introduction. The club door soon flies open +to him, but not that of the home. Richard was on tolerably intimate +terms with Chandos, and other young men of the same class--but he had +never been introduced to their sisters. It was here that Mrs. Yorke made +her mistake: she thought she understood society because she had studied +two exceptional phases of it. There is nobody more short-sighted than +the Bohemian, who imagines he is a citizen of the world; his round of +life may have no fence in the shape of convention, yet it is often, very +limited, and it is outside every other. + +Mrs. Yorke judged of all men by her knowledge of her late husband and of +Carew, and of women by herself. If it had not been for the +artificialities of society, she might have been right; but they are +powerful, and she knew little about them. In some matters she was +exceedingly sagacious. She did not entertain the alarm which would have +been felt by some mothers with respect to her son's morals, probably +exposed to some danger by his mode of life; perhaps she had not their +scruples; and yet it is strange to see how light those weigh, even with +our severest matrons, when any question of "position" is in the other +scale: they will not only permit their sons to herd with _roués_, +provided they are persons of distinction, but even accept them for their +sons-in-law. Mrs. Yorke, being daughterless, had no temptation to commit +this latter crime, but she was not displeased to imagine her Richard a +man of gallantry; he would in that case be less likely to fall a victim +to undowered charms. "It is not your man-about-town who sacrifices his +future in a love-match," was her reflection. On the other hand, no one +knew better than herself what an easy prey to woman's wiles is a young +gentleman without experience. It was for this reason, as well as because +she loved to have her boy about her, that she had opposed Richard's +going to Midlandshire. She knew Carew too well to hope that he would +ever take into favor a son of hers, and she distrusted the country, with +its opportunities for ensnaring youth into matrimonial engagements. +Thirty years ago, in a fortnight of village life together, she would +have backed herself to have got a promise of marriage out of the Pope; +and she did not believe this to be one of the lost arts among young +persons of her sex. + +Thus Mrs. Yorke had strained every nerve to get the necessary funds to +make town-life pleasant to her son, and yet she had not succeeded. It +was not so much that he found his allowance insufficient, for he had +various means of supplementing it, one of them (at which we have already +hinted) a strange one enough; but the wayward fit was on him that takes +so many of us in the early dawn of manhood; he was restless and eager +for change, and the lessons which his mother had caused him to receive +in landscape-painting furnished him with an excuse for wandering. She +had had him taught to sketch, because it was a likely sort of +accomplishment to aid the scheme of life which she had planned for him; +and he had taken up with the art more seriously than with any thing +else. But it was not in Richard's nature to apply himself with assiduity +to any pursuit. Such callings as lay within his means and opportunities +he was incapacitated for by education and temper. He could not have +occupied any subordinate position that required respectful +behavior--submission to the will of a master. He had had to put the +greatest restraint upon himself during his brief residence at Crompton, +and it was more than doubtful if he could have maintained his position +there as a dependent in any case. He was gentle and good-humored, genial +and agreeable, when pleased; but he had that personal pride which is as +stubborn as any haughtiness of descent, and infinitely more inflammable. +It was no idle brag when he told the Crompton chaplain that he would put +up with injustice from no man (if he could help it), and would repay his +wrong-doer sevenfold (if he got the chance). His sense of right was very +acute and sensitive, especially as respected himself. All his passions +were strong. Much of this might probably be said of any young gentleman +of position accustomed to have his own way: lads of spirit (who can +afford it) do not put up with slights; young noblemen in moments of +exhilaration may even pitch into policemen; and generally, where there +is no temptation to offend, much is forgiven. The danger in Richard +Yorke's case was that his position was far from assured, while he had +done some things which might prove great obstacles to his ever winning +one. He had all the sensitiveness and impatience of one born to fortune, +without the money. + +Mrs. Yorke was too wise a woman not to be acquainted with her son's +character. Her love for him was very great; as great and disinterested +as that with which the most religious and well-principled of women +regard their offspring; but it did not blind her to his faults. Her +experience of life had not led her to expect perfection; her standard of +morals was of very moderate height, and Dick came fully up to it; yet +she felt that her son was headstrong, impulsive, and occasionally +ungovernable. He had taken his own line in respect to his dealings with +Chandos and with others, in spite of her urgent entreaties. Her +opposition, though fruitless, had indeed been so strenuous that the +subject was a sore one between them; and had the opportunity been less +palpable, she would scarcely have ventured to revert to it that night. +She had done so, however, and carried her point. He had passed his word +to her that he would undertake no more such hazards, and Dick's word was +as steadfast as Carew's. He was aimless and indolent; but as a mean man, +who brings himself to perform some act of munificence, will effect it +unsparingly, or a selfish man, "when he is about it," will be all +self-abnegation; so, when he _had_ made up his mind, his determination +was rock. Mrs. Yorke then felt sure of her son so far, and rejoiced at +it. But she was disturbed about him on other accounts. Perhaps, +notwithstanding her assertion to the contrary, she may have had some +scanty hopes of her son's success at Crompton; or perhaps his want of it +placed before her for the first time the gigantic obstacles that lay in +his social path. Were the times really gone by which she had known, +wherein personal beauty, and youth, and grace of manner could win their +way to any height? Or did she misjudge her own sex, while so sagacious +an observer of the other? Her Dick was still very young; but his +appearance should surely have done something for him even now; yet +hitherto it had won him nothing but friendships of doubtful value, one +of which, indeed, had just done him infinite hurt. Were girls with +fortunes, then, as prudent and calculating as those who were penniless, +as she had been? It did not strike her that they were infinitely more +unapproachable; or rather, such was her estimation of her son's +attractions, that she thought he had only to be seen in his opera-stall +to become the magnet of every female heart. Had she been mistaken +altogether in her plan for his future? + +As she sat over the dropping embers of the fire, while the ceaseless +rain huddled against the pane without, a terrible vision crossed her +mind. She saw her son, no longer young, wan with dissipation and excess, +peevish and fretting for the luxuries which she herself, old and +decrepit, could no longer procure for him. She even heard a voice +reproaching her as the cause of their common ruin: "Why did you humor +me, woman, when I should have been corrected? Why did you bring me up to +beggary, as though I had been a prince? why have taught me nothing +whereby I could now at least earn my daily bread? Why did you let me +lavish in my youth the money which, frugally husbanded, might now have +supported us in comfort? Why did you do all this--you who were so +boastful of your worldly wisdom?" For a moment, so great was her mental +anguish, that she almost looked her age--not that the picture had any +terrors for herself, but upon her son's account alone. She may not have +been penitent, as good folks are, but her heart was full of another's +woe, and had no room left for one selfish regret. She had (in her +vision) ruined both; but it was only for dear Dick that her tears fell. +If the guardian angel, which is said to watch for a time by every one of +us, had not given up his disappointing vigil at poor Mrs. Yorke's elbow, +a tremor of delight then stirred him limb and wing. Nay, perhaps in the +Great Day, when all our plans shall be scrutinized, whether they have +been carried out or not, this poor, impotent, fallacious one, which +worldly Mrs. Yorke had formed for her son's future, will stand, +perchance, when others which recommend themselves better to human eyes +have toppled down, because built on the rotten foundations of self. +There will certainly be many worse ones. She did not propose to sell her +offspring, as match-making mothers do, to evil bidders. In her doting +thought her Dick would make any woman happy as his wife. At all events, +right or wrong, judicious or otherwise, her scheme must now be adhered +to: it was too late to take up with any other. The vision of its failure +had faded away, and she could think the matter out with her usual +calmness. + +The gray dawn creeping through the shutter-chinks found her thinking +still; but ere the dull sounds of awakening life were heard above +stairs, and before the coming of the sleepy, slatternly maid to "do the +parlor," Mrs. York had arrived at her conclusion. + +The early matin prime, she was wont to say, was always her brightest +hour, but it found her, on the present occasion, white and worn, not +with her long vigil, but because it was "borne in upon her," as poor +Joanna used to say, that her son and she must part for his own good: so +soon as the spring should come she would bid him go. London, where all +was prudence and constraint, was no place to win the bride she sought +for him. He should go forth into the country, where even heiresses were +still girls, and win her, as troubadour of old, but with sketch-book in +hand instead of harp. Not a promising scheme, one might say; but then, +what schemes for a young man's future, who has no money, _are_ promising +nowadays? Moreover, it could be said of it (as can not be often said) +that, such as it was, her Richard was by nature adapted for it; +and--though this was a less satisfactory reflection--was adapted for +nothing else. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE GUIDE TO GETHIN. + + +It is the spring-time, that time of all the year when those "in city +pent" desire most to leave it, if only for a day or two, and breathe the +air of the mountain or the sea; the time when the freshest incense +arises from the great altar of Nature, and all men would come to worship +at it if they could. Even the old, who so far from the East have +traveled that they have well-nigh forgotten their priesthood, feel the +sacred longing; in their sluggish blood there still beats a pulse in +spring-time, as the sap stirs in the ancient tree; but the young turn to +the open fields with rapture, and drink the returning sunbeams in like +wine. To draw breath beneath the broad sky is to them an intoxication, +and the very air kisses their cheek like the red lips of love. + +With his face set ever southward or westward, Richard Yorke has traveled +afoot for days, nor yet has tired; neither coach nor train has carried +him, and all the luggage that he possesses is in the knapsack on his +back, to which is strapped his sketch-book, like a shield. He is +striding across a heath-clad moor, with stony ridges, and here and there +a distant mine-chimney--a desolate barren scene enough, but with +sunshine, and a breeze from the unseen sea. It is classic ground, for +here, or hereabouts, twelve centuries ago, was fought "that last weird +battle in the west," wherein King Arthur perished, and many a gallant +knight, Lancelot, or Galahad, may have pricked across that Cornish moor +before him on a less promising quest than even his. How silent and how +solitary it was; for even what men were near were underground, and not a +roof to be seen any where, nor track of man nor beast, nor even a tree. +There had been men enough, and beasts and trees too, in old +times--heathen and ravening creatures, and huge forests; but it seemed, +as the wayfarer looked around him, as though all things had been as he +now beheld them from the beginning of creation. Richard, artist though +he was by calling, had not the soul to take pleasure in a picture for +the filling in of which so much imagination was required; and he turned +aside to one of the stony hills, and climbed it, in hopes to see some +dwelling-place of man. He was gregarious by nature, and, besides, he was +in want of his mid-day meal. + +There was feast enough before him for his eyes. + +In front lay a great table-land, indented here and there with three +chasm-like bays, which showed how high the cliffs were which they cut. +In one, nestled a fishing-town, with its harbor; in another, a low white +range of cottages hung on the green hill-side; and in the third, at sea, +as it appeared, stood up an ancient castle, huge and rugged. This last +object was of such enormous size that Richard rubbed his eyes like one +in a dream. He had heard of Cornish giants, and certainly here was a +habitation fit for the king of them. A lonely church upon the clifftop +beyond it, by affording him some measure of the probable size of this +edifice, increased his incredulity. He looked again, and saw that it was +not a castle, though the sun yet seemed to light up tower and battlement +quite vividly, but only one isolated rock of vast size and picturesque +proportions; upon the crown of which, however, there were certainly +walls, and what looked to be broken towers. "That must be Gethin," said +the young man, cheerily. "I must be at the end of my journey." Unless, +indeed, he should take ship, there was not much more opportunity for +travel. Before him stretched in all directions the limitless sea. + +So magnificent had been the prospect that, when Richard descended and +pursued his trackless way again along the moor, he half doubted whether +that fair vision had not been a mere figment of his brain; the more so, +since what view there was about him seemed now to contract rather than +to expand; the horizon grew more limited; and presently nor sea, nor +land, nor even sky was to be seen. There was no rain, but his hair and +mustache were wet with a fog that was as thick as wool. By touch rather +than by sight he presently became aware that he had left the heath, and +was walking on down-land. Suppose he were nearing the verge of that line +of cliff's which he had just seen, and should come to it before he was +aware! As he paused, in some apprehension of this, all of a sudden a +song broke upon his ear, like a solemn chant: + + "Keep us, O keep us, King of kings, + Under thine own almighty wings." + +He did not recognize the words, but the tone in which they were sung, +though muffled by the dense atmosphere, struck him as especially sweet +and earnest. The next instant, walking rapidly, with a light and +graceful motion, the dim figure of a young girl passed in front of him, +and the mist closed behind her, though he still heard her pious psalm. +Richard stood like one enchanted. Was she an angel sent to warn him of +his peril, or an evil spirit clothed in beauty and holiness to lure him +on to it? He gave a great shout, and the harmonious voice, already +faint, grew still at once. He cried out again: "I am a stranger here, +and have lost my way; pray, help me." + +Then once more through the mist came the young girl, this time without +her song, and stood before him; she was very beautiful, but with a pale +face and frightened eyes. "She is crazed, poor soul," thought Richard; +and he smiled upon her with genuine pity. She put her hand to her side, +as though in pain, or to repress some tumult of her heart. + +"Where is it you wish to go, Sir?" + +"To Gethin; where there is an inn, I believe. Is it not so?" + +"Yes, Sir." Her words were sane and concise enough, but the tone in +which they were spoken was tremulous and alarmed. + +"You are not afraid of me, are you?" said Richard, in the voice that he +had inherited from his mother. + +"No, Sir, no," answered she, hurriedly; "only the fog was so thick, and +I was startled. I did not expect to find any body here. It is very +lonely about Gethin, and we do not in general see any of the quality who +come to sketch and such like"--and she pointed to his portfolio--"until +much later in the year." + +"I am not the quality," rejoined Richard, smiling, "but only a wandering +artist, who has heard of the beauties of Gethin. What has been told me, +however, comes far short of the reality, believe me;" and he cast a +glance of genuine admiration upon the blushing girl. + +A slender fair-haired maiden she was, with soft blue eyes, over which +the lids were modestly but attractively drooped. One who had a great +experience of the sex--if not a very respectable one--has left on record +a warning against eyelids. "A wicked woman," says he, "will take you +with her eyelids." + +It does not, however, require wickedness to ensnare a young gentleman by +these simple means. + +"I wish, my pretty damsel," said Richard, softly, "that I painted +figures instead of landscapes, for then I should ask you to be my +model." + +It was not modesty so much as sheer ignorance which kept the young girl +silent; she had never heard of a painter's model; but the tone in which +her new acquaintance spoke implied a compliment, and she looked more +confused than ever. + +"Have you often so thick a fog as this at Gethin?" + +"Not often, Sir; this is a very bad one, and you might have come to harm +in it. Some folks believe that in such weather the Pixies come abroad, +as they do at night, to mislead travelers who have lost their way; and, +indeed, the clifftop lies not a hundred yards in front of you." + +"Oh, you think I was misled by a bad fairy, do you?" returned Richard, +in an amused and bantering tone. "Well, at all events, I have now met +with a good one; and may I ask what name she goes by?" + +"My name is Trevethick, Sir," said the damsel, simply. "I am no angel, +but I am going to the place you seek; it is this way, Sir." + +It was evident that his banter had not pleased her. The same tone that +is found agreeable in the town does not always prove welcome in the +country. She motioned with her hand to the southward, and began to walk +so fast that Richard could not easily keep pace with her. + +"But are there really fairies about here?" inquired he, seriously. "I am +quite a stranger to these parts, and should be glad to learn all I can." + +"Nay, Sir, I can not say; I have myself never seen one, though I know +some who have, or say they have. There are tales of worse than Pixies +told about that moor you have come across. You might have met the Demon +Horse that tempts the tired traveler to mount him, and then carries him +nobody knows whither; but, for certain, he is never seen again." + +"Then the spirits about here are all bad, are they? I suppose to make up +for the goodness and the beauty of the mortals, eh?" + +"Nay, they are not all bad, Sir," continued the young girl, gravely; +"the Spriggans, who guard the buried treasures of the giants, have often +helped a poor man out of their store; or, at least, 'tis said so." + +"And the giants--are they all dead?" + +"Yes, indeed, Sir, long ago," answered the damsel; "though that they +lived here once is true enough. There's Bonza's Chair, you must have +passed before the fog came on, and could not but have noticed; and the +hurling-stones he used to throw for pastime with his brother, they are +to be seen still; but all that about his having such long arms that he +could snatch the sailors from the decks of ships as they went by, is, in +my judgment, but an old wife's tale, and I don't credit it. There, see, +Sir; the fog is thinning; that is the castle yonder. When you see it +thus in air it is a sign of storm." + +The mist, instead of lifting, was growing less dense above, as it melted +before the rays of the sun, and the ruin which Richard had seen from the +hill-range was now once more visible, without the pedestal of rock on +which it was placed. It was a glorious sight, though weird and spectral, +and the young painter halted in mute admiration. The scene seemed +scarcely of the earth at all. + +"Most folks are pleased with that when they first see it," remarked his +companion, with the flattered air of one who exhibits some wonder of his +own to a well-pleased stranger. "You are very lucky, Sir; it is not +often one gets so good a view." + +"I am lucky, too, in having so fair a guide to show it me," said +Richard, gallantly. "There is a church in air too: what is that?" + +"That is Gethin church, Sir. It stands all by itself, a mile from the +village; but folks say that the tower was first built for a landmark for +the ships, and that the church and church-yard were added afterward." + +"Then people die here, do they, even in this land of dreams?" said +Richard, half to himself. + +"Die, Sir? Oh yes," answered the young girl, sadly; "my own mother died +two years ago, and lies buried there in yonder lonesome place. But it is +not usual for Gethin folks to die so young, except by shipwreck." + +"Are there many wrecks here, then?" + +"Yes, Sir, and will be to all time; our church-yard is half full of +drowned men. On the nights before storm, up yonder, you may hear them +calling out each other's names." + +"Have _you_ ever heard them?" + +"Not I, Sir, thanks be to Heaven. I would not venture there at night for +the best cargo that ever came to Turlock." + +"Where is Turlock?" + +"The port there behind us, Sir; you can see the houses now, but not the +harbor. It winds beneath the cliff, so that a ship can scarcely make it, +save in smooth weather, though, when it once does so, it is safe enough. +To see the great green waves rush in and turn, and turn, and waste +themselves in their wild fury, as though they searched for it in +anger--ah! it's an awful sight." + +"That is in winter-time only, I suppose?" + +"Nay, Sir; we have storms at other seasons. Whenever I see such a sign +as the castle without the crag--it's all clear now, you see, because the +wind is rising--then am I thankful that my father is no sailor. Most +folk are such at Gethin that are not miners." + +"Then your father is a miner, is he?" + +"No, Sir, not now, though he once was. Every body knows John Trevethick +about here, and why he don't work underground." + +"How was that, then?" inquired Richard, with interest. "You must +remember I am a stranger, and know nothing." + +"Well, Sir, it was years ago, and before I was born. Father was just +married, though he was not a young man for a bridegroom, and was down +Turlock pit-hole with Harry Coe (Solomon's father), putting in shot for +blasting. They had worked underground together for five-and-twenty +years, and were fast friends, though Coe was an older man, and a +widower, with Solomon almost of age. They were deep down in the shaft, +and one at a time was all that the man at the windlass above could haul +up; and they had put in their shot, and given them the signal. One was +to go up first, of course, and then the second to light the match, and +follow him with all speed. Now, while they were still both at the +bottom, it struck Coe that the match was too long, and he took a couple +of stones, a flat and a sharp one, to cut it shorter. He did cut it +shorter, but at the same time kindled the match. Both shouted their +loudest, and sprang at the basket, but the man at the windlass could not +lift the double weight. You see, Sir, it was certain death to both of +them, unless one should give way. Then Coe jumped out, crying to father +'Go aloft, John. In one minute I shall be in heaven.' It was he who had +caused the disaster, and therefore, as he doubtless thought, should be +the one to suffer for it; besides, he reflected, perhaps, that he was an +old man, and had no bride at home to mourn for him; still, it was a +noble deed, and I never denied it." + +"Denied it!" exclaimed Richard; "I should think not. Why should you?" +and he looked up with wonder into his companion's face. It was one blush +from brow to chin. + +"Well, Sir," continued she, disregarding his interruption, "my father +was hurried up; and as he looked over the basket the charge exploded, +and the great stones flew up and blackened his face. In a minute more he +was safe above-ground." + +"But the poor man below?" + +"He was dead, Sir. It could not have been otherwise. Father took it so +to heart that he never did a day's work underground again. And when I +was born, a few months afterward, I was christened Harry--though that's +a lad's name--in memory of the friend that saved his life by the +sacrifice of his own." + +"He might well have done that, and even more," said Richard, "if more +could have been done." + +"That's just what father says, Sir," answered the young girl, quietly. +"But when things have happened so long ago--before one was born--they +don't come home to one quite so strong, you see. Father keeps not only +his old gratitude, but his old tastes. He cares more for mines and +machinery and such like than for any thing else; he is a better mechanic +than any in Turlock, where I have just been to the watch-maker's to get +him some steel springs. You should see the locks he makes, and the rings +he turns. He will be so pleased if you ask him to show them to you." + +"I shall certainly ask him to do so, if I get the chance," said Richard, +eagerly. "Is that your house with the pretty garden?" + +"No, Sir; that's the parson's. Nobody can get flowers to grow as he +does. The next house at the top of the hill is ours." + +"Why, I thought that would be the inn!" exclaimed Richard, looking at +the little white-washed house, with its sign-board, or what seemed to be +such, swinging in the rising breeze. + +"It _is_ the inn," said his companion, quietly, but not without a +roguish smile. "Father keeps the _Gethin Castle_, although he has many +other trades." + +"And is that he, at the door yonder?" inquired Richard, pointing to a +tall, thick-set man of middle age, who was standing beneath the little +portico, with a pipe in his mouth. + +"No, Sir, that is not father," replied the girl, with sudden gravity; +"that is Solomon Coe." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A PERILOUS CLIMB. + + +"Is father in?" inquired the young girl of Solomon, as he stood in the +doorway, without moving aside to let Richard pass into the house. + +"No, he is not," returned the person addressed, his keen blue eye fixed +suspiciously on the stranger. "As you were so long on your errand, he +gave up his lock-work, and has gone off to the pit. He said he had never +known you loiter so." + +"I did not loiter at all," returned the maiden, indignantly; "if it had +not been for the fog, I should have been home an hour ago; but one can't +walk through wool as if it were air. You had the fog here yourselves, +hadn't ye?" + +It was strange to note the change in the girl's speech; not only were +her air and tone quite different from what they had been--her modesty or +shyness exchanged for a confidence and even a touch of defiance--but her +phraseology had become blunt and provincial. + +"Well, any way he was angered, Harry," returned Solomon, "until I told +him of the new copper lode, as I whispered to you of this morning (you +were the first to learn it, Harry), when off he set, in good-humor +enough with all the world.--You'll come across John Trevethick, if you +want him, young man, over at Dunloppel, though I doubt whether you will +find him much of a customer--unless you are in the iron and steel line." + +"I am in the knife-and-fork line just at present," answered Richard, +good-humoredly; "and, if you will be good enough to move aside, I should +like to order my dinner." + +"I ax pardon," said Solomon, sulkily, withdrawing himself from the +doorway. "I did not know I was hindering custom.--Who is this young +spark, Harry?" added he, in a low tone, as the other entered the house. + +"Well, he's a young gentleman, Solomon, as you could see very well if +you chose," answered the girl, angrily. "He don't look much like a +bagman, I think, any ways. I am sure father would not like you to treat +his customers in that fashion." + +"I am sure he wouldn't like your escorting such customers over Turlock +Down alone." + +"That's father's business, and not yours, at present, Solomon," retorted +the girl, tartly; "and perhaps it never may be yours. You take as much +upon yourself because of your new copper vein as if it was gold." + +"Nay, don't say that, Harry," replied the other, with an admiring look, +from which every trace of ill feeling seemed to have departed. "If it +_were_ gold, I should be more pleased upon your account than my own, you +may depend upon it. You think I am jealous, now, of yonder bit of a lad, +but----" + +"I think nothing of the kind," answered Harry, impetuously. + +"Well, well," returned Solomon, soothingly; "then we'll say no more +about it. Trevethick wanted me to be away with him to pit, but I said: +'No; I'll wait for Harry, and bring her with me to Dunloppel.' It's a +great find, my girl, and may be the making of us all." + +"Nay, a walk to Turlock and back is enough for one day's work, Solomon; +and, besides, I'm wet through with the fog, and must change my +things.--Hannah! Hannah!" and, raising her voice to landlady pitch, she +addressed some one within doors, "didn't you hear the parlor bell +ringing?--So never mind me, Solomon; I dare say I shall hear enough +about the lode when you and father come back;" and with that, and a +careless nod of her shapely head, the young girl pushed past her +disappointed swain, and ran up stairs. + +The _Gethin Castle Inn_ was a much better house of entertainment than +might have been looked for in a spot so secluded from the world, and far +from the great arteries of travel. A coast-road passed through the +little village leading from Turlock to the now almost disused harbor at +Polwheel, and that was the sole means of getting to Gethin save on foot +or horseback. There was no traffic--to be called such--in the district. +Dunloppel, always a productive mine, was, like its more famous brother, +Botallack, situated on the sea-coast, so that neither road nor tramway +had been created for its needs; the land about was barren, except in +minerals; and not a tree was to be seen for miles. Indeed, with the +exception of the parson's garden, there was scarcely a cultivated spot +in the whole parish. The graceful sprays of the sea-tamarisk, however, +flourished every where, in lieu of foliage, and in places where +certainly foliage is seldom seen. Not only did it grow luxuriantly on +banks and similar exposed positions, as though the roaring sea-winds, +which cut off all other vegetation, favored and nourished it, but waved +its triumphant pennant upon walls and house-tops. Stony places have a +special attraction for this weed; and it takes root so readily that the +story of its importation into Gethin might have had more foundation in +fact than some other local legends equally credited. Only a few years +back the plant had been unknown there, but a wagoner of the place, on +his return journey, had plucked a sprig of it in some locality where it +grew, to serve the purpose of a whip; and, when he reached home, had +thrown it carelessly on the top of an earthen wall, where it had struck +root, and multiplied. + +The cliffs, and the sea, and, above all, the ruined castle upon the +rock, were the sole attractions then which Gethin possessed--and that +they _did_ attract was an unceasing subject of wonder to its +inhabitants. Whatever could the fine folk see in a heap of stones or a +waste of water, to bring them there for hundreds of miles, was a mystery +unexplained; but the villagers were no more unwilling than professional +spiritualists to take a practical advantage of the Inexplicable. In the +winter they reaped the harvest of the sea, or explored the bowels of the +earth; in the summer they transformed themselves into "guides," and set +up curiosity-shops of shells and minerals; while, to supply +accommodation to the increasing throng of Visitors, John Trevethick, who +had always a keen eye for profit, had leased the village beer-house, and +enlarged it to the dimensions of a respectable inn. Even now, however, +the house exhibited a curious ignorance or disregard of the tastes of +those for whose use it was built--the windows of all its sitting-rooms +opened upon the straggling street, while the glorious prospect of cliff +and ocean which it commanded behind was totally ignored. Thus Richard +Yorke found himself located in an apartment which, though otherwise +tolerably comfortable, might as well have been in Bloomsbury for the +view which it afforded. The walls were ornamented by colored pictures of +the Royal Exchange and of the Thames Tunnel, London; and upon the +mantel-piece was an equestrian figure (in china) of Field-marshal the +Duke of Wellington as he appears upon the arch of Constitution Hill. The +only attempt at "local coloring" was found in the book-case--composed of +two boards and a cat's cradle--in which three odd volumes of the "Tales +of the Castle" had been placed, no doubt with reference to the grand old +ruin whose tottering walls beckoned "the quality" to Gethin. + +His simple meal of bacon and eggs having been dispatched, and gratitude +failing to invest with interest the lean pigs that searched in vain for +cabbage-stalks, or the dyspeptic fowls that were moulting digestive +pebbles in the street without, Richard lit a cigar, and prepared to +saunter forth. The fog had vanished; all the sky was blue and bright. +The keen and gusty air increased in him that elasticity of spirit with +which luncheon at all stages of their life-journey inspires mankind. + +"I suppose," said he, looking in at the window of the room he had just +left, and where Hannah, who was waiting-maid as well as cook, except "in +the season," was clearing away the remnants of the repast, "one can get +to the castle without a guide?" + +"Nay, Sir; you must get the key first, for the man don't bide at the +cottage, except in summer-time, and the gate has got spikes at the top. +Miss Harry has got it somewheres, if you'll wait a minute." + +Miss Harry herself brought it out to him. She had changed her attire for +what was an even more becoming one than that she had worn before, and +her bright brown hair was arranged with greater care, and perhaps with +more view to effect. + +"The guide has not begun his duties yet, Sir," she explained, with a +smile; "and so we keep the key here. You can't fail to find the road; +but the precipice-path is a bit awkward in a wind like this, and you +must be careful to take the right one; the old ledge was broken in by +the storm last month, and has an ugly gap." + +"But why not show me the way yourself, Miss Harry?" pleaded the young +fellow. "You know how easily I lose myself; and if I should come to +harm, by taking the wrong turning, you would be sorry, I'm sure." + +"Indeed I should, Sir," returned the young girl, simply; "and I doubt +whether you will find any body else in the village. This news from the +mine has taken them all off, it seems; and you wouldn't know rock from +castle, unless you had one to tell you, they are so alike." + +The fact was that Harry's conscience smote her for her wish to be of +service to this handsome young fellow, since she had just refused to +accompany Solomon to Dunloppel, on the score of fatigue. It was level +walking, or nearly so, to the pit-mouth, and it was a climb of many +hundreds of feet to the ruin. Still, she felt no longer tired, if she +had done so a while ago, and the stranger _might_ come to harm without a +guide. + +"But you're not coming without a bonnet?" exclaimed Richard. + +"Nay, Sir; I should come home without one if I went up yonder in such a +wind as this," answered she, laughing; "and I recommend you to fasten on +_your_ hat, if you wish to see it again." + +"But you'll catch cold," urged Richard. + +"We don't mind air at Gethin, Sir; and this shawl will cover my head, if +that's all." + +It really was Harry Trevethick's custom to go bareheaded in fine weather +about her own home, though, perhaps, the consciousness that she never +looked so well in even her Sunday head-gear, as with her own ample +tresses for a covering, may have influenced her resolve. Chignons were +unknown at that time, and never had the young man beheld such wealth of +gold-tinged locks as that which blew about his fair companion's brow, +and presently streamed out behind her, as they neared the cliffs, and +met the full force of that Atlantic breeze. It blew freshly and shrilly +enough up the winding gorge through which they had to descend to the +foot of the castled rock; but by the time they reached the beach the +wind had risen to a gale. They stopped a minute within shelter of a +hollowed cliff to view the place. It was a noble spectacle. The great +waves came roaring in, and dashed themselves against the walls of slate +in sheets of foam, to fall back baffled and groaning. They had eaten the +cliff away in two dark frowning spots, which his guide said were +caverns, approachable at low-water; but the rock itself on which the +castle stood defied them; they had only succeeded in insulating it, +except for a narrow tongue of land, which now formed the sole access to +it from the shore. Even without any historical or poetic association, +the object before them--rising bare and sheer into the air to such a +height--on which a swarm of gulls, shrunk to the size of bees, were +clanging faintly, was grand and striking; but the place had been the +hold of knights and kings a thousand years ago and more. The young girl +pointed out to Richard where the main-land cliff had once projected so +as to meet the rock, and showed him on the former's brow some fragments +of rude masonry. "That was the ancient barbacan," she said, "once joined +to the castle by a draw-bridge, as was supposed, which, when drawn up, +left Gethin so that neither man nor beast could approach it without +permission of its defenders. Even now, with none to hinder one, it is a +steep and perilous way, especially in a wind like this. Perhaps it would +be better not to venture." + +"But you shall take my arm, Harry," said Richard; "only let me pin your +shawl about your head first, lest those long locks of yours blind us +both." + +"I can do that myself, Sir, thank you," said Harry, austerely; then +added, with a smile, to reassure him--for why should she be angry?--"you +would only have pricked your fingers, as Solomon does. No man is clever +with his hands, excepting father." + +"And you say that to a painter, do you, Miss Harry--a man who lives by +his handiwork?" + +"I forgot that," said Harry, penitently; "besides, I was only saying +what Solomon says." + +"That was the gentleman who took me for a peddler, eh?" said Richard. +"He is not quite so wise as his namesake--is he?" + +"Oh yes, Sir; Solomon Coe has a long head: the longest, father says, of +any in these parts. He has made his own way famously in the world--or, +rather, under it, for he is a miner. He used to work in the coal-pits up +Durham way, but--" + +"Is that why he looks so black?" interposed Richard, laughing. + +"Nay, Sir, I didn't notice _that_," said Harry, simply. "Very likely he +was down Dunloppel this morning. It half belongs to him, father says; +and if this lode turns out well, he will be very rich." + +"And your father would be glad of that, would he not?" + +"Yes, indeed, Sir; for Solomon is the son of his old friend and +preserver, as I told you." + +"But it would not please _you_ quite so much--eh, Miss Harry?" + +"Not so much as father--certainly not," answered the girl, gravely. "It +seems to me folks are rich enough when they don't spend half they get; +just as other folk--like Mr. Carew, who owns all about here--are poor +enough, with all their wealth, who pay out of their purse twice what +comes into it." + +"Mr. Carew is known here for a spendthrift, is he, then?" + +"Well, Sir, it's only gossip, for he has never set foot here in his +life, I reckon; but, from what we hear, he must fling away his money +finely. However, as father says, there's one excuse for him--he has +neither chick nor child of his own. Eh, but you're looking white, Sir; +Gethin air is apt to nip pretty sharp those who are not accustomed to +it. You had best not try the castle to-day." + +"Yes, yes; we will go at once," cried Richard, impatiently; and, drawing +the girl's hesitating arm through his own, he moved rapidly along the +wind-swept way. Under the circumstances, there really was some danger; +but, had there been twice the peril, he would not have shrunk from it at +that moment--the chance observation of the young girl about Carew's +having no offspring had turned his blood to a white heat of wrath. +Although his mother had studiously instilled in him how foolish it was +to indulge in any expectations with respect to the Squire, he had always +entertained some secret hopes in that quarter until he had proved their +fallacy by experiment; and the failure of his expedition to Crompton +rankled in his mind. He regarded his father with the bitterest +resentment; he did not altogether forgive his mother for the share which +she had had (through her misrepresentation of her own position in the +register) in depriving him of his birth-right, and he felt himself at +odds with all the world. He had come to Gethin partly on account of what +Parson Whymper had told him of its picturesqueness, but chiefly because +it was an out-of-the-way spot, unfrequented by that society with whom he +had such good grounds for quarrel, and where he was not likely to have +his pride wounded afresh by any reference to his position; and yet he +had not been two hours in the place before the only person in it in whom +he was likely to be interested had galled him keenly. He could not long +be angry with her, however, for her involuntary offense, nor angry at +all in such fair company. She clung to him, perforce, upon the narrow +causeway, and shrank with him into whatever shelter was afforded, here +and there, upon their toilsome path, when they took breath, and gathered +strength together for once again confronting that pitiless blast. If +either of them had known how fierce a gale was imminent, they would not +certainly have ventured upon such an expedition; but, having done so, +they were resolved to go through with it. Harry had plenty of courage, +and fought her way with practiced eye and hand along the winding ledge; +and Richard was not one to own himself vanquished by difficulties before +which a woman did not quail. Twice and thrice, however, they were both +driven back again round some comparatively sheltered corner by the mere +fury of the wind, which battled with them as stubbornly as though it +were the disembodied spirits, of the ancient defenders of the place; and +when, mechanically, and almost of necessity, Richard's arm sought the +young girl's waist, whose garments made it more difficult for her to +advance than for him, she did not reject its welcome aid. Then, just as +his disengaged hand was clinging to a pinnacle of rock, his hat blew +off, exactly as she had predicted, and his dark curls mixed with hers in +wild confusion. Thus, foot by foot, they won their way, and reached at +last the iron-spiked door, the only work of modern hands on that gray +rock. This screened them from the gale; and, as they stood a while to +rest beneath its shelter, she showed him what a handsome key her father +had made for it, with cunning wards, more suitable for a banker's safe +than for such ancient relics as they guarded, and told him how the gate +was put there to exclude the summer visitors, who would otherwise enter +without fee. + +"Nay, but I will pay my fee," said Richard, gallantly; and, since their +cheeks were almost touching as it was, the debt was easily discharged on +her ripe lips. + +"For shame, Sir!" cried the girl, indignantly; and there was something +in her face and voice which showed him that her anger was not feigned. +"I am sorry I brought you here, mistaking you for a gentleman. Here is +the key, Sir; but I go back alone." And she freed herself roughly from +his arm, and turned to go. + +"For Heaven's sake, don't!" cried Richard, earnestly. "You may call me +any thing you please, but do not let my rudeness prove your peril. I +_was_ rude, but, on my honor, I did not intend to be so. I meant no +harm, although I see I have vexed you. Forgive me, pray; I did not mean +to be either ungenerous or ungrateful. Is it thought so very wrong at +Gethin--even with such great temptation--" + +"Yes, Sir, it is," she broke in, vehemently; "and I was wrong to come +with you." + +"Nay, don't say that," pleaded the young fellow. "How could you be wrong +to do so great a kindness to a stranger as you have done to me? It was +my sense of it--my heartfelt sense, believe me, of the trouble and toil +you have undergone for my sake; and I don't deny, Harry, your beauty +too, of which I have never seen the like. But there, I am offending you +again. Pray, come into the shelter; it makes me sick to see you in such +danger;" and to make room for her, and at the same time to stand as much +apart from her as possible, he stepped back, forgetting the scanty space +on which he stood, and--fell! + +A yard--a mile--he scarcely could say which, so overwhelming for the +instant was his sense of peril! He only knew that he was flying through +space. Then, suddenly, his feet found foothold, and his hands clung to +the gray rock, and the driving wind beat on his body ceaselessly, and +seemed to nail him where he clung. + +Was it the scream of gull, or piercing cry of some spirit of the air, +that rang through his brain? or was it, indeed, the agonizing shriek of +a woman? He heard it plainly; but Harry never knew whether she had +shrieked or not. She was aware of nothing except that this unhappy man +was perishing--had, perhaps, already perished--for her sake; through +fear for her safety, and his wish not to give her offense. She was on +her knees upon the ledge, and craning over it with horror-stricken face +the next instant, and could see him plainly. His feet had fallen upon +that very part of the old path which the storms of last winter had torn +and jagged away. A few jolting fragments of rock were all that was left +of it--insufficient even for a practiced cragsman to make his way along +on either side. His head--she could not see his face--was but a yard +beneath her; but how could she get at him? + +"I am here," she cried. "Be of good courage, Sir." + +She had nothing to offer in the way of help at the moment; but she was +well aware of what vital importance it was that he should not lose +heart. She lay down with her face on the bare rock, and strove to reach +him; but, even had her arm been long enough, he had no hand to spare to +clasp her own. The whole force of the gale was full upon her, and +carried her hair to windward like a whip. + +"Do not come too near the edge, brave girl," cried Richard, beginning to +be conscious of her efforts. "Is there no rope nor ladder?" + +"Yes," answered the girl. "Keep heart. Do not look down. I must be five +minutes gone--not more." + +She was up, and with the gate-key in her hand, ere she had done +speaking. Great Heaven! would that door never open? How her trembling +hands missed the keyhole; and when the key was in, how the rusty wards +opposed its turning. Then when the door was opened, it seemed as though +the winds had husbanded their strength behind it for one wild sortie, +with such fury did they rush out to beat her back. But she struggled in +somehow, and on across the howling waste of clifftop to a little hut of +stone, which formed the covering of a well. There, as she expected, she +found a rope coiled up, which was used to draw up water in an iron cup, +to gratify the curiosity of visitors as much as to quench their thirst; +for it was strange, indeed, to meet with fresh water there, the presence +of which, no doubt, had caused the place to be chosen for a fastness in +old time. With this she hurried back; and fixing one end firmly round +the door-post, she looped the other in a slip-knot, and lowered it +carefully to Richard. "Put this beneath your arms," she said; "the rope +is strong and firmly fastened. You must climb up by it, hand over hand." + +It was not so easy a task for the young artist as for a Gethin man; but +he was strong and active; and where his chief difficulty lay, which was +at the clifftop, the girl's willing arms assisted him. + +"You have saved my life, Harry," were his first words, when he stood in +safety. "How shall I ever repay you?" + +Then this brave girl, who had never faltered where action was necessary, +began to sob and cry. + +He took her hand and covered it with kisses. "I may kiss this," said he, +plaintively, "may I not?" + +She did not withdraw her fingers, but neither did she cease from +weeping. Her grief seemed to be something more than that resulting from +the tension of strong feelings suddenly relaxed. + +"Let me go home, let me go home!" was her sole reply to all his +entreaties that she should rest a while, and strive to calm herself. It +was with difficulty that he could support her down the steep, so +violently did she tremble. When they reached the foot of it she turned +to Richard and murmured: "I have one favor to ask of you, Sir. Will you +grant it to me?" + +"Most certainly, dear girl. It would be gross ingratitude indeed if I +did not." + +"Then never speak," returned she, earnestly, "of what has occurred +to-day. Never show by your manner that you feel--as you say--grateful +for what service I have been able to be to you. Let not father nor +Solomon ever know." + +"It will be very hard, Harry, to keep silence--to owe you so great a +debt, without acknowledging it," said Richard, tenderly; "but, since +such is your wish, I will obey it." + +"Thank you, Sir. And now I will go home alone. I was deterred by the +wind, the steepness--any thing you please--from accompanying you up +yonder; remember that. You will not mind waiting a while behind me?" + +"Surely not," said Richard, wonderingly. + +And the next moment she had hurried round an angle of the main-land +cliff, and was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +FISHING FOR AN INVITATION. + + +"What a strange girl!" muttered Richard, as he stood in the same +hollowed rock, alone, where Harry and he had first taken shelter. "What +a compound of strength and weakness--as my mother says all girls are, +though I have never known them strong before! How eager she seemed to +part company with me, and how anxious to get home without me--and I am +never to speak of what has happened, to her father nor to Solomon! This +Solomon is her unwelcome wooer, that is clear. He is neither young nor +handsome--nor attractive in any way in her eyes, I reckon. And what a +beauty she is, to be thrown away on such a boor!" + +The recollection that the door at the top of the rock had been left +open, and the key inside it, here flashed upon him. "She will be sorry +about that key," he thought; "and glad and grateful to me if I go back +and fetch it. The old man will be wroth with her for having trusted a +stranger with such a treasure. This Trevethick must be an ingenious +fellow, and a long-sighted one, no doubt. It was he who applied to +Parson Whymper for a lease of the old mine, if I remember right. Perhaps +the chaplain may help me to get it him, for I owe him something for his +daughter's sake. The idea of his having such a daughter! What rubbish is +this we artists talk of birth and beauty! Neither in life nor on canvas +have I ever seen one so fair as this girl." He meditated for a moment, +then cried out, angrily: "Heaven curse me, if I harm her! What an +ungrateful villain should I be! If there be a Gehenna, and but one man +in it, I should deserve to be that man!" + +Then he began to climb the rock. He did not tarry this time for breath +nor shelter, though the wind had no whit abated, but trod right on till +he reached the spot where the catastrophe which had been so near fatal +to him had occurred. "It was a narrow escape," mused he, looking down +upon the place, not without a slight shudder. "What odd things come into +the head when Death is whispering in the ear! If it had not been for my +fair guide, where should I have been by this time? Beneath the sea, for +certain. But what else? How strange it seems that if there is any +'else,' no one, from the beginning of time till now, of all the millions +who have experienced it, should have come back to tell us! And yet there +was a man who came back from the grave once. Who was he? I recollect his +picture by Haydon; his talk must have been better worth listening to +than that of most. Is nothing true that one hears or reads, I wonder? +Here is where I kissed her! I wouldn't kiss her again, if I had the +chance; I swear I would not. I am a good boy now--all morality, if not +religion--for they do say that hell is paved with good intentions--which +seems hard. If one is to be punished for one's wicked thoughts--even if +they do not bear fruit--it is surely but reasonable that one's good +ones--even if never carried into practice--should be set down on the +credit side of the ledger." + +With an exclamation of contempt or impatience, he turned from the dizzy +sight of cliff and sea, and shouldered his way through the wind-kept +doorway on to the open summit of the rock. It was a wild waste place +indeed, yet not without ample indications of having been inhabited in +days of old. Low but massive walls sketched out the ground-plan of many +a chamber, the respective uses of which could only now be guessed at. +But beneath one broken arch there was a heap of rude steps with a stone +something on it, which Richard rightly imagined had once formed an +altar. Man had worshiped there thirteen hundred years ago. Nay, not far +off, and in the very centre of this desolate hold, there was a +burial-ground, with a low wall of earth about it, which neither time, +nor the curious barbarism which marks our epoch, had much defaced. The +archaeologists had been there, of course, and discovered evidence which +had satisfied them of the presence of the remains of their +fellow-creatures; but with that they had been content. The dead had, for +the most part, been left undisturbed in their rocky graves, to await the +summons in the faith of which--and perhaps even for it--they had died. +For these were King Arthur's men (as Richard had read)--the warriors who +had helped the blameless king "to drive the heathen and to slay the +beast, to fell the forest and let in the sun." + +The lonely desolation of the place, and its natural sublimity, combined +with the recollection of his late deadly peril, tinged the young man's +thoughts with an unusual seriousness; and yet he could not restrain the +cynicism that was habitual to him whenever his attention was compelled +to solemn subjects. + +"Now, are these poor folks--whose creed must have been any thing but +orthodox, by all accounts--all in eternal torments, I wonder, or only +waiting to be so, for a few hundreds of years longer? Such was my +mother's friend, Joanna's, comfortable creed, and it is shared, as I +understand, by all the most excellent people. How much better (if so) +would it have been for them to have been born and cradled on this rock +as sea-gulls! Gad, to dwell here and fight for a king about whose very +existence posterity is to be in doubt in this world, and then to go to +the devil! What a nightmare view of life it seems! If, an hour ago or +so, things had turned out otherwise with _me_, I should have solved the +problem for myself. I almost wish I had. And yet it was not so when I +was clinging tooth and nail to the cliff yonder; and these folks would +not have died if they could have helped it, neither. There's something +ugly in black Death that disinclines man to woo her. This wind bites to +the marrow, and I'll go. I've seen Gethin now, and there's an end." He +turned, and walked as slowly as the blast would let him toward the gate. +"And yet, if it was warmer, and summer-time," continued he, "I should +like to sketch these things, or some of them, especially if Harry were +with me." He came out, and locked the door, and once more stood in the +shelter of it, with the key in his hand. "She'll be glad I went back for +this, and know that it was done for her sake. If she had but money, +now--this girl--and was a lady, and all that! Or if I could choose whom +I would!" He began to descend slowly, step by step; the furious gale +forgotten; his late escape from death unremembered; one thought alone +monopolizing his mind--the thought that monopolizes all men's minds (or +nearly all) at his age. It was here that his hat had blown off, and her +soft curls had played about his face; it was there that he had first +clasped her waist, and had not been rebuked. Then he fell to thinking of +all that had happened between them during the few hours that were +already an epoch in his life. Why had she looked so frightened at first +seeing him? Had he seemed to come upon her as her "fate," as some girls +say? He would ask her that some day--perhaps up yonder amidst the ruins. +He had not missed the look of annoyance which she wore when Solomon had +spoken to him so roughly, nor failed to couple it with the expressions +she had before made use of with reference to Coe the elder, and the +gratitude with which her father regarded his memory. This Solomon might +be a suitor who was backed by the old man, but certainly not encouraged +by Harry. Was she already engaged to him, tacitly or otherwise? It was +impossible, being what she was, that she should not have been wooed by +somebody. + +Richard Yorke was not one of those exacting characters who demand that +the object of their affections should never have attracted those of +another; he was even reasonable enough to have forgiven her (if +necessary) for having returned them, in ignorance of the existence of a +more worthy admirer in himself. There are many more varieties of Love +than even the poets have classified; and perhaps it is in despair of +dealing with this Proteus that we elders so often ignore him in our +calculations. + +The day was darkening by the time Richard reached the village. Around +the inn door were a group of miners, who stared at his bare head hard +enough, but gave way to him civilly. They were talking and laughing +loudly, and wiping their mouths with the backs of their hands. It was +evident that somebody had been "standing treat" in the narrow passage; +and leaning their elbows on the sill of the little bar window were more +miners, each with his pint pot of ale. + +"Here's luck to Trevethick and Coe," said one, "for a parting toast." + +"Ha, ha, that's good!" cried another, in appreciation of this commercial +epigram; "Trevethick and Coe; to be sure." + +"Trevethick and Coe, and may the copper last!" + +But one, emboldened by the liquor, or naturally more audacious than the +rest, put his head and shoulders through the open window, and, making a +trumpet of his two hands, whispered in a hoarse voice, audible to every +one: "And is it to be Coe and Trevethick also, Miss Harry--eh?" + +Then the window was slammed down with no gentle hand, and the men went +out laughing heartily, and for the first time leaving room for Richard +to pass in. He did not look toward the bar window, but, as though he had +heard nothing, walked quickly past it into the sitting-room, which had +been allotted to him. It was strange, since what he had just heard only +confirmed the suspicions which he had already entertained, that the +words should give him annoyance; but they certainly did so. What was +more natural than that this inn-keeper's daughter should be engaged to +marry her father's friend--a man apparently well-to-do, and with a +prospect of doing better? What could be more unreasonable than for Mr. +Richard Yorke, a young gentleman whose only hope in life was to marry a +girl--or an old woman, for that matter--with a good fortune, to be +irritated at such intelligence, especially after an acquaintance with +this "Miss Harry" of about three hours at most? After a minute or two of +reflection the idea seemed to strike even himself in the same light; for +he gave a short sharp laugh, and said what a fool he was, and then lit +his pipe. Even tobacco, however, that balm of hurt minds, did not +altogether soothe him. He could think of nothing but this young girl, +whose beauty had bewitched him, and to whose courage and presence of +mind he owed his life. He had sworn to himself--and there was no +necessity to repeat it--that he meant her no harm. Indeed, it would not +be less than she deserved to ask her to be his wife. Perhaps, if this +mine, in which her father had a share, should turn out well, she would +not be so bad a match, even in point of money; but to this he did not +attach much importance. He was indulging in a dream, which he fondly +imagined was unselfish and honorable to himself in a high degree. Quite +a virtuous glow seemed to mingle with his ardent passion; though the +fact simply was (as it often is in such cases) that, for a personal +gratification, he was prepared to barter his future prospects. He did +not doubt but that what he contemplated would be for the benefit of this +young girl; he must seem like an angel to her (for love does not always +touch us with the sense of unworthiness); as, indeed, by comparison with +this man Coe, he was. His mother would be a good deal "put out," it was +true, but then she was too fond of him to be angry with him for long, +far less to break with him. He was his own master, for some time to +come, at all events, for he had two hundred pounds in his pocket. + +What nonsense do the greatest philosophers sometimes discourse, when +their topic is Self-interest! It is likely enough that self-interest +actuates _them_, and in a supreme degree. When folks are by nature wise +and prudent--or if their tastes are studious, and their vices few--or +when, above all, the brain is seasoned, and the blood moves sluggishly +in the veins, then men do act for their own advantage, and keep their +eyes fixed on the main chance. But with most of us, especially when +young, self-interest, properly so called, is often but a feather's +weight in the balance of Motive. Revenge makes it kick the beam; and +Passion; and even momentary Whim. It was one of the arguments advanced +by Christian men in favor of slavery, that no man would ill-use his +slave, because it was his own property; as though the lust of cruelty in +a brutal nature were, while it lasted, not ten times as strong as the +lust of gain. There are moments when a man is ready to part with not +only his earthly prospects, but his hopes of heaven, rather than be +balked of an immediate satisfaction: that of striking his brother to the +heart, or growing rich by one stroke of fraud, or ruining forever the +woman that loves him best; and there are many men, in no such desperate +case, whose only guide is Impulse, and whose care for the morrow is +dwarfed to nothing matched with the gratification of to-day. These are +said to have no enemies but themselves, but they have victims; and, +though not apt for plots, are often more dangerous than the most +designing knaves. + +Pipe after pipe smoked Richard Yorke as he sat over the fire in the +deepening twilight, so deep in thought that it quite startled him, when, +suddenly looking up, he found that all was dark. Then he rang the bell, +and Hannah entered with the wished-for candles. + +"Is your master in?" + +"I'll see, Sir. Do you wish to see him?" + +"Yes. First bring me a bottle of sherry and two glasses, then ask him to +step in." + +The serving-maid obeyed; and presently there was a heavy step in the +passage, and in strode John Trevethick, a man of sixty years or so, but +straight as a pine, and strong as an oak. + +"Your servant, Sir," said he, in a gruff voice, and with no such +inclination of the head as landlords use. + +"Good-evening, Mr. Trevethick. I am afraid I'm putting you to some +inconvenience by coming to Gethin so many weeks before the usual time." + +"Nay, Sir; my house is open summer and winter." + +"Now I wonder is this the natural manner of this boor," thought Richard, +"or has he been already prejudiced against me by the other?--And an +excellent house it is, Mr. Trevethick; I little expected to find so good +a one down here, I promise you." + +"Well, I built it myself, Sir," said the landlord; "so it don't become +me to say much of that. It cost me a good bit of money, however; and +it's hard to get it back, when one's season only lasts for a month or +two." + +"Ah! I'm the first swallow that you've seen this year, I dare say. Well, +I hope I herald a lucky summer. Take a glass of your own sherry, will +you?" + +The landlord looked suspiciously at his guest: perhaps the phrase "your +own sherry" smote his conscience, knowing the price he paid for it, and +what it was, and what he meant to charge; but grunting: "Here's to you, +Sir," he filled his glass, and smacked his lips over it slowly. + +"Solomon has not set him against me," was Richard's conclusion. "The +graceful manner of this Cornish giant is natural to him.--You have a +fine castle here, Mr. Trevethick, and nobly placed. Indeed, I never saw +the like before." + +"So most folks say," answered the landlord. + +"There is not much left of it, however," said Richard, smiling. + +"Well, it'll last my time, at all events, and I dare say yours," was the +morose reply. + +"Indeed it will, and that of many a generation to come. It is seldom one +sees such massive walls. A good deal of trouble, however, seems to have +been taken to prevent people from running away with them, to judge by +this;" and he held up the key. + +"Well, the castle is mine, Sir--or, at least, I pay my rent for it; and, +I suppose, I can do what I like with my own. If there was no gate there, +do you think any body would pay me for viewing the place? Not they. Why, +there's some parties ain't even content with the key, but must have a +guide too, or else they buttons up their pockets." + +It was so impossible to misunderstand the bearing of this remark that +Richard burst out into a good-humored laugh; he was really pleased +because the landlord's hint assured him that he was in ignorance that he +had had a guide. "I shall certainly pay my footing, Mr. Trevethick, the +same as if I had had an attendant--of which, however, I should have been +glad at one or two places; the wind did take my hat, and very nearly the +rest of me. But what I meant by the trouble that was taken to secure +your ruins from intruders was with reference not to the door, but to the +key of it. Why, if it were a real castle, full of furniture, it could +not be more effectually guarded. You must have good lock-smiths +hereabout, if that's a specimen of their work." + +The icy landlord thawed again. + +"Well, Sir, the fact is, I made that key with my own hands." + +"You?" cried Richard, in affected astonishment. "Why, you must be a +mechanical genius. Look at the work! look at the wards!" and he +scrutinized them admiringly close to the candle. "Do take another glass, +Mr. Trevethick." + +"Nay, Sir; I've a friend in the parlor waiting for me," rejoined the +landlord, dryly. He appeared already to regret having given way to that +momentary feeling of self-esteem. + +"I wish _I_ had," observed Richard, smiling. "It's lonely work coming +down here by one's self, and finding nobody to speak to." + +There was a short pause, during which Richard was rapt in admiration of +the key. + +"Now, if his thick skin prove impervious to flattery," thought he, "then +will I fly my last shaft into his very gizzard." + +Mr. Trevethick's skin was quite compliment-proof, if an invitation into +the bar parlor was to be the evidence of its having been pierced. + +"You should come down in the summer-time, Sir," said he, coolly; "then +you will find lots of folks to talk with. At present I am afraid you +must put up with your own company." And the huge frame of the landlord +was already moving toward the door. + +"I am afraid so, indeed," said Richard, carelessly. "Parson Whymper +ought to have known better than to send me down here at such a time as +this." + +John Trevethick stopped at once, and Richard saw reflected in the glass +above the fire-place a look of intense interest. He could not have +supposed so phlegmatic a face was capable of so much expression. + +"Parson who, did you say, Sir? Whymper?" + +"Yes; an excellent friend of me and mine; the chaplain of Mr. Carew, of +Crompton. It was he who told me how I might fill my sketch-book with the +beauties of Gethin; and added, that I should have a hearty welcome from +one John Trevethick, if I gave his name." + +"And that you shall, Sir," cried the landlord, returning to the table, +and striking his broad palm upon it, to give emphasis to his words. "A +friend of Mr. Whymper's should be always welcome here. How is he, Sir? +And how is Mr. Carew?" + +"I have seen neither of them since I was staying at Crompton three +months ago or so," said Richard, coolly. "They were well enough then, +though the Squire was doing his best, as usual, to exhaust his +constitution and his purse; and the chaplain, as usual, also, was making +things as straight as he could, and putting the skid on where he dared. +But you know all about that, Mr. Trevethick, I dare say, almost as well +as I do. I am sorry you won't take another glass of wine." + +"I think I will, if you permit me to change my mind, Sir," said the +other, suiting the action to the word. "Now, the idea of your being so +intimate with Parson Whymper, and having staid at Squire Carew's! Why, +the Squire's my landlord, and owns all about here--leastway, short of +Dunloppel. It's unlucky that this copper should have cropped out just +beyond him, as it were." + +"There is no mine here belonging to him then, eh?" + +"Well, no, Sir; not, properly speaking, a mine, there ain't;" and the +well-practiced hand of the landlord shook as he put down the glass, so +that it clanked against the bottle. + +Richard Yorke laughed a short dry laugh, apparently at some reflection +of his own. + +"Well, I'm sorry you've got your friend, landlord, and therefore can not +have a chat with me; for it is evident we should find something to talk +about together." + +"And I'm sorry too, Sir. Though, if you wouldn't be too proud to come +into our bar parlor--but then I can scarcely ask a gentleman as has been +used to Crompton to do that." + +"Indeed, I shall be very pleased to come," said Richard, frankly. "I +have nothing to be proud of, I assure you; and if I had, why should I +not accept the company of an honest man?" + +"Very good, Sir. There's only me, and my daughter Harry, and this friend +of mine, Solomon Coe. If you'll please to walk this way." + +"Let's take the bottle with us, and then, perhaps, Mr. Coe will help us +to finish it." + +And bearing that token of amity in his hand, John Trevethick led the way +into the bar parlor. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE BAR PARLOR. + + +The bar parlor of the _Gethin Castle_ was a small snug apartment in the +rear of the house, and therefore exposed to the full fury of the +Atlantic winds, which were now roaring without, and enhanced, by their +idle menace, the comfort of its closely drawn red curtains, and its +ample fire, the gleam of which was cast back from a goodly array of +glasses and vessels of burnished pewter. Upon a well-polished oak +chest--the pride of the house, for oak was almost as rare at Gethin as +among the Esquimaux--stood a mighty punch-bowl; and on the mantel-piece +was a grotesque piece of earthen-ware, used for holding tobacco, about +which some long clay pipes and peacocks' feathers were artistically +arranged. A smell of nutmeg and lemons pervaded this apartment, and +pleasantly accorded with its almost tropical temperature; and the +contrast it altogether afforded to his own more stately but desolate +"private sitting-room," with its disused air and comfortless +surroundings, struck Richard very agreeably. On a chintz-covered sofa, +in the most retired corner of this parlor, sat Solomon Coe and Harry +Trevethick, and it was difficult to say in which of their countenances +the most astonishment appeared when the young painter presented himself +at the door. Harry's cheeks, which were not pale before, became crimson, +though she neither moved nor spoke. But Solomon rose, and, with a frown, +seemed to be asking of Trevethick the reason of this unexpected +intrusion. + +"This is a friend of Mr. Whymper's," said the landlord, setting down the +sherry on the table; "and therefore, I am sure, the friend of all of us. +That's my daughter Harry, Sir; and that" (and here he grinned) "is +Solomon Coe, a very intimate friend of hers--as you may see. We are a +family party, in fact, or shall be some day; so, pray, make yourself at +home." + +"I have seen Mr. Coe before," said Richard, frankly, and shaking that +gentleman's unwilling hand; "and, though he took me for a bagman, I bear +him no malice on that account." + +"A bagman! Lor, Sol, what could you ha' been thinking about?" laughed +Trevethick, grimly. "Why, this here gentleman has been stopping at +Crompton with the Squire! But you mustn't mind Sol, Sir; his mind ain't +free just Well, Harry, lass, why don't you get up and shake hands with +the gentleman?" + +"I have seen this young lady before, also," explained Richard. "It was +she who was good enough to get me the key of the castle, which I have +just returned, by-the-by, to your father," he added. + +Harry gave him a look which showed him that his second pilgrimage up the +rock was not unappreciated. + +"Did you see the chapel, Sir, and the tombs?" inquired she. + +"I hardly know, indeed," said Richard. "It was the climb itself that I +enjoyed the most, and shall never forget as long as I live." + +"Oh, but you must go properly over our ruins, young gentleman," said +Trevethick, with the air of a proprietor. "My girl here, or Solomon, +must show you them to-morrow, for they need a bit of explanation. Sol +knows all about them. Don't you, Sol?" + +"Oh yes; _I_ know," answered Solomon, doggedly; "but nobody won't go up +to the castle to-morrow, I reckon, with this sou'wester a-blowing." + +"It is a wild night, indeed," said Richard, putting aside the curtain, +and looking out through the shutterless window. "The clouds are driving +by at a frightful speed." + +"Ay, and it ain't only the clouds," said Trevethick, filling his pipe, +and speaking with great gravity; "the Flying Dutchman was seen off the +point not two hours ago." + +"By old Madge, I suppose?" observed Solomon, derisively. + +"Yes, by old Madge," retorted the landlord, sturdily. "She as knew our +life-boat was lost last year with all hands long before she drove into +Turlock Bay, bottom upward." + +"But how was that?" inquired Richard, with interest. + +"Well, Sir, it was this way," said Trevethick. "It was a stormy night, +though not so bad a one as this is like to be, and the life-boat had +gone out to a disabled Indiaman. She had been away three hours or more, +when, as I was sitting in this very parlor, in came Madge, looking +scared enough. She had been to Turlock on an errand for me. So, 'Sit +down,' says I, 'and take a glass, for you look as though the wind had +blown your wits away, old woman.' 'Tain't that, John Trevethick,' says +she; 'but I'm near frightened to death. I've seen a sight as I shall +never forget to my dying day. I have just seen our life-boat men--all +nine of 'em. The Lord have mercy on their souls!' 'Well, why not?' says +I. 'Why shouldn't you ha' seen 'em? They've got back sooner than we +hoped for--that's all.' 'Nay,' said she; 'but I met 'em coming out of +Gethin--away from home--the home they will never see again--all wet and +white like corpses. They're drowned men, as sure as you stand there, +John Trevethick.' And so it turned out, poor fellows!" + +"And did you tell any body of this before you knew that they were +drowned?" inquired Richard. + +"Ay, that's the point," muttered Solomon, approvingly. + +"No," said Trevethick. "I didn't believe the old woman, and I thought +her story would be very ill taken; so I kept it to myself. But it turned +out true for all that; the thing happened just as I say. John Trevethick +ain't no liar." + +"Of course you are stating what you believe to be the fact," said +Richard, in a conciliating tone; "I don't doubt that." + +"Just so; he's told it so often that he really does behave it," said +Solomon, laughing. "But what seems curious is, that it is always +Madge--purblind old woman, as wants to be thought a witch--as sees these +things--drowned sailors, and Flying Dutchmen, and so forth. I should +like to know who else has ever had the chance?" + +"Lots of folks," said the landlord, doggedly. + +"Well, _you_ been here these forty years," said Solomon, "have _you_ +seen 'em? And Harry here has been at Gethin all her life, has _she_ seen +'em?" + +There was an awkward silence. Harry had turned very pale--in terror, as +Richard thought, of the dispute between her father and Solomon becoming +serious. + +"That's naught to do with it," said Trevethick, sharply. "You're no +Gethin man, Solomon, or you wouldn't talk so. Why, didn't Madge describe +the very ship as was lost off Castle Rock, the night before we ever set +eyes on her? and wasn't it printed in the paper?" + +"In the next Saturday's paper: yes," replied Solomon, curtly. + +"Nay, I heard the old woman with my own ears," said Harry, gravely. +"There had been no wreck when she told me she had seen the schooner. +'The _Firefly_,' said she, 'will never come nearer home than Gethin Bay: +you mark my words.' That was twelve hours, ay, and more, before she +struck." + +"Forgive me for interrupting," said Richard; "but I don't understand +this matter. Is it supposed that a vessel announces her own destruction +beforehand?" + +"Sometimes," said Trevethick, gravely. "A ship is as well known here--if +she belongs to this part of the coast--as a house is known in the +Midlands. Well, if she's doomed, Madge--and it ain't only Madge +neither--will see her days before she comes to her end. This _Firefly,_ +for example, belonged to Polwheel, and had been away for weeks." + +"But still she was expected home?" interrogated Richard. + +"Ay, that's it," said Solomon, once more nodding approval. "The old +woman had that in her mind." + +"Why so?" argued Trevethick. "What was the _Firefly_ to her that she +should think she saw her drive into the bay, and break to pieces against +the rock out yonder? And why should she tell her vision to Harry?" + +"That certainly seems strange, indeed," said Richard, "as showing she +attached importance to the affair herself. It was a most curious +coincidence, to say the least of it. But what is this Flying Dutchman, +of which you also spoke? I did not know he ever came so far out of his +proper latitude as this." + +"He's seen before great storms, however," said Trevethick; "you ask the +coast-guard men, and hear what _they_ say. There's many a craft has put +out to her from Gethin, and come quite close, so that a man might almost +reach her with a boat-hook, and then, all of a sudden, there is nothing +to be seen but the big waves." + +John Trevethick had more to say to the same effect, to which Richard +listened with attentive courtesy; while at the same time he held to the +same skeptical view entertained by Solomon. Thus he won the good opinion +of both men; and of that of the girl he felt already assured. He +scarcely ever addressed himself to Harry, and as much as possible +avoided gazing at her. If the idea of his paying any serious attention +to her had ever been put into her father's mind, the intelligence that +he had been the friend and guest of Carew's had been probably sufficient +to dissipate it: the social position which that fact implied seemed to +make it out of the question that he should be Harry's suitor. It only +remained for him to disabuse Solomon of the same notion. This was at +first no easy task; but the stubbornness with which his rival resisted +his attempts at conciliation gave way by degrees, and at last vanished. +To have been able to make common cause with him upon this question of +local superstition was a great point gained. Solomon had a hard head, +and prided himself upon his freedom from such weaknesses; and he hailed +an ally in a battle-field on which he had contended at odds, five nights +out of every seven, for years. Harry, as we have seen, shared her +father's sentiments in the matter; and it was a great stroke of policy +in Richard to have espoused the other side. He would, of course, have +much preferred to agree with her--to have embraced any view which had +the attraction of her advocacy; but it now gave him genuine pleasure to +find his opposition exciting her to petulance. She was not petulant with +Solomon, but left her father to tilt with him after his own fashion. + +From the superstitions of the coast they fought their way to those of +the mines. Old Trevethick believed in "Knockers" and "Buccas," spirits +who indicate the position of good lodes by blows with invisible picks; +and, as these had more immediate connection with his own affairs than +the nautical phenomena, he clung to his creed with even greater tenacity +than before. So fierce was their contention that it was with difficulty +that Richard could put in an inquiry as to whence these spirits came who +thus interested themselves in the success of human ventures. + +"I know nothing of that," said Trevethick, frankly, "any more than I +know where that wind comes from that is shaking yonder pane; I only know +that it is there." + +"Nay, father, but _I_ know," said Harry, with a little blush at her own +erudition: "the Buccas are the ghosts of the old Jews who crucified our +Lord, and were sent as slaves by the Roman emperor to work the Cornish +mines." + +"Very like," said Trevethick, approvingly, although probably without any +clear conception of the historical picture thus presented to him. "It's +the least they could do in the spirit, after having done so much +mischief in the flesh." + +The contradiction involved in this exemplary remark, combined with the +absurdity of repentance taking the form of interest in mining +speculations, was almost too much for Richard's sense of humor; but he +only nodded with gravity, as became a man who was imbibing information, +and inquired further, whether, in addition to these favorers of +industry, there were any spirits who worked ill to miners. + +"Well, I can't say as there are," said the landlord, with the air of a +man who can afford to give a point in an argument; "but there's a many +things not of this world that happen underground, leastway in _our_ +mines, for Sol there is from the north, and it mayn't be the same in +those parts." + +"It certainly is not," interrupted Solomon, taking his pipe out of his +mouth to intensify the positiveness of his position. + +"I say," continued Trevethick, reddening, "that down in Cornwall here +there is scarce a mine without its spirit o' some sort. At Wheal Vor, +for example, a man and his son were once blown to pieces while blasting; +and, nothing being left of them but fragments of flesh, the engine-man +put 'em into the furnace with his shovel; and now the pit is full of +little black dogs. I've seen one of 'em myself." + +Solomon laughed aloud. + +Richard was expecting an explosion of wrath. The old man turned toward +him quietly, and observed with tender gravity: "And in a certain mine, +which Sol and I are both acquainted with, a white rabbit always shows +itself before any accident which proves fatal to man. It was seen on the +day that Sol's father sacrificed his life for mine." Then he told the +story which Richard had already heard from Harry's lips, while Solomon +smoked in silence, and Harry looked hard at the fire, as though--as +Richard thought--to avoid meeting the glance of her father's hereditary +benefactor. + +"You are right to remember such a noble deed as long as you live," said +Richard, when the old man had done. "My own life," added he, in a lower +tone, "was once preserved by one whom I shall love and honor as long as +I have breath." + +He saw the color glow on the young girl's cheek, and the fire-light +shine with a new brilliance in her eyes. Neither Trevethick nor Solomon +had caught his observation; at the moment it was made the former was +stretching out his great hand to the latter, moved by that memory of +twenty years ago, and, perhaps, in token of forgiveness for his recent +skepticism. + +"Then there's the Dead Hand at Wheal Danes, father," observed Harry, in +somewhat hasty resumption of the general subject. "That's as curious as +any, and more terrible." + +"Wheal Danes!" said Solomon. "Why, how comes that about, when nobody can +never have been killed there? It's been disused ever since the Roman +time, I thought?" + +"Yes, yes; so it has," answered Trevethick, impatiently. + +"But I thought you told me about it yourself, father?" persisted Harry. +"How you saw the Thing, with a flame at the finger-tops, going up and +down where the ladders used to be, and heard voices calling from the +pit." + +"Not I, wench--not I. That was only what was told me by other +folks.--Take another glass of your own sherry before supper, Sir; and +after that we will have a bowl of punch." + +The hospitalities of Mr. Trevethick were, in fact, profuse, and his +manner toward Richard most conciliatory. + +"We'll be glad to see you, Sol and I, in our little parlor, whenever you +feel in want of company," were his last words at parting for the night. +And, "Ay, ay, that's so," had been Solomon's indorsement. + +Harry had said nothing; but the tender pressure of his hand, when he +wished her good-night, had not gone unreturned, and was an invitation +more welcome than words. The events of the day, the conversation of the +evening, had given him plenty of matter for reflection; but the touch of +those soft fingers was more potent, and the dreams evoked by it +swallowed up all soberer thoughts. He sat up for hours that night, +picturing to himself a future altogether new to his imagination; and +when he went to bed it was not to rest. His excited brain was fed with a +nightmare vision. He thought that he was once more with Harry on the +castled rock; his lips were pressed to hers; his arm was around her +waist, just as they had been; but, instead of his slipping alone over +the precipice, they fell together; and as they did so--not without a +wild delight mingling with his despair--she was suddenly plucked away +from him, and, as he sank headlong down, down, he saw that Solomon Coe +had caught her in his arms, and, with her father, was looking down upon +him with savage and relentless glee! + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +SOLOMON'S REMINISCENCES. + + +There are wild places yet in the world, and primitive folk. Even in +England there are localities of which the phrase, "It is a hundred years +behindhand," still holds good; and so it was with Gethin. Its wind-swept +moors, its rock-bound coast, had inhabitants altogether differing from +the men of fields and farms; to Richard, a man of pleasure from the +town, they seemed a foreign race. They were rough in externals, but +kindly and genial at heart; given to hospitality, and, though good at a +bargain, by no means greedy of gain. Above all there were no beggars. +The poorest Gethin man would open a gate for you, or walk a hundred +yards out of his way to show you your road, without asking for, or even +expecting, a coin. They were, however, as delighted as surprised to get +it; and before the open-handed young artist had been a week in the place +he had demoralized it by his largesses. As, however, his smile and his +thanks always accompanied these presents, he was served more for love's +sake than the money's, and enjoyed a popularity which can not be +purchased, and which yet is impossible to be won by one who has nothing +to give. He had the reputation among these simple folks, who knew how to +be frugal themselves, of having a superfluity of wealth; his air and +manner showed he had been always used to be lavish (as indeed he had), +and nourished this delusion, which extended, though upon other grounds, +to the tenants of the little inn. + +John Trevethick and his friend Solomon would not have been much +impressed with the expenditure of a few pounds by an improvident youth; +but the former was well aware that the guests of Carew of Crompton were +almost without exception very wealthy men, and he judged of Richard's +social position accordingly. He had no idea that his landscape-painting +was any thing else than an amusement--as it was practiced by half the +young ladies and gentlemen who visited Gethin in the summer months; he +took him for an amateur; and if he had seen his sketches, and been a +judge of art, he would have been only fortified in his conclusion. He +liked the young fellow upon his own account, though not so much as his +handsome face and pleasant manners, combined with his desire to please, +caused others to do; for Mr. Trevethick was not at all impressionable in +such matters. Richard hated him in his heart for the scanty crop of +regard he seemed to get out of him, notwithstanding all his pains; he +had never made so continued an effort to make himself agreeable and with +so small a result; but his self-love would have been more deeply wounded +had he known that his own exertions would not have even gained him what +they did, had they not been seconded by a hidden ally in the landlord's +breast. Richard's desire to conciliate was fully reciprocated by +Trevethick, who wished above all things to make friends with the friend +of Parson Whymper; only conciliation was so much out of his line. The +old man and the young had absolutely nothing in common except their love +for Harry. + +Upon the other hand, John Trevethick and Solomon Coe were cast almost in +the same mould. Notwithstanding the former's superstition he was +intelligent and shrewd enough in practical matters, and had, indeed, +quite a genius for mechanics. Deprived of his underground occupation by +the catastrophe with which we are acquainted, he had set his wits to +work at home on the matters with which he had hitherto but physically +concerned himself; and the labor of his head had proved more lucrative +than that of his hand. He had invented several improvements in the +working machinery of the mine which had so nearly proved his tomb; these +had been adopted, with considerable profit to himself, in other places; +and the money thus acquired he had not frittered away (as is usual in +such cases) in speculative investments. In the interim between his +giving up his trade and his reaping the fruits of his inventions he had +tasted the bitterness of poverty, and that had made him very cautious. +But he had a small share in Dunloppel, which seemed likely to turn out +very profitable; and he had built the inn, the returns from which were +more than sufficient to support him--indeed, it was rumored that John +Trevethick had been laying by a pretty penny, and could hold his head +much higher if he pleased. His pleasures were certainly not expensive, +for they consisted in fancy iron-working, the results of which brought +him in a considerable sum; and in occasionally getting drunk, which, +being a publican, he could accomplish at the most reasonable figure. He +was a hard unlovable man, and interesting only as statistics may be said +to be as compared with literature--in a hard, practical way. If +superstitious, he was by no means religious; and, though honest, he was +grasping. He took time to resolve upon a matter; but, when once his +resolution was fixed, his will was iron, and his heart was stone. It was +certainly curious that one of Trevethick's character should have +entertained so long and freshly his sentiment of gratitude even to a man +that had saved his life at the expense of his own; but even this may +have had its roots in egotism. Had the person saved been his wife or his +daughter the feeling would not perhaps have been so enduring; and in +carrying it out, as he fully purposed to do, by bestowing Harry's hand +upon Solomon, he was certainly not uninfluenced by the fact that the +latter was, pecuniarily speaking, an excellent match. + +Like himself, his intended son-in-law was the architect of his own +fortunes; but he had built them up in a different way. His youth had +been spent in the coal-mines of the north; and, though no lucky stroke +of the pick can there make one rich, as it can in other underground +localities, his strength and skill had met with their full reward. And +what he had gained he had not wasted. Pound after pound he had laid by, +until enough had been saved for investment; and it was Solomon's boast +in after-years that he had never got less than ten per cent. for any of +it. It was all ventured on underground speculations, some of them +hazardous enough--but all had prospered; and here John Trevethick's +judgment, though the old man himself had not the courage to follow it, +had been of great advantage to him. Every thing he touched turned, if +not to gold, at least to tin or copper; and before the lode ceased to +yield Solomon had sold his shares at a good premium, and placed the +proceeds in another pit. He had sown, as it were, his money in the +earth, and reaped a golden harvest. And now Dunloppel, his last +venture, seemed likely to prove his best: and it was another strand in +the strong bond between himself and Trevethick that the latter had also +a share in that undertaking. There are some men with whom a common +pecuniary interest is the most binding tie of sympathy of which their +nature is capable; and never had the landlord of the _Gethin Castle_ +been more closely attached to his guest and son-in-law elect than at +this time, when Richard Yorke proposed to himself to part them; as +though a gilded summer skiff should thrust itself between two laden +coal-barges, and bid them budge. + +It was at least a week before Solomon Coe could be induced to open his +lips before Richard, beyond the utterance of a few pithy sentences; not +that the smouldering embers of jealousy had been fanned in the mean +time--for Richard had been prudence itself in his behavior to Harry--but +because the miner could not comprehend the young fellow, and therefore +distrusted him. The light and airy manners, which were as natural to +Richard as was John Trevethick's ponderous cunning or his own +self-satisfied reticence, seemed to Solomon mere affectation, and even +his appearance effeminate and dandified; but when he saw that he wore no +other air when conversing with the pitmen of Dunloppel--an expedition +undertaken with himself at Richard's special invitation--and marked how +actively he climbed the tall, steep ladders, and how fearlessly he +trusted himself to the rope, he acquitted him of such artful fopperies. +Of Richard's intelligence he had formed a good opinion from the time +when the latter had enlisted himself upon his side in the argument +concerning superstition; and it flattered his vanity to find so sensible +and accomplished a young fellow deferring to his opinion upon all +practical points, and apparently desirous of obtaining his views upon +them. + +There was one subject, the experience of his early years, upon which +Solomon was never averse to descant, could he once be got to talk at +all; and it was a certain token--as one, at least, of the company well +knew--that his prejudice against Richard was quite surmounted when +Solomon began to unfold to him, over their punch in the bar parlor, the +annals of his underground career. Often had he done so to Harry--like +another Othello (and almost as swarthy) narrating his adventures to his +Desdemona--but never had she been so pleased to listen as now, when she +needed but to seem to hear, and, without the penalty of reply, could +feed her eyes upon young Richard's listening face. It is hard when, in +the race for woman's favor, one has to waste one's breath in making the +running for one's rival. + +And yet the talk of Solomon Coe was well worth listening to. He told of +the great war which is always being waged by man beneath the earth +against the powers of Water, and Fire, and Foul Air, and of the daring +deeds he had seen wrought against them. He told of coal-pits that had +been on fire from time immemorial, above which no snow would lie, by +reason of the heat beneath, and where the grass of the meadows was +always green. He told of others which had been suddenly inundated by a +neighboring river, or by the waters from old workings, let in by a +single unlucky blow, whereby scores and scores of strong men were +overwhelmed, whose corpses floated about for months in the dark drowned +pit before their fellows above-ground could get at them. + +His speech was somewhat sullen and hesitating, and what he said was +interrupted by whiffs of smoke and sips of liquor; but the nature of the +subject was so absorbing that it needed no gifts of eloquence. It +interested Richard in spite of himself; and Solomon was not indifferent +to the flattery which the young artist's attention conveyed, and +scarcely needed the entreaties of Trevethick to persuade him to throw +off his native reticence. What he forgot, and had mentioned in former +narrations, the landlord supplemented; and when "Sol" became technical +and obscure the other performed the part of chorus or explainer. If the +former had been some gifted animal, and the latter its proprietor, he +could not have taken a greater pride in the exhibition of its talent +than did the landlord in these narrations. Now he would look at Richard, +and nod and wink, as though to bespeak his special attention to what was +coming; and now he would wave his pipe, like a dumb orchestra playing +slow music, to express the tremendous nature of a situation. Perhaps he +was genuinely impressed by these thrice-told tales--perhaps he was +endeavoring, by a feigned admiration for Sol's experiences and exploits, +to justify his choice of a son-in-law not altogether suited to his +Harry. To do the _raconteur_ justice, he was by no means so egotistic as +his aider and abettor, and Trevethick would express his regrets to +Richard that it was so hard to get Sol to dismiss generalities and talk +about himself. "It's on account of Harry being here, you see," explained +he behind his horny hand, but in a tone perfectly audible to the other +tenants of the bar parlor; "or else he would tell you how the timbering +of the pit once fell upon him, so as nothing was free but his head and +his left hand; and yet he never lost his wits in all his agony, but told +the men where to saw and what to do; but he don't like to boast before +the 'gal.'" + +Then Richard, taking the hint, inquired of Solomon whether any incident +particularly striking had ever happened to himself during his +underground experience; and Solomon replied, with affected carelessness; +"No, not as I know on; nothing particular." + +Then Trevethick broke in with, "What! not when you was shut up in the +seam at Dunston?" + +"Oh yes, to be sure," said Sol, as though the recollection of the +circumstance had only just occurred to him; "there was _that_, +certainly; but it was when I was quite a boy. I was not quite seventeen +when Dunston Colliery was drowned. The Gatton poured right in upon it, +and they have not got the water out of it in places to this day. It was +always said that the pit was being worked too near the river; but that +was little thought about by those as was most concerned, and it never +disturbed the head of a lad like me, of course. It was in the afternoon +of the 12th of December, a date as I am not likely to forget, when the +thing happened. Two mates--one old man and a middle-aged one--and myself +were at work in a heading together, when suddenly we heard a noise like +thunder. 'That's never blasting,' says one. 'The Lord have mercy on us,' +cries the other; 'it's the river come in at last!' For, as I say, the +risk was quite well known, though it was considered small, and made a +frequent jest of. Nothing that ever I heard was equal to that noise; the +waves in Gethin caverns here, during storm, are a whisper to it; the +whole pit seemed to be roaring in upon us. We all ran up the gallery, +which, fortunately for us, had a great slope, and crouched down at the +end of it. We heard the water pouring in and filling all the workings +beneath us, and then pouring in and filling ours. It reached our feet, +and left us but a very limited space, in which the air was compressed, +when the noise of the inundation ceased. There was a singing in our +ears, so that we could scarcely hear one another speak. We knew that the +whole mine had become a lake by that time, and that it would take months +to drain her, if she was ever drained. We knew that we were buried alive +hundreds of feet beneath the earth; and yet we did not quite lose heart. +There was this gleam of hope: supposing that the next gallery, which was +on a higher level than our own, was not also flooded, we could be got at +through the seam. We did not know the fact that it was more than sixty +feet of solid coal, and would have taken under ordinary circumstances at +least four weeks to dig through; we only knew that, if a door of escape +was to open any where, it must open there. We kept tapping with the +heels of our boots at equal intervals against this wall." + +"The miner's signal," explained the landlord, with a wave of his pipe. + +"We felt that if we were once heard, and if hard work could do it, that +our mates would save us yet; and we encouraged one another as well as we +could. But presently the oil in our lamps gave out, and we were left in +darkness; and then our hope grew faint indeed. We had knocked for +four-and-twenty hours unintermittingly without any reply. We did not +cease, however, to discuss the possibilities of escape. We knew that all +was being done for us above-ground that could be done; that the surveys +of the mine were well executed; and that it was known exactly where we +were, if we were alive at all. There were more than a hundred men +employed in the lower workings, and it was a certainty that not one of +them could have escaped death; the attention, therefore, of the +engineers would be concentrated upon those parts of the mine that might +possibly be left above water." + +"On the second night of our imprisonment we heard a distinct reply to +our signal; the old man who was of our company began to weep for joy, +though he was doomed, as it turned out, poor soul! never to see the +light. 'We shall be saved,' he said; 'do not fear.' We knocked again, +and again the reply was heard--they had found us out, and would never +relax their efforts to save us. 'God bless them!' said we all. We laid +our ears close to the rock, and presently heard the strokes of the pick, +but not very distinctly. When the other said he was afraid the rock was +thick, the old man cried out: 'No, it was not that; it was because we +were dull of hearing.' The fact was, that the seam was not only thick, +but very hard. It was strange, indeed, though sounds are easily +transmitted through rocks of considerable thickness, how our feeble taps +had been heard at all. Day after day, and each day a black night, went +on; every hour was to be the last of our captivity, according to the old +man; as for me, I was almost worn out, and heavy with sleep, but he was +in constant motion, knocking and listening. Then suddenly we heard a +splash in the water beneath us--he had lost his balance, slid down the +inclined plane, and been drowned. He never stirred a limb nor uttered a +cry. His fate discouraged and alarmed us two survivors exceedingly. If +help was coming, we now felt it would never come in time. We dug into +the shale with the handles of our lamps and with our fingers, to make +our position more secure. We did not venture to speak of our late +companion's fate to one another. Horror overwhelmed us, so enfeebled had +we become through famine and fatigue. We had devoured our leather belts, +and even crumbled the rotten wood of the timber-props in water, and +eaten that; but we were now consumed by thirst, which we dared no longer +quench. We were afraid to venture down as before for the water in which +the old man had sunk to death; and it was that which had kept us alive." + +"Don't forget about how you made a bucket of your boots, Sol," suggested +Trevethick, gravely. + +"Yes, at last we tied a string to a boot, and got the water up that +way," continued Solomon; "but our stomachs turned against it." + +"It was not so good as my punch," observed the landlord, +parenthetically, and emptying his steaming glass. + +"More dark days came and went, though, of course, we could not tell how +many; then, all of a sudden, we heard a human voice, inquiring: 'How +many are you?' 'We are three,' was our reply. We had not the courage +even then to own that one of us had already been taken; death seemed +still so near to us. The aperture which had thus let in the world upon +us was also very small." + +"And what was it you asked for first?" interrupted the landlord, with a +nod at Richard, as much as to say: "Listen now; this is curious." + +"What we wanted was light. 'Light above all things!' was our cry. But +our deliverers could give us but little of that, for they had scarcely +any themselves. They had been working in a narrow gallery, by means of +five inclined driftways, at each of which only one man could ply his +pick at a time, and where light and air could only be procured +artificially. The coal was carried out in baskets as fast as it was hewn +out: the atmosphere in which they thus toiled like giants, naked to the +waist, was almost suffocating; yet, under these conditions, they had +literally effected in four days, to save our lives, what it would have +taken them four weeks to do, had they been working by the piece for +wages. They had even been compelled to put up ventilators, and their +lamps would only burn when close to these. They gave us broth through a +tin pipe; but almost another day elapsed before the hole was large +enough for them to carry us through it in their arms." + +"And there was nobody else saved, was there?" inquired the landlord, +with a triumphant look. + +"There was not," said Solomon, expressing his tobacco smoke very slowly. +"Out of a hundred and thirteen men who had been caught by the flood in +Dunston, we two were the sole survivors." + +Many other stories of the like sort had Solomon to tell, and for not +one of them, was he indebted to his imagination. His experience of life +had been remarkable, and it had impressed itself upon his character. His +will was as strong as that of Trevethick, but he had less of caution; +and he was at the same time both plodding and audacious. + +It would not be well, thought Richard occasionally, to have either of +these men for an enemy; and he was right. Unhappily, it was impossible +to win Harry without a quarrel with, at least, one of them, and rather +than lose her he was prepared to defy them both. If he could but have +lifted a corner of the curtain that veils the future--well, even then, +so mad was he by this time with the love of her, that he would almost +have defied them still. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +SPRING-TIDE. + + +There is a beauty in woman that takes the stranger, and another the +changeful charm of which wins its way deeper and deeper daily into the +heart of man; but in the person of Harry Trevethick these two beauties +were combined. Richard thought he had never seen any face half so fair +as that which shone upon him through the mist on the first day when he +came to Gethin; and when he had dwelt there for weeks he was of the same +opinion still. Harry was innocent, tender-hearted, and gay, and so far +the expression of her features told you truth; but it also told you more +than that, which you must needs believe, though it was not the fact. Her +face was not the index of her mind in all respects; it was rather like +the exquisite and costly dial-plate of a time-piece the works of which +are indifferent. Her air was spiritual; her voice thrilled your being +with its sweet tone; her eyes were full of earnest tenderness; but she +was weak of purpose, vacillating rather than impulsive, credulous, and +given (not from choice, but fear) to dissimulation. That last fault +Richard willingly forgave her, since it worked to his advantage; and to +the others he would have been more than human had he not been blind. For +Harry loved him. She had never said so; he had never asked her to say +so; but it was taken for granted on both sides. They were thrown much +together, for Dunloppel--a treasure-house, which proved richer and +richer the more it yielded--monopolized the attention of both Trevethick +and Solomon; they were in high good-humor, and not at all disposed for +quarrel or suspicion. Harry had always been the mistress of her own +movements, and she went, as usual, whither she liked, and Richard went +with her. + +The spring was advancing, and brought its soft hues even to the barren +moors of Gethin, and bathed its gray rocks in sunshine. There was much +to see that was worth seeing, and who so fit as Harry to point out these +objects of attraction with which she had been familiar from her +childhood? They strolled along the beach to Polwheel, and she snowed him +how the harbor there had been silted up through the wrath of the +mermaids, or "merry maids," as she called them, still (under favorable +circumstances) sometimes seen sitting on the slate cliff ledges beneath +the clear blue sea. Far from ridiculing her superstitions, he led her on +to talk of them; he did not much mind what she talked about so long as +he could look at her and listen. + +"But why were the Polwheel mermaids so cruel, Harry? I always imagine +them bright and beautiful beings, with golden hair almost as long as +yours, and with nothing to do but to comb it." + +"That is so, when they are let alone," said Harry, simply; "but even the +weakest creatures love revenge, and will get it if they can." + +"And quite right too," interrupted Richard; "but for fear of that the +strong would be more uncivil even than they are." + +"Well, a mermaid was once cruelly treated by a Polwheel man--he fell in +love with her, and deserted her--and then her sisters choked up the +harbor bar." + +"But how did he come to court the mermaid? That must have been +difficult; though, if I saw you sitting under water yonder, I should +certainly dive, and try." + +"You would have no breath to make me pretty speeches then," said Harry, +demurely. "This mermaid was, however, a changed child. A Polwheel woman +was bathing her infant in the pool yonder beneath that arched rock, when +it suddenly gave a cry of joy, and leaped from her arms into the sea. +She thought it was drowned, but it came up the next instant more +beautiful and bright than ever. She did not herself know but that it was +her own child, but there were old folks in the town who knew that it was +in reality a mermaid's changeling. She grew up to be a lovely woman, and +the Squire of Polwheel at that time--for his race has died out +since--fell in love with her; he treated her very ill, and she died +broken-hearted, at Gethin, and was buried in our church-yard, where I +can show you the tomb." + +"And did no punishment overtake the scoundrel Squire?" + +"Yes. After a great revel one night, he was returning home by the sands, +and in the moonlight beheld a beautiful lady sitting by this same pool. +She was so like his dead love to look at that he was frightened at +first, but she smiled and beckoned to him, and then, clasping him in her +arms, leaped into the sea, and drowned him; and in the storm that arose +that night the merry maids filled up the harbor." + +"That was hard upon Polwheel," observed Richard, "though the Squire only +got what he deserved. He must have been a bad lot." + +"But the mermaid was very foolish to believe him," added Harry--"very." + +They visited the Fairy Bower, did these young people--the only spot +about Gethin where trees grew; a beautiful ravine, with a fall of water, +and a caverned cell beside it, where a solitary hermit was said to have +dwelt. Notwithstanding which celibate association, it had a wishing-well +besides, into which a maiden had but to drop a pin, and wish her wish, +and straightway the face of her future husband was mirrored in the +water. Through its clear depths you might see the bottom of the pool +quite paved with pins. + +"And does the charm always work?" asked Richard, laughing. "Try it +to-day." + +"No, no," answered Harry, gravely; "one must be quite alone for that, +and beneath the moonlight." + +On Morven Point, a grand old promontory, which pushed out many a yard to +meet the encroaching waves, and battled with long before they reached +the main land, they sat and watched the sunsets; looked down upon the +busy hive of men that worked upon the slate quarry beneath, or gazed +upon the ships that tacked and wore to make Turlock Haven. There was a +tower on this place, half ruined and with broken steps, up which they +climbed together on one occasion, and stood supporting one another upon +its dizzy top. There lay around them a splendid prospect of sea and +land, but they were looking into one another's eyes, and yet they did +not speak of that which was nearest to their hearts. It was a topic to +be avoided as long as possible. They only enjoyed these blissful +opportunities--they had only been permitted to thus stroll out together +alone and unsuspected--upon the tacit understanding that no such thing +as love could exist between them. If Harry had not plighted faith to +Solomon, her engagement to him tacitly existed nevertheless, and it was +under its aegis alone that they had been protected and indulged. It was +a part of the character of the young girl to persuade herself that she +was doing no harm so long as it was possible to entertain that delusion; +and it was all one to Richard what their love was called so long as it +_was_ love. Else, as they stood alone together in the noonday stillness, +his arm around her waist, as it had not been since that first afternoon +upon the castled rock, he must needs have told her why the heart that +pressed so close against her side was beating high. Just then, however, +he dared not. Suppose that, by any possibility, he had mistaken her +sentiments; suppose, that is, an extorted promise, or fear of her +father's anger, or what not, should compel her to deny his suit, and +cleave to Solomon; suppose even that her simplicity was such--and it was +in some things marvelously great--that she had accepted his affection as +that of a brother--a friend of her father's and of "Sol's"--but no; he +felt certain that she loved him; suppose, at all events, for whatever +reason, she was once again to reprove him for yielding to the temptation +of her lips, he felt that such a rebuke must of necessity finish all. +She could not forgive him twice, unless she gave him license to offend +forever. He dared not, therefore, speak directly of that which both were +thinking of; and yet he could not altogether ignore so sweet a subject. + +"That is the moor yonder, Harry, over which I first came to Gethin--how +long ago!" + +"Has the time, then, hung so very heavy on your hands?" asked she, +seriously. + +"No, Harry, no; on the contrary, I have never been so happy; but when +one has a new experience, however charming it may be, it seems to +dwindle down one's past to nothing. I have had two lifetimes, as it +seems to me--one elsewhere, and one here; and yet it is but six weeks +since I met you first, Harry, out yonder, gleaming like a sunbeam +through the fog." + +"I remember it well," said Harry, with a slight shiver. + +"But not to sigh about it, dear, I trust? You are not afraid of me +_now_, as you were then? Do you recollect how scared you were when I +called you back that day?" + +"Yes, well," answered the young girl, earnestly. "I had a reason for +being scared, though you would laugh at me if I told you what it was." + +"Do I ever laugh at you, Harry, when you would have me serious?" asked +Richard, reproachfully. "Come, tell me why you shrank from me--as you +can not to-day, dear, for, see, I have got you close--and why your large +eyes looked so wild and strange that I half thought you mad? Did you +take me for a ghost?" + +"No; but I had just seen what is far worse than any ghost. Did you not +mark how pale I got that same night? I thought I should have fainted +when I was asked" (it was Solomon who had put the question, but +Solomon's name was never mentioned between these two young people) "if I +had ever seen a spectre ship. I had seen one that very day--only a few +minutes before I met _you_--and on this very cliff." + +"Well, and what then?" said Richard, smiling. "Neither your father, nor +any one in whom you have an interest, goes to sea. The Flying Dutchman +did not concern you, I reckon, even if he did pay you a call." + +"You do not understand," said Harry, seriously; "it was not that at all. +But when the mists rise over Turlock sands, as they did that day, a +black, square-rigged vessel glides across them, which bodes ill to those +who see her; and _I_ saw her as plain as I see _you_." + +"But not so near," said Richard, fondly. + +"She was coming from Turlock to the quarry yonder--" + +"To fetch slates," interrupted the other--"nothing more likely." + +"Nay, not she; no craft would have attempted that in such weather; and, +besides, there was not a soul on board of her. She was sailing against +what little wind there was, and against the tide." + +"But even if this was so, Harry, what of it? What harm has come of it?" + +"Nothing as yet; nor was I greatly frightened at the time. That omen +bodes unhappiness to him or her who sees it, and I was already unhappy." + +"Because I was not here to comfort you, Harry. Well, that is remedied." + +She shook her head, and did not return the reassuring pressure of his +hand. "Listen!" she said. "This misery comes through the person whom he +who has seen the vision shall next meet; and I thought I knew who I +should meet on my way home--one from whom"--she sank her voice to a +whisper--"I already expected misery." + +"You mean--" began Richard, eagerly. + +"No matter whom I mean. It was not he who met me; that was _you_." + +The hand which he held in his was cold as ice; her face was pale; and +her limbs trembled under her. + +"This is folly, Harry dear. Am I likely to do you harm, to make you +miserable?" + +"I do not know," said she. "I sometimes think you are." + +He put the long hair back from her forehead, and gazed into her eyes, +which were now fast filling with tears. "I love you, Harry, with all my +heart," sighed he--"you know I do. And, though you are sometimes cold, +and at others seem as though you purposely avoided me, I think you love +_me_--just a little--too. Better, at all events, than the man with whom +you yourself have just confessed you expect nothing but misery." + +"Hush, hush!" moaned she. "If I said that, it was very wrong." + +"It was the truth, Harry. How could it be otherwise? He is not a lover +meet for such as you; he is twice your age, and rough and rude of speech +even as a suitor. Do you think he will be more tender when he is a +husband? He is no mate for you, Harry, nor you for him." + +Again she shook her head, with a slow mournful movement, as though less +in dissent from his statement than in despair of remedy. + +"What!" cried he, "because his father was your father's friend, does +that give him the right to be your husband?" + +The young girl answered only with her sobs. + +"Now tell me, darling--did you ever promise to be this man's wife in +words?" + +"Yes--no--I am not sure. Oh yes, I must be his; my father has set his +mind upon it. Nay, do not smile at that; you don't know what my father +is. He is not one to cross;" and, as if at the very thought of her stern +parent's wrath, she lifted up her head from Richard's breast, and looked +around in fear. + +"But suppose I win him to my side, sweet Harry?" + +"That you could never do," sighed she. "I tell you you don't know him." + +"Nay; but I think I do, dear; and, if I could show him that it was to +his own advantage to have me for his son-in-law, in place of--" + +"You would not persuade him," interrupted the young girl, firmly--"not +even if you were Carew of Crompton's heir." + +The words she had used were meant to express exhaustless wealth--for +with such was the owner of Gethin still credited in that far-away corner +of his possession--but they startled and offended Richard. "I may not be +Carew's heir," said he, haughtily; "but I have some power at Crompton, +and I can exert it in your father's favor." + +Harry shook her head. "He wants for nothing," she said, "that you can +give him. He is wealthier than you imagine. He has two thousand pounds +in notes, for which he has no use; they lie in the strong-box in my +room. But there, I promised not to speak of that." + +"I am not a burglar in disguise," said Richard, smiling, "and would make +your father richer rather than rob him. But why should he keep so large +a sum by him?" + +"I do not know; but there it is, locked with a letter padlock which he +made himself. No human being can open it, he says, who does not know the +secret." + +Richard was silent. Something else than love was occupying his thoughts, +though his fingers were making marriage rings for themselves of Harry's +golden hair. It is like entertaining angels unawares to find after one +has fallen in love that it is with an heiress. + +"Dear Harry," said he at last, "I think I shall take you from your +father's willing hands; I have good hope of it, and better since I have +heard you so despairing; but, at all events, you will be mine. Let me +hear those sweet lips say so. Promise me, promise me, my darling, that +you will be my wife." + +He caught and clasped her close, and she did not repulse him. + +"I dare not, Richard--I dare not promise you," she murmured. + +"But if your father gives me leave?" whispered he, his lips to her warm +cheek. + +She uttered a soft cry of passionate joy that told him more than a +hundred phrases of assent how dear he was to her, and hid her face upon +his breast. + +Oh happy hour, so bright, and yet so brief! Oh golden noon, already on +the verge of eve and blackest night! + +How often in the after-time did that fair and sunny scene recur to them, +a bitter memory; how often was that first kiss of love renewed by cruel +fancy and in mocking dreams, its sweetness changed to gall! + +Better for one--better, perhaps, for both--if, clasped in one another's +arms, they had fallen from that tall tower's top, and then and there had +ended life and love together! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +WORKING ON A PIVOT. + + +Never had Richard been in such high spirits as on the evening of that +day on which Harry had made confession to him of her love, and had +promised to be his wife should her father's consent be gained. It was +true that she had been far from sanguine upon the latter point; but +Richard had his reasons for being of a different opinion. It would be +better, every way, if he could obtain Trevethick's good-will; not that +he at all shared in the girl's dread of his anger, but because it really +seemed that if he married her from her father's roof he should be +fulfilling his mother's injunctions in making alliance with an heiress. +What with his two thousand pounds in gold, and his inn, and his lucky +mine, it was plain that the old man would have no despicable sum to +leave behind him; and yet, to do Richard justice, this only formed an +additional incentive to a project upon which, at all events, he had long +set his heart. He had resolved at all hazards to make the girl his wife. +His love for her was as deep as it was passionate; and now that he was +assured from her own lips of its being returned, his heart was filled +with joy, and spoke out of its abundance. It had been hitherto his habit +in that family circle round the bar-parlor fire to play the part of +listener rather than of talker. He had mainly confined himself to the +exhibition of an attentive interest in Solomon's stories, or in his +host's sagacious observations with respect to the investment of capital, +such as: "One couldn't be too cautious where one put one's money;" and, +"Where the interest was high the risk was great, and where it was low it +was not worth while to let it leave one's hand." Next to the subject of +local superstition, "investment" was the favorite subject of debate +between Trevethick and "Sol;" and Richard, whose ignorance insured his +impartiality, had been the judicious scale-holder between them. But +upon the present occasion it was the young artist who led the talk and +chose the matter. He told them of the splendors of Crompton and of the +marvelous prodigality of its owner, and they listened with greedy ears. +To vulgar natures, the topic of mere wealth is ever an attractive one, +and in the present instance there was an additional whet to appetite in +the connection of Carew with Gethin. He was naturally an object of +curiosity to his tenant Trevethick, and never before had the old man had +the opportunity of hearing at first hand of the eccentricities of the +Squire. In relating them Richard took good care to show by implication +on what intimate terms he stood with him, and hinted at the obligation +under which he had put him by throwing his park gate open so +opportunely. The impression which he left upon his audience, and desired +to leave, was, that Carew was indebted to him for having saved his life. + +"Then it is likely the Squire would do any thing for you that you chose +to ask him?" observed Trevethick, with the thought of his own debt to +Solomon's father doubtless in his mind. + +"Well, he certainly ought to do so," answered Richard, carelessly; "but, +on the other hand, it is not very probable that I shall put him to the +test." + +"Just so," returned Trevethick, sucking at his pipe; "you're independent +of the likes of him." + +"Altogether," was Richard's reply. + +The old man spoke no more, but sat in a cloud of smoke and thought for +the rest of the evening. Even when "Sol" rose up to go--Harry having +retired long since, for they kept very early hours at the Gethin +Castle--the landlord did not, as usual, accompany him, but mixed himself +another glass of his favorite liquor. As for Richard, it was not his +custom to seek his bed until after midnight; so Trevethick and he were +left to one another's company. It was an opportunity to which the latter +had been looking forward for many a day, but which he had never desired +so keenly as at that moment. + +"Are you likely to be at Crompton soon again?" inquired the landlord, +pursuing the subject of the evening's talk. + +"I have no intention of going there at present," returned Richard. "The +fact is, Mr. Trevethick, between ourselves, I am but a poor man in +comparison with many of those I meet there, and their ways and habits +are too expensive for me." + +"Ay! gambling and such like, I suppose?" observed the landlord, +cunningly. "It is 'Light come light go' with the money of that sort of +folk, I reckon." + +"Just so; and though my money comes light enough--that is, I have not to +earn it, since my mother makes me an allowance--I don't choose to risk +it at the card-table." + +"Quite right, quite right, young gentleman," answered the other, +approvingly. "But there are some prudent gentry even at Crompton, I +suppose. Parson Whymper, for instance, he don't gamble, do he?" + +"Certainly not; he is much too sagacious a man, even if he were rich +enough, to play; but for him, indeed, some say the Squire would have +come to the end of his tether before this. He manages every thing at +Crompton, as you know." + +"And yet Carew don't want money?" said the landlord, musing. + +"Well, I have been his guest," returned Richard, smiling; "and it is +scarcely fair of me to speak of his embarrassments. He does not +certainly want it so much but that he can still afford to indulge his +whims, Mr. Trevethick, if that's what you mean." + +"That's just what I did mean," said the old man, frankly. "Six months +ago or so I made a certain proposition to the Squire, which would have +been exceedingly to his advantage to accept--" + +"And not to yours?" interrupted Richard, slyly. + +"Nay, I don't say that, Sir," answered the other. "But it was one that +he ought to have been glad to accept in any case, and which it was +downright madness in him to refuse, if he wanted cash. It was a chance, +too, I will venture to say, that will never offer itself from any other +quarter. Mr. Whymper acknowledged that himself." + +"I know all about the matter, Mr. Trevethick: the Squire behaved like +the dog in the manger to you. He won't work the mine himself, nor yet +let you work it." + +"For mercy's sake, be quiet!" cried the landlord, earnestly, and looking +cautiously about him. "If you know all about it, you need not let others +know. What mine are you talking about? Give it a name--but speak it +under your breath, man." The old man leaned forward with a white moist +face, and peered into Richard's eyes as though he would read his soul. + +"Wheal Danes was the name of the place, if I remember right," said +Richard. "Carew has a notion that the Romans did not use it up, and that +it only wants capital to make it a paying concern. It is one of his mad +ideas, doubtless." + +Mr. John Trevethick was not by nature a quick appreciator of sarcasm, +but he could not misunderstand the irony expressed in Richard's words. + +"And is that what you came down to Gethin about?" inquired he, with a +sort of grim despair, which had nevertheless a comical effect. + +Richard could only trust himself to nod his head assentingly. + +"Well," cried the other, striking the table with his fist, "if I didn't +think you was as deep as the devil the very first day that I set eyes on +you! So you are Parson Whymper's man, are you?" And here, in default of +language to express his sense of the deception that, as he supposed, had +been practiced on him, Mr. Trevethick uttered an execration terrible +enough for a Cornish giant. + +"I am not Mr. Whymper's man at all," observed Richard, coolly. "Mr. +Whymper is my man--or at least he will be one day or another." + +"How so?" inquired the landlord, his eyes at their full stretch, his +mouth agape, and his neglected pipe in his right hand. "Who, in the +Fiend's name, are you?" + +"I am the only son and heir of Carew of Crompton," answered the young +man, deliberately. + +"You? Why, Carew never had a son," exclaimed Trevethick, incredulously; +"leastways, not a lawful one. He was married once to a wench of the name +of Hardcastle, 'tis true; but that was put aside." + +"I tell you I am Carew's lawful son, nevertheless," persisted Richard. +"My mother was privately married to him. Ask Parson Whymper, and he +will tell you the same. It is true that my father has not acknowledged +me, but I shall have my rights some day--and Wheal Danes along with the +rest." + +The news of the young man's paternity must have been sufficiently +startling to him who thus received it for the first time, and would, +under any other circumstances, have doubtless excited his phlegmatic +nature to the utmost; but what concerns ourselves in even a slight +degree is, with some of us, more absorbing than the most vital interests +of another; and thus it was with Trevethick. The ambitious pretensions +of his lodger sank into insignificance--notwithstanding that, for the +moment, he believed in them; for how, unless he was what he professed to +be, could he know so much?--before the disappointment which had befallen +himself in the overthrow of a long-cherished scheme. + +"Why, Mr. Whymper wrote me with his own hand," growled he, "that in his +judgment the mine was worthless, and that he had done all he could to +persuade the Squire to sell. And yet you come down here to gauge and +spy." + +"All stratagems are fair in war and business," answered the young man, +smiling. "Come, Mr. Trevethick; whatever reasons may have brought me +here, I assure you, upon my honor, that they do not weigh with me now, +in comparison with the great regard I feel for you and yours. If you +will be frank with me, I will also be so with you; and let me say this +at the outset, that nothing which may drop from your lips shall be made +use of to prejudice your interests. I have gathered this much for +myself, that Wheal--" + +"Hush, Sir! for any sake, hush!" implored the landlord, earnestly, and +holding up his huge hand for silence. "Do not give it a name again; +there is some one moving above stairs." + +"It is only Solomon," observed Richard, quietly. + +"I don't want Sol nor any other man alive to hear what we are talking +about, Mr. Yorke," answered Trevethick, hoarsely. "You have gathered for +yourself, you were about to say, that the mine is rich, and well worth +what I have offered for it." + +"And a good deal more," interrupted Richard. "Perhaps a hundred times, +perhaps a thousand times as much. We don't make so close a secret of a +matter without our reasons. We don't see Dead Hands, with flames of fire +at the finger-tips, going up and down ladders that don't exist, without +the most excellent reasons, Mr. Trevethick. What we wish no eye to see, +nay, no ear to hear spoken of, is probably a subject of considerable +private importance to ourselves. Come, we are friends here together; I +say again, let us be frank." + +Trevethick was silent for a little; he felt a lump rise in his throat, +as though nature itself forbade him to disclose the secret he had kept +so long and so jealously guarded. "I have known it for these fifty +years," he began, in a half-choking voice. "I found it out as a mere +lad, when I went down into the old mine one day for sport, with some +schoolmates. The vein lies in the lowest part of the old workings, at a +depth that we think nothing of nowadays, though it was too deep for the +old masters of the pit. I remember, as though it was yesterday, how my +heart leaped within me when my torch shone upon it, and how I fled away, +lest my school-fellows should see it also. I came back the next day +alone, to certify my great discovery. It is a good vein, if ever there +was one. The copper there may be worth tens of thousands, hundreds of +thousands, millions!" Never had the numeration table been invested with +such significance. Trevethick's giant frame shook with emotion; his eyes +literally glared with greed. + +"You have been there since?" observed Richard, interrogatively. + +"Often, often," answered the other, hoarsely; "I could not keep away. +But nobody else has been there. The place is dark and perilous; there +are rats, and bats, and eerie creatures all about it. And folks are +afraid, because of the Dead Hand and the Flame." + +"Your hand and torch?" + +"Yes. I did my best to keep the place my own; my thoughts were never +absent from it for a day. And when I had earned a little money I put it +by, and more to that, and more to that again, till I had got enough to +make a bid for the lease of the old mine. But Carew was under age; so +that fell through. I bided my time, and bid again; not much--not enough, +as I fondly thought, to excite suspicion--but still what would seem a +good price for a disused pit. Then I bid more and more; but Carew will +neither sell nor let; and my money grows and grows in vain. I tell you I +have laid by a fortune only to pour into his hand. It is ready for him +to-night; there would be no haggling, no asking for time--it would be +paid him in hard cash. How long, thought I, will this madman balk me +with his whim? He will die some day in his cups, or break his neck in +hunting, and I shall surely come in with my offer to his heir, and have +my way at last, and win my prize. But now, after all my patience and my +pains, I am overmatched by a Parson and a Boy." He spoke with uncommon +heat and passion--not complainingly. His face was dark, and his tone +violent, and even menacing. There was no mistake about his having +accepted his companion's invitation to be frank. + +"Mr. Trevethick," said Richard, gravely, "your disappointment would be +natural enough, if your long-cherished plan had really failed; but you +have misunderstood me altogether. I am grateful to you for confiding to +me the whole of what I had already guessed in part; and you shall have +no reason to repent your confidence. Your secret is safer now than it +has ever been; for from my lips Mr. Whymper shall never have his +suspicions with respect to Wheal Danes confirmed. I have been too long +your guest, I feel myself too much the friend of you and yours, to act +in any way to your disadvantage." + +Trevethick looked at him inquiringly, suspicion and disfavor glowing in +his dusky face. "But if your story is true, young gentleman, this mine +will be your own some day?" + +"It may, or it may not be, Mr. Trevethick. My father's intentions are +not to be counted upon, as you must be well aware, for twenty-four +hours. But if ever Wheal Danes is mine--" Richard hesitated a moment, +while the landlord devoured him with his eyes. + +"Well," cried he, impatiently, "what then?" + +"I am willing to make over to you, as soon as I come of age, by deed, +all interest that I may have in it--on one condition." + +"Make over Wheal Danes to me by deed! What! at my own price?" + +"For nothing; you shall have it for a free gift." + +"But the condition? What is it that you want of me that is not money?" + +"I want permission from you, Mr. Trevethick, to wed, that is--for I +would not speak of love without your leave--to woo your daughter." + +"To wed my daughter!" cried Trevethick, starting from his seat; "my +Harry!" + +"I say provided that my suit is not displeasing to her," answered +Richard, not without a tremor in his voice, for the old man's face was +terrible to look upon. Hatred and Wrath were struggling there with +Avarice, and had the upper hand. + +He rocked himself to and fro, then answered, in a stifled voice, "My +daughter's hand is already promised, young man." + +"It may be so, Mr. Trevethick, but not by her, I think; and that her +heart has not been given to the man you have designed for her is +certain. You may see that for yourself." + +"I tell you I have passed my word to Solomon Coe that she shall be his +wife," returned the other, gloomily, "and I am not one to go back from a +bargain." + +"One can only promise what is in one's power," urged Richard; "your +daughter's heart is not yours to give. In backing this man's suit you +have already redeemed your word to him. If he has failed to win her +affections--and I think he has--let me try my chance. I am a fitter +match for her in years; I am a gentleman, and therefore fitter for her, +for she is a true lady. I love her a thousand times as much as he. As +for Wheal Danes, I would give you twenty such, if I had them, for the +leave I ask for, and the end I hope for." + +It was curious to mark how the mere mention of the mine by name affected +the old man; his wrath, which seemed on the very point of explosion, was +checked and smoothed at once, like raging waves by oil; his brow, +indeed, was still dark and frowning, but he resumed his seat, and +listened, or seemed to listen, to Richard's impassioned pleading. His +genuine feeling made the young fellow eloquent, and gave a tender charm +to his always handsome face and winning tones. + +Perhaps even the unsympathetic Trevethick was really somewhat touched; +at all events, he did not interrupt him, but when he had quite finished +took out his watch, and said, in a softened tone: "The hour is late, Mr. +Yorke, and you have given me much to think about, to which I can not +reply just now. Your communication has taken me altogether by surprise. +I will answer neither 'Yes' nor 'No' at present. Good-night, Sir." He +nodded, which was his usual salute at parting; but upon the young man's +eagerly stretching out his hand, he took it readily enough, and gave it +such a squeeze with his giant fingers as made Richard wince. Then, +smiling grimly, he retired. + +As his heavy step toiled up stairs Richard perceived a slip of paper on +the floor, which had apparently fluttered out of the old man's +watch-case. Upon it were written the three letters, B, N, Z. As he held +it in his hand he heard the landlord's tread returning with unusual +haste, and had only just time to replace the paper, face downward, on +the sanded floor, before the other reappeared. + +"I have dropped a memorandum, somewhere," said he. "It is of no great +consequence, but--Oh, here it is!" He picked it up, and replaced it in +the hollow of his great silver watch. + +Richard, who was sitting where he had left him, looked up with a glance +of careless inquiry. "Good-night again, Mr. Trevethick." + +"Good-night, Sir." And again the landlord smiled in his grim fashion. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +BY MOONLIGHT. + + +Richard sat over the fire, revolving his late conversation with +Trevethick in his mind, and picturing to himself what would probably +come of it. Although the declaration of his love for Harry had been thus +suddenly made, it had not been made unadvisedly. Though he had not +expected the opportunity for stating it would have offered itself so +soon, he had planned his whole argument out beforehand, with Wheal Danes +for its pivot. And, upon the whole, he felt satisfied with its effect +upon his host. The latter had not surprised him (except by his +frankness) in his disclosure respecting the rich promise of the mine. +Richard's own observation, aided by the clew which Parson Whymper's few +chance sentences had given him, had convinced him that Wheal Danes was a +most coveted object in the landlord's eyes; and had it happened to have +fallen into his own hands, he did really suspect enough to have had it +searched for ore from top to bottom. Trevethick had therefore lost +nothing by his revelation (as his sagacity had doubtless foreseen), +while he had made a very favorable impression upon Richard by his +candor. Cornish giants, thought the latter, might be rude and brutal, +but duplicity was foreign to their character; it was not Blunderbore, +but Jack the Giant-killer, who dug pitfalls, and pretended to swallow +what he only put in a bag. + +Trevethick had certainly shown strong disfavor to the young man's suit, +backed though it was by such great pretensions; and it was evident that +but for his hold upon him with respect to the mine, Richard would not +have been listened to so patiently. However, his mouth had not been +peremptorily closed at once (as he had expected it would have been), +which was a great point gained, and the longer the old man took to think +about the matter the more likely was self-interest to gain the day with +him. Supposing Richard's representations to have been correct, he was +certainly "a better match" for Harry than Solomon was; and he had no +apprehension of their being refuted. Trevethick would in all probability +write to Mr. Whymper to inquire into the truth of them--but what then? +He would certainly make no reference to the mine; and as to Richard +being Carew's lawful son, had not the chaplain himself (whom he could +count on as a friend to say all that was to his advantage besides) +admitted that, in his eyes, he was born in honest wedlock? At all +events, there would be ample excuse for his having taken such a view of +the case; while, as to his prospects, he had frankly confessed that he +was, for the present, unacknowledged by the Squire. So long, in fact, as +he could keep up the pretense of influence, either present or +contingent, at Crompton, he felt his position with Trevethick tolerably +secure. In all this scheme of dark deceit his love for Harry was +interwoven like a golden thread, and amidst all his plots and plans her +glorious face would suddenly rise unbidden, and charm him from them. He +had long since resolved to win her, but the late avowal of her love for +him, and now his partial success to gain her father's favor, seemed to +have made her his own already. How beautiful she had looked that day +upon the tower, with the sunlight on her hair! How fresh and guileless +were her ways! Her very weaknesses were lovable, and the cause of love. +How touching was her simple faith in omens, and how pleasant to combat +it, his arm about her dainty waist, as though to protect her from the +shadow of harm! How pitiful her fear of her gruff father, and of this +Cornish Solomon; and how sweet to calm it, kissing her tears away! Once +more his loving arms embraced her--once more his lips touched her warm +cheeks--when a sudden noise awakened him from his dream of bliss. + +The parlor fire had long gone out. It was warm for the time of year; but +had it been otherwise he would not have replenished it. The candles, +too, had burned out, and the moon-beams were streaming through the +window; but had it been dark he would scarce have been aware of it. The +house had long ago been hushed in repose, and yet Richard felt certain +that he had heard a movement in the passage. + +A stealthy step, yet not that of thief or burglar; a fairy footfall, +rather, which was music to his ear. His heart leaped up to tell him that +on the other side of the door was Harry Trevethick. He held his breath, +and trembled--not for fear. Was it possible that, knowing he was sitting +there alone, she had come down of her own choice to bear him company? +Had her father told her something--some glad tidings which she could not +keep from her lover even for a night? Or, filled with sweet dreams of +him, as he of her, had she risen in her sleep, and been drawn +involuntarily toward him by the loadstone of love? But--hark! The bolt +that fastened the house-door was softly drawn, and the latch gently +lifted. What _could_ that mean? Why was she thus going forth alone, and +clandestinely, at midnight? His heart beat faster than ever. For an +instant all that he had read or heard from his wild companions, and what +he had himself believed until he came to Gethin, of the wiles and +inconstancy of woman, flashed upon his mind. Had he, bred in the town, +and familiar with all the ways of vice, been flattered and hoodwinked by +a country wanton? Impossible. For, though there were no virtue in the +world, he felt assured that Harry loved him, and him alone. She must be +walking in her sleep. Softly, but very swiftly, he left the parlor, and +hurried to the front-door. It was closed, but unfastened. He opened it, +and looked out. All was as light as day, and yet so different. Every +object in the street, every stone in the cottage opposite, stood out +distinct and clear, but bathed in a pale and ghostly atmosphere. The +distant murmur of the sea came to him like the sigh of one just freed +from pain. Nothing else was to be heard; no human tread disturbed the +midnight stillness; but along the winding road that led to Turlock he +caught the far-off flutter of a woman's dress. She was going at rapid +speed, and the next moment had turned the corner, but not before he had +recognized his Harry; and, closing the inn door softly behind him, he +started after her like an arrow from the bow. + +The scene of this pursuit was strange and weird enough, had Richard +possessed eyes for any thing but the object of it. The sky was without a +cloud, and the sea--which showed on its cold blue surface a broad and +shining path where the moon-beams lay--without a ripple. On shore there +was even less of motion. The bramble that threw its slender shadow on +the road moved not a twig. Nature, green and pale, seemed to be cast in +an enchanted sleep, and even to suspend her breathing. From the point +Richard had reached he could see the road stretching for a full mile, +like a white ribbon, save in the middle, where it dipped between high +banks. It led to Turlock only, but at this place a foot-path struck +across the fields to the Fairies' Bower. To his astonishment, though +indeed he had scarcely capacity enough for further wonder, Harry took +this path; he saw her climb the stile, and then for the first time look +round; he sank under the hedge, to hide himself; and when he cautiously +looked forth again the girl had vanished. But he knew whither she was +going now. He had assisted her across that very stile but a few days +ago; he had walked with her through the hazel copse, and skirted the +clear trout-stream by her side; and he could follow her now at utmost +speed, and with less caution, for the path was green and noiseless. He +could hear his heart beat--not from want of breath--as though in accord +with the silver treble of the stream, as he sped along. Through the +scanty foliage of the dell he saw her light dress gleam across the +wooden bridge, but he himself stopped beside it, peering through the +lattice of the branches upon her as she stood on the green bank of the +Wishing-Well. + +Never had moon-beams shone upon a sight more fair. Harry was attired as +she had been on the previous evening, except that she wore a shawl, +which also served her as head-gear, like a hood. This she now +unfastened, and taking out the pin that had joined it together, held it +above the well, which showed, as in a mirror, her leaning face and +curving form, her wealth of hair, her frightened yet hopeful eyes, and +the rise and fall of her bosom, filled with anxiety and superstitious +awe. She had come to test her future--to foresee her fate--at Gethin +Wishing-Well. For an instant she poised the pin, her lips at the same +time murmuring some simple charm--then dropped it into the well's clear +depths, and watched it fall. As she did so, another figure seemed to +glide upon the liquid mirror, at the sight of which she clasped her +hands and trembled. Superstitious as she was, Harry had only half +expected that her foolish curiosity would be actually gratified. Moved +by the avowal of Richard's love that morning, the obstacles to which +seemed to her so formidable, she had wished to see her future husband, +to know how fate would decide between him she loved and him whom her +father had chosen for her, and yet she was terrified now that that +which she had desired was vouchsafed her. She scarcely dared to look +upon yonder shadowy form, although its presence seemed to assure her of +the fulfillment of her dearest wish. It was the counterfeit presentment +of Richard Yorke himself; bareheaded, just as she had seen him last in +the bar parlor, but with heightened color, an eager smile, and a loving +gratitude in his eyes, which seemed to thank her for having thus +summoned him before her. The figure was at right angles from her own, +but the face was turned toward her. She gazed upon it intently, looking +for it to faint and fade, since its mission had been accomplished. She +even drew back a little, as though to express content, yet there was the +vision still, a glorious picture in its fair round frame of moss and +greenery. Supposing it should remain there (her pale face flushed at the +thought) indelibly and forever, to tell the secret of her heart to all +the world! Then a whisper, that seemed to tremble beneath its freight of +love, whispered, "Harry! Harry!" and she looked up, and saw the +substance of the shadow, her lover, standing upon the little wooden +bridge! + +Though Folly be near kin to Vice, she does not acknowledge the +relationship, and, to do Harry Trevethick justice, she would never have +made a midnight assignation with Richard in the Fairies' Bower. She was +more alarmed and shocked at the too literal fulfillment of her wish than +pleased to see him there. She shed tears for very shame. Whatever +reserve she had hitherto maintained, with respect to her affection for +him, had now, she perceived, been swept away by her own act. The scene +to which he had just been an unsuspected witness was more than +equivalent to a mere declaration of love: it was a leap-year offer of +her hand and heart. She had no strong-hold of Duty left to which to +betake herself, nor even a halting-place, such as coy maidens love to +linger at a little before they murmur, "I am yours." + +There was nothing left her but revilings. She poured upon him a torrent +of contumely, reproaching him for his baseness, his cowardice, his +treachery in tracking her hither, like a spy, to overhear a confession +that should have been sacred with him of all men. Whatever that +confession might have been--and, to say truth, so utterly possessed had +she been by her passionate hopes, her loving yearnings, that she knew +not what she had merely felt, what uttered aloud--she now retracted it; +she had no tenderness for eaves-droppers, for deceivers, for--she did +not know what she was saying--for wicked young men. Above all things it +seemed necessary to be in a passion; to be as irritated and bitter +against him as possible. The copiousness of her vocabulary of abuse +surprised herself, and she did not shrink from tautology. She only +stopped at last for want of breath, and even then, as though she knew +how dangerous was silence, she bemoaned herself with sobs and sighs. + +Then Richard, all tenderness and submission, explained his presence +there; showed how little he was to blame in the matter, and, indeed, how +there was neither blame nor shame to be attached to either of them; +spoke of his late interview with her father, gilding it with brightest +hopes, and cited the marvelous attributes of the Wishing-Well itself in +support of his position. He felt himself already her affianced husband; +the question of their union had become only one of time. She was +listening to him now, and had suffered him to kiss her tears away, when +suddenly she started from his embrace with a muffled cry of terror. Some +movement of beast or bird in the copse had made a rustling in the +underwood, but her fears gave it a human shape. What if Sol should have +followed them thither, as Richard had followed _her!_ What if her father +should have heard her leave his roof, as Richard had, or should miss her +from it--and--oh shame!--_miss him!_ "Home! home!" she cried. "Let me +go home." And she looked so wild with fright that he durst not hinder +her. Hardly could he keep pace with her along the winding path, with +such frantic speed she ran. At the stile she forbade him to accompany +her farther. + +"What! leave you to walk alone, and at such an hour, my darling?" It was +nearly two o'clock. + +"Why not?" she cried, turning upon him fiercely. "I am afraid of none +but you, and of those whom I should love, but of whom you make me +afraid." Then up the white road she glided like a ghost. + +Richard watched her with anxious eyes as long as he could, then sat upon +the stile, a prey to apprehensions. To what dangers might he not have +already exposed her by his inconsiderate pursuit! Suppose some eye had +seen them on their way, or should meet her now on her return! Suppose +her own fears should prove true, and her father had already discovered +their absence! His thoughts were loyally occupied with Harry alone; but +the peril to himself was considerable. It was impossible that he could +satisfactorily explain his companionship with the inn-keeper's daughter +at such a place and hour. The truth would never be believed, even if it +could be related. She had got home by this time; but had she done so +unobserved? Otherwise, it was more than probable that he should find two +Cornish giants waiting, if not "to grind his bones to make their bread," +at least to break them with their cudgels. In their eyes he would seem +to have been guilty of a deliberate seduction, the one of his daughter, +the other of his destined bride. Yet, not to return to Gethin in such a +case would be worse than cowardice, since his absence would be sure to +be associated with Harry's midnight expedition. He had hitherto only +despised this Trevethick and his friend, but now, since he feared them, +he began to hate them. Bodily discomfort combined with his mental +disquietude. For the first time he felt the keenness of the moonlit air, +and shivered in it, notwithstanding the hasty strides which he now was +taking homeward. Upon the hill-top he paused, and glanced about him. All +was as it had been when he set out; there was no sign of change nor +movement. The inn, with its drawn-down blinds, seemed itself asleep. The +front-door had been left ajar, doubtless by Harry; he pushed his way in, +and silently shut it to, and shot the bolt; then he took off his boots, +and walked softly up stairs in his stockinged feet. He knew that there +was at least one person in that house who was listening with beating +heart for every noise. + +The ways of clandestine love have been justly described as "full of +cares and troubles, of fears and jealousies, of impatient waiting, +tediousness of delay, and sufferance of affronts, and amazements of +discovery;" and though Richard Yorke had never read those words of our +great English divine, he had already begun to exemplify them, and was +doomed to prove them to the uttermost. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +RICHARD BURNS HIS BOATS. + + +It was strange enough that day after day and week after week went by +without John Trevethick making any reference to the application his +guest had made for his daughter's hand. His silence certainly seemed to +favor it; and the more so since, notwithstanding what he knew, he put no +obstacles in the way of the young people's meeting and enjoying each +other's society as heretofore. Perhaps he had too strong a confidence in +Harry's sense of duty, or in the somewhat more than filial fear in which +she stood of him. Perhaps Richard's prudent and undemonstrative behavior +toward the girl in the presence of others deceived him. But, at all +events, the summer came and still found Richard under the same roof with +Harry, and more like one of the family than ever. Tourists of the young +man's own position in life, and even of the same profession, began to +visit Gethin, and of course "put up" at the _Castle_, but he found +nothing so attractive in their company as to withdraw him from that +homely coterie in the bar parlor for a single evening. He was always +made welcome there by both his host and Solomon; and without doubt, so +far as the former was concerned, a less sanguine man than the young +landscape-painter might have considered that his suit was tacitly +acceded to. + +Even Harry herself--to whom her father's conduct was surprising +enough--had come at last to this conclusion. Only one thing militated +against this pleasant view of affairs--it was certain that the old man +had not yet opened his lips to "Sol" upon the matter. It was clear that +the miner still considered himself in the light of Harry's accepted +suitor. As a lover, he was fortunately phlegmatic, and did not demand +those little tributes of affection in the shape of smiles and whispers, +secret glances, silent pressures, which his position might have exacted; +but he would now and then pay her a blundering compliment in a manner +that could not be misinterpreted, or even make some direct allusion to +their future settlement in life, which embarrassed her still more. The +young girl, as we have hinted, was by no means incapable of +dissimulation, but she naturally revolted against having to support such +a _rôle_ as this, and would have even run the risk of precipitating what +might have been a catastrophe by undeceiving him. But Richard bade her +have patience. He had strong reasons, if they were not good ones, for +being well satisfied with the present state of affairs. In love, +notwithstanding much savage writing to the contrary, it is the woman who +suffers; it is she who is the small trader, who can least afford to +wait, while man is the capitalist. Richard saw no immediate necessity +for pressing the matter of his marriage, upon which his heart was, +nevertheless, as deeply set as ever. He would not (to do him justice) +have been parted from his Harry now for all the wealth of Carew. But he +was not parted from her, and he did not wish to risk even a temporary +separation by any act of impetuosity. Living was cheap as well as +pleasant at the _Gethin Castle_, and it was of importance to husband his +funds--to reserve as much of his resources as he could for the expenses +of his honey-moon. So far, and no farther, went his plans for the +future. He knew that his mother would not refuse to offer them a home, +even if his wife should come to him empty-handed; and the more he +humored the old man, and abstained from demanding a decision, when it +was clear the other preferred to procrastinate, the better favor he +would have with him, and consequently the better chance of gaining a +dowry with his daughter. Even if he should press matters, it was +probable, he reasoned, that Trevethick had no decisive reply to give +him. He had doubtless written to Mr. Whymper, and learned all that +Richard had already divulged to him--and no more; that is to say, that +he was, though an unacknowledged offspring of the Squire, in a very +different position, at all events, toward him than that of a mere +natural son. Trevethick could not have heard less--that is, less to his +advantage--or he certainly would not have kept silence for so long. + +Such was the state of affairs at Gethin. Harry with her two suitors; her +father with his two expectant sons-in-law, each of whom had more or less +of reason for his expectation. Though Richard might be satisfied with +it, it was clear it could not last forever--nor for long. The day on +which the change took place, though it was in no wise remarkable in +other respects, he never forgot: every incident connected with it, +though disregarded at the time, impressed itself upon his mind, to be +subsequently dwelt upon a thousand times. It might have been marked in +the hitherto sunny calendar of his life as the "Last day of Thoughtless +Gayety. Here Love and Pleasure end." + +It was fine weather, and there were more tourists at the inn than could +be accommodated, so Richard had given up his private sitting-room to +their temporary use. This, however, did not throw him more in Harry's +society than usual, since their presence naturally much occupied her +time. He had not, indeed, seen her since the mid-day meal which he had +taken in the bar parlor; but she had promised, if she could get away, to +call for him at a certain spot where he had gone to sketch--the +church-yard on the hill. The attraction of the castled rock was such +that few visitors sought the former spot, notwithstanding its +picturesque and wild position. How the church maintained itself on that +elevated and unsheltered hill, despite such winds as swept it in the +winter, was almost a miracle: but there it stood--as it had done for +centuries--gray, solitary, sublime. It was of considerable size, but +small in comparison with its God's-acre, which was of vast extent, and +only sparsely occupied by graves. The bare and rocky moor was almost +valueless; it is as easy for one duly qualified to consecrate a square +mile as an acre; and the materials of the low stone wall that marked its +limits had been close at hand. In one or two spots only did the dead lie +thickly; where shipwrecked mariners--the very names of whom were unknown +to those who buried them--were interred; and where the victims of the +Plague reposed by scores. Even Gethin had not escaped the ravages of +that fell scourge; and, what was very singular, had suffered from it +twice over; for, on the occasion of an ordinary burial having taken +place many generations after the first calamity, in the same spot, the +disease had broken forth afresh, and scattered broadcast in the little +hamlet ancient death. The particulars of the catastrophe, so +characteristic of this home of antique legend and hoary ruin, were +engraven on a stone above the spot, which had never since been +disturbed. + +In a lone corner, as though seeking in its humility to be as distant +from the sacred edifice as possible, was a quaint old cross. It was +probably not so old by half a dozen centuries as the grave-mounds on the +rock where the ruined castle stood, but it seemed even older, because +there were words cut in its stone in a tongue that was no longer known +to man. Seated on the low wall beside it, Richard was transferring to +his sketch-book this relic of the past in his usual intermittent +manner--now gazing out upon the far-stretching sea, here blue and +bright, there shadowed by a passing cloud; now down into the village, +which stood on a lower hill, with a ravine between. He had seen the +post-cart come and go--for it came in and went out simultaneously at +that out-of-the-way hamlet, where there was no one to write +complainingly to the papers concerning the inefficiency of the mail +service--and it was almost time for Harry to come and fetch him, as she +had appointed. But presently the reason for her absence made itself +apparent in the person of her father. It was not unusual for old +Trevethick, at the close of the day, to call at the cottage in the +ravine, which the guide to the ruin inhabited in the summer months, and +see how business was doing in that quarter. If he had no eye for the +picturesque, he had a very sharp one for the shillings which were made +out of it; and Richard was not surprised to see the landlord descending +the opposite hill. "This will keep Harry at home; confound him!" +muttered the young man to himself, and then resumed his occupation. As +there was now no one to watch for, he worked with more assiduity, and +with such engrossment in his subject that he was first made conscious +that he was not alone by the sudden presence of a shadow on his +sketch-book. He looked up, not a little startled, and there was John +Trevethick standing beside him, his huge form black against the sun. + +"You may well be frightened, young gentleman," were his first ominous +words; "it is only a guilty conscience that starts at a shadow." + +Richard _had_ a guilty conscience; and yet the remark that was thus +addressed to him, unconciliatory, if not directly hostile, as it was, +rather reassured him than otherwise. + +Trevethick's presence there, for he had never made pretense of seeking +Richard's society for its own sake--was of evil augury; his tone and +manner were morose and threatening; his swarthy face was full of pent-up +wrath; and yet it was obvious to the other that the secret was yet safe, +the divulging of which he had most cause to fear. Had it been otherwise +there would have been no mere thunder-cloud, but a tornado. "The post +has brought some ill news from Crompton," was what flashed across the +young man's brain; and the thought, though sufficiently uncomfortable, +was a relief compared with that he had first entertained, and which had +driven the color from his cheeks. + +"I have no cause to be frightened, that I know of, either of you or any +other man, Mr. Trevethick," observed Richard, haughtily. + +"I hear you say so," was the other's grim reply; "but I shall be better +pleased to hear you prove it." + +"Prove what?" + +"Two things--that you are not a bastard, nor a pauper." + +Richard leaped down from the wall with a fierce oath; and for a moment +it really seemed that he would have flung himself against his gigantic +opponent, like a fretful wave against a rock of granite. + +Trevethick uttered an exclamation of contempt. "Pick up your +sketch-book, young man, or one of those pretty pictures will be spoiled +by which you gain your bread. You've acted the fine gentleman at Gethin +very well, but the play is over now." + +"I don't understand you, Mr. Trevethick. If you must needs be insolent, +at all events, be explicit. You have miscalled me by two names--Bastard +and Pauper. Who has put those lies into your mouth, the taste of which +you seem to relish so?" + +Trevethick reached forth his huge hand, and seized the other's shoulder +with a gripe of steel. It seemed to compress bone and sinew as in a +vice; the arm between them was as a bar of iron. Richard felt powerless +as a child, and could have cried like a child--not from pain, though he +was in great pain, but from vexation and rage. It was maddening to find +himself thus physically subjugated by one whom he so utterly despised. + +"Keep a civil tongue in your head, cock-sparrow," growled the giant, +"lest I wring your neck. You're a nice one to talk of lying; you, with +your tales of son and heirship to the Squire, and your offers of +copper-mines for the asking! Who told me how I had been fooled? Why, +Carew himself! You thought I should write to the parson, eh?" + +Richard certainly had thought that he would have written to the parson, +but he strove to look as calm and free from disappointment as he could, +as he replied: "It was quite indifferent to me to whom you wrote, Mr. +Trevethick. There was only one account to give of my affairs; and it was +the same I had already given to you. I told you that my father did not +choose to acknowledge me for the present, and I have no doubt that your +questioning him upon the matter has made him very bitter against me; the +more so because he is well aware that he is fighting against the truth; +he knows that he was married to my mother in a lawful way, and that I am +the issue of that marriage. It is true that technical objections have +been raised against it, but his own conscience warns him that they are +worthless. Mr. Whymper will tell you the same." + +"Never you mind Mr. Whymper," said the landlord, gruffly, but at the +same time relaxing his grasp upon the young man's shoulder; "the parson +needs all his cleverness to take care of himself in this matter, and +will have no helping hand to spare for you. The Squire is in a pretty +temper with you both, I promise you. Here's his letter, if you'd like to +see what he says of you in black and white; not that there's much white +in it, egad!" + +It was a custom of the Squire of Crompton, unconsciously plagiarized +from the Great Napoleon, to let all letters addressed to him in an +unfamiliar hand answer themselves. They were not destroyed, but lay for +weeks or months unopened, until the fancy seized him to examine their +contents. He made, it was true, a gallant exception in the case of those +whose superscription seemed to promise a lady correspondent; but that +had not been the case with the communication from Trevethick, and hence +the long interval that had elapsed before it was attended to. +Trevethick's business letters had hitherto, as was the case with all +tenants of Crompton estate, been addressed to the chaplain only, so that +he was unaware of this peculiarity of Carew, and had naturally construed +his silence into a tacit admission of the truth of Richard's statement. + +If force of language and bitterness of tone could have made up for his +previous neglect, the Squire's letter was an apology in itself. It was +short, but sharp and decisive. "The grain of truth," he wrote, "among +the bushel of lies that this young gentleman has told you is, that he +was once a guest under my roof--I forget whether for two nights or +three. He will never be there again--neither now nor after I am in my +box" (this was the Squire's playful way of alluding to the rites of +sepulture). "He has no more claim upon me than any other of my +bastards--of whom I have more than I know of--and in fact less, for I +may have deceived their mothers, whereas his played a trick on me. As to +his expectations from me, I can only tell you this much, that I expect +he will come to be hanged; as for interest, whatever he may have with my +son of a she-dog of a chaplain, he has none with me; and as for money, +so far as I know, he is a pauper, and likely to remain so as long as he +lives." There were other sentences spurted from the volcano of the +Squire's wrath, but to the same effect. + +"A nice letter of recommendation, truly, and from his own father, of the +young gentleman who asked me for my daughter's hand!" growled +Trevethick. "You ought to be thankful to get out of Gethin with whole +bones. If 'Sol' was to come to know of what you asked of me, I would not +answer for even so much as that, I promise you." + +"'Sol' might have known of it had you not chosen to keep it from him, +for reasons best known to yourself," said Richard, quietly. "You have +taken some time to make up your mind between us." + +Trevethick winced; for the promise of the young man's interest with +respect to Wheal Danes had, in fact, been the bait which had tempted him +to temporize so long. He had never meant to give his daughter to +Richard; but he had hoped to reap an advantage, present or future, out +of the implied intention; nor did he know even yet in what relation +Richard stood with Parson Whymper. + +"At all events, it's made up now," answered the landlord, curtly. + +"This letter has caused you to decide against me, then?" + +"That letter? Well, of course it has. Not that there ain't a heap of +other reasons; but that one's enough, I should think, even for you." + +"It is just such a letter as I should have expected Carew to pen," +observed Richard, coolly, "and does not alter the facts of the case as I +stated them to you one whit. That my father is furious with me is clear +enough; that is, because he is in the wrong, and feels it. He is angry, +you see, even with Mr. Whymper, because he knows that his view of my +case is such as I described to you. I confessed from the first that my +interest at Crompton was a contingent one. You are treating me with +great injustice, Mr. Trevethick." + +"What! Have you so much brass left as to say that? You, that have asked +my permission to pay court to my daughter, under the pretense that you +were a fine gentleman, independent at present, and the heir-presumptive +to one of the richest commoners in the kingdom! How durst you do it? You +vagabond! you scoundrel!" + +"You will be sorry for having said those words some day," said Richard, +hoarsely; he was choking with rage, and yet it was necessary to restrain +himself. He felt that this man would presently forbid him his +house--would separate him from his Harry forever; and that would be like +tearing out his heart-strings. Always audacious, there was nothing that +he was not now prepared to say or do to avert this. "I tell you, Mr. +Trevethick, this letter is full of lies, or rather it is written by a +madman. I am not a bastard; I am not a pauper. I have an independence of +my own, though, indeed, it is small compared with my expectations. My +mother makes me a good allowance. I am a gentleman, and I have a right +to be listened to by any man, when I ask leave to be his daughter's +lover." + +"Let us leave alone your gentility, Sir, and your mother's allowances," +sneered the landlord, "since there is no means of gauging either the one +or the other. As for your independent property--I don't believe you have +a hundred pounds in the world; but it is easy enough to prove that I am +mistaken there. Let me see the money down. Show me your three or four +thousand pounds in gold, or notes that I know, for I must needs be +particular with so clever a young gentleman; notes of the Bank of +England, or of the Miners' Bank at Plymouth. Let me hold them in my +hand, and then I shall feel that you are speaking the truth. At present, +I tell you fairly, that if I saw a check of yours, I should look upon it +as so much waste paper until I also saw it honored." + +"Three thousand pounds is a large sum, Mr. Trevethick," said Richard, +thoughtfully. + +"Let us say two, then," returned the landlord, mockingly. "Sell out two +thousand pounds of this independent fortune of yours, that has been +invested in the Deep Sea Cockle Mine, or in debentures of the Railway in +the Air. Let me see but two thousand pounds, Mr. Richard Yorke, and +then--and not before--may you open your lips to me again respecting my +daughter Harry." He turned upon his heel with a bitter laugh; while +Richard, as white as the sketch-book he still held in his hand, remained +speechless. A perilous thought had taken possession of his mind--a +thought that it would have been better for him to have dropped down +there dead than to have entertained, but it grew and grew apace within +him like a foul weed. Had his life of selfish pleasure angered the +long-suffering gods, and, having resolved upon his ruin, were they +already making him mad? He ran after the old man, who did not so much as +turn to look behind him, though he could not but have heard his rapid +steps. "Mr. Trevethick, I will do it," he gasped out. + +"Do what?" said the other, contemptuously, striding on. "Go hang +yourself, or jump off Gethin rock into the sea?" + +"I will get you the money that you speak of--the two thousand pounds. +You shall have it in your hand, and keep it for that matter, if you +please." + +"What?" Unutterable astonishment stared out from the landlord's face. +For the first time since the receipt of Carew's letter he began to +discredit its contents. If this young fellow had really the immediate +command of so large a sum, there was probably much more "behind him." He +must either have a fortune in his own right, or if Carew had settled +such a sum of money on him, he must have had a reason for it--the very +reason Richard had assigned. And if so, Wheal Danes might be his to +dispose of even yet. But Trevethick was not the man to hint a doubt of +his foregone conclusions. "You have not got this money in your pocket, +have you?" said he, with a short dry laugh. + +"No, Sir; but I can get a check for it from my mother, in course of +post." + +"A check!" cried the other, contemptuously, all his suspicions returning +with tenfold force. "I would not give one penny for such a check." + +"I will get it changed myself, Mr. Trevethick, at Plymouth. The post has +gone, but I will write to-morrow, and within the week--" + +"You shall not stay here a week, nor another twenty-four hours," roared +Trevethick. "I have been made a fool of long enough. I will not listen +to another word." + +But he did listen, nevertheless. No longer hampered by vague fears and +difficulties, with which he knew not how to grapple, but with a distinct +plan of operations before him, Richard's eloquence was irresistible. +Deceit, if not habitual with him, had been practiced too often to lack +the gloss of truth from his ready tongue. He actually had a scheme for +procuring the sum in question, and when he possessed confidence himself, +it was rarely, indeed, that he failed to inspire it in others. For the +second time, the landlord of the _Gethin Castle_ found himself in doubt; +he was staggered by the positiveness of the young man's assertions, and +by the force and flow of his glowing words. In spite of himself, he +began once more to think that he might have been mistaken in condemning +him as an impostor, after all; as Richard had said, Carew _was_ scarcely +sane, and when excited by wrath, a downright madman. His resolves, too, +were as untrustworthy and fickle as the winds. Trevethick felt tolerably +convinced that the money would, at all events, be forthcoming; and the +sum--large in itself--seemed the earnest of much more. Last, but not +least, there were the possibilities in connection with the mine. If he +broke altogether with Richard, and turned him out of his house outright, +might not his first act be to reveal to Parson Whymper, in revenge, all +that he knew about Wheal Danes! + +"Well, well, you shall stay at Gethin, then, till your check comes, +young gentleman," said he, in a tone that was meant to be conciliatory. +"I don't wish to be uncivil to any man, and certainly not to one who has +been my guest so long. But you will keep yourself _to_ yourself, +if you please, in the mean time. The bar parlor will no longer be open +to you, until you have proved your right to be there. And I don't mean +to promise any thing certain by that, neither; but what with your fast +talking and fine speaking I'm all in a buzz." + +Honest John Trevethick did not, indeed, know What to think, what to +believe, or what to propose to himself for the future. His brain, +unaccustomed to much reflection, and dulled by pretty frequent +potations, was fairly muddled. Most heartily did he wish that this young +landscape-painter had never set foot in Gethin; but yet he could not +make up his mind to summarily eject him. Upon the whole, he was almost +as glad to temporize in the matter as Richard was himself. + +In point of fact, Richard Yorke had won the battle, and was for the +present master of the field; but what a struggle it had been, and at +what a loss he had obtained the victory, you might have read in his +white face and haggard eyes. As to whether it would be possible to hold +the advantage he had gained was a problem he had yet to solve. He had +committed himself to a policy which might--nay, very probably +would--succeed; but if it should fail, there would be no escape from +utter ruin. He had burned his boats, and broken down the bridge behind +him. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +ON THE BRINK. + + +For four more days, Richard Yorke continued at the _Gethin Castle_--to +outward appearance, in the same relation with the landlord and his +family as before, but in reality on a totally different footing. +Trevethick had not found it practicable to exclude his late guest from +the bar parlor; he could not do so without entering into an explanation +with its other tenants, which he was not prepared for, or without +devising some excuse far beyond his powers. Notwithstanding his bluff +ways, he could tell a lie without moving a muscle; but he was incapable +of any such ambitious flight of deceit as the present state of affairs +demanded. He had, indeed, no aptitude for social diplomacy of any kind, +and suffered his change of feeling toward the young landscape-painter to +appear so plainly that even the phlegmatic Solomon observed it. He was +rather pleased than otherwise to do so. He had acquiesced in the +hospitality with which Richard had been treated, but without the +slightest sympathy with it; and, in fact, he had no sympathies save +those which were connected with his personal interests. It was evident +enough that his father-in-law elect had had some reasons of his +own--probably in relation to the property he held under Carew--for +conciliating this young gentleman; and "Sol" had taken it for granted +they were good, that is, substantial, ones. If these reasons no longer +existed, the sooner this young gentleman was got rid of the better. It +was true he had behaved himself very civilly; but his presence among +them had been, on the whole, oppressive. "Sol" rather chafed at +Richard's social superiority, though it was certainly never intruded, +and, at all events, he preferred the society of his own class, among +whom he felt himself qualified to take the lead. But the idea of +jealousy had never entered into his mind. In his eyes Richard was a mere +boy, whose years, as well as his position in life, precluded him from +any serious intentions with respect to Harry, whom, moreover, Solomon +regarded as his betrothed. If he had been married to her, he would +certainly have forbidden her "gadding about" so much with this young +fellow; but at present she was under her father's rule, and the old man +knew very well what he was about. He was glad that there now seemed a +prospect, to judge from the latter's manner, that the lad's intimacy +with Harry, and the family generally, was about to end; but it might +have lasted six months longer without "Sol's" opening his mouth about +it, so prudently had Richard played his cards--so irreproachably behaved +"before folk." + +Solomon went, as usual, daily to look after affairs at Dunloppel, but +Trevethick remained within doors, under pretense that the influx of +guests, which was in fact considerable, demanded his presence. He took +care that Richard and Harry should have no opportunity of meeting alone +throughout the day; while in the evening he sat in almost total silence, +sucking his pipe, and frowning gloomily--a wet blanket upon the little +company, and the source of well-grounded terror to his daughter Harry. + +Richard had told her how the matter stood; protested that he could get +the money; and argued that when that was done, her father could have no +excuse for forbidding his suit. But she knew the old man better than he, +and trembled. + +On the fifth day Richard received a letter, inclosing a check for two +thousand pounds upon a London bank, from his mother, and, with an air of +quiet triumph, showed it to his host. + +"That is worth nothing here," observed Trevethick, coldly; "for all I +know, the bank may not exist, or she may have no account there." But it +was plain he was surprised, and disappointed. + +"Notice has been sent to Plymouth, as I am here informed," said Richard; +"so that I can get the check changed there, if you are still +dissatisfied; which, you must pardon me for saying, I do not think you +really are. Come, take my hand, and allow that you have behaved +ungenerously. You're a man of your word, I know. This proves to you I am +at least no pauper. I claim the right which you agreed to grant on that +condition, to ask your daughter's hand, and demand of you to leave her, +at all events, to grant it if she pleases. I affirm, once more, the +truth of all that I have told you as regards myself. I am Carew's only +son, begotten in lawful wedlock. He will acknowledge as much himself +some day, even though he should delay it to his dying hour. If ever I +come to possess it (and I think I shall), Wheal Danes shall be yours, +without the payment of a shilling. Even now, I do not offer myself +empty-handed. This is the sum that you yourself agreed I should show +myself possessed of; but there is more where this comes from. I ask +again, then, give me my fair chance with Harry: let her choose between +me and this man Coe." + +This was a wily speech; for Richard was recapitulating the very +arguments which were presenting themselves to the old man's mind. True, +he had promised his daughter to Solomon, and would much rather have had +him for a son-in-law; but there were unquestionably great advantages in +the position of this other claimant. Trevethick was not quite the slave +to gratitude which he had professed himself to be, with respect to Coe's +father. He did feel sincerely grateful; but he had himself exaggerated +the feeling, with the very intention of making Harry understand that her +fate was fixed. He had not been blind to the fact, that from the first +she had never regarded "Sol" with favor as a suitor, and it was still +possible to break off the match without disgrace, upon the ground of her +disinclination to it. Above all, perhaps, he was actuated by the +apprehension that Richard, if refused a hearing, would disclose the +secret of Wheal Danes, and wreck the scheme upon which his heart had +been set for near half a century. One word from him would divert the +unsuspected wealth, over which he had so long gloated in anticipation, +into another's hand. But he did not like the young man better for the +precious knowledge which he alone shared with him; far otherwise; he +hated him for it, and, without being a murderer in his heart, would have +gladly welcomed the news that his mouth was closed forever by death. + +"I wish such or such a one was in heaven," is a common expression, the +meaning of which is of still more general acceptation. The idea, in +fact, has doubtless flitted across the minds of most of us, though few, +let us hope, would help to realize it; for, notwithstanding its +agreeable form, it is not a benevolent aspiration. The reception of the +individual in question into the realms of bliss has less interest with +us than his removal from the earth's surface, and, consequently, from +our path upon it. We may be very civil toward this person, and we often +are; but we seldom desire him for a son-in-law. John Trevethick did not. +But still less did he desire his open enmity; the longer, at all events, +the declaration of war could be deferred the better. + +"Come," urged Richard; "I am only demanding the redemption of your +promise--one," added he, precipitately, "that it lies in your own power +to redeem." + +"The conditions, Mr. Yorke, have not yet been fulfilled," said +Trevethick, pointing to the check. "I must see that money in +bank-notes." + +He had not the least doubt of the genuineness of the document; but his +objection would at least give him the respite of another day or two, and +a respite seemed almost a reprieve. + +"As you will," answered Richard, with a faint smile. "It is a matter of +perfect indifference to me, and only costs me a journey to Plymouth. If +you will be so good as to let me have some vehicle to take me as far as +Turlock, I will pack my carpet-bag and start at once." + +The landlord nodded, and withdrew without a word. + +Left to himself, the smile faded from Richard's face, and was succeeded +by a look of the utmost dejection and disappointment. All had been going +so well up to that very last moment, and now all remained to be done, +just as though nothing had been done at all. The dangerous path that he +had marked out for himself had to be trodden from first to last, at the +very moment when he had seemed to have reached his journey's end by a +safe short-cut. He knew that it was the smallest grain of suspicion, if +not the mere desire to procrastinate, that had turned the scale in +Trevethick's mind, and imposed this task upon him. The genuineness of +the check had been _almost_ taken for granted--entire success had been +missed, as it were, by a hair's-breadth. And now he was as far from it +as ever. Had he been but a little more earnest, or a little more +careless in his own manner, all might have been well. The obstacle that +intervened between him and his desire still stood there, though only by +an accident, as though, after he had fairly blown it into the air, it +had resettled itself precisely in the same spot. + +Richard felt like some offender against the law who had been foiled in +an ingenious scheme by the stupidity rather than the sagacity of him he +would have defrauded; or, rather, like one who has been brought to +justice by misadventure--through some blunder which Fate itself had +suggested to his prosecutor. He was filled with bitterness and +mortification, and also with fear. This miscarriage now imposed a +necessity upon him, which he had contemplated, indeed, but never looked +fairly in the face; he had always hoped it might be evaded. The only +alternative that presented itself was to give up his Harry; this swept +across his mind for a single instant--a black shadow that seemed to +plunge his whole being in night--then left it firmly set upon its +perilous purpose. + +He did not seek to see her before he left; he could not trust himself so +far even as to turn his head and wave her a good-by, as he started from +the inn door, although he felt that she was watching him from an upper +window. He was afraid of the anxiety that consumed him being visible to +those loving eyes. She knew upon what errand he was going, but not the +dangers of it. But he spoke cheerfully to Trevethick, who stood beneath +the porch with moody brow, and testily found fault with horse and +harness. + +"The master's in a queer temper to-day, Sir," was the driver's remark, +as they slowly climbed the hill out of the village. + +"So it seems," answered Richard, absently. + +The road they traveled was the same on which he had pursued Harry on +that eventful night, now months ago; every object recalled her to +him--the ruined tower on the promontory, the Fairies' Bower in the glen; +but they suggested less of love than of the peril that, for love's sake, +he was about to undergo. When they reached the point where he had met +her first, on the margin of the moor, now bright with gorse and heather, +and with its gray rocks sparkling in the sun, an overwhelming melancholy +seized him. Was it possible that the omen which had alarmed her simple +mind was really in the course of fulfillment? Was he, indeed, fated to +be the cause of misfortune to her he loved so well? If evil should +befall him, it was only too certain that it would include her in its +consequences. + +"You seem a cup too low, Mr. Yorke," said the driver, wondering at the +young man's unusual silence; for his habit was to be brisk and lively +with every body. + +"We'll remedy that when we get to Turlock," answered Richard, +good-naturedly, "by taking a glass of what you will together." + +Accordingly, when they reached the little town, and while the +post-horses were getting ready which were to take him on the next stage +of his journey, Richard called for some liquor. + +"Here's your good health, Sir," said the man, and added, in a roguish +whisper, "and our young missus's too, Sir." + +"By all means," said Richard, coolly. "But why couple hers with mine?" + +"Well, Sir, it do come natural like, somehow," said the man, becoming +suddenly stolid, on perceiving that his remark was by no means relished. +"I suppose it's seeing you so much about together; but I meant no +offense." + +"I am sure of that," said Richard. It was on the tip of his tongue to +pursue the subject, but he restrained himself. If he had already given +occasion for gossip, he did not wish to provide fresh fuel for it in his +absence from Gethin. + +When a mile or two away from Turlock he produced the check which was the +apparent cause of his irksome journey, and tearing it into minute +fragments, scattered them out of the window. + +Upon the second day he arrived at Plymouth, but too late for +banking-hours, and drove to an hotel. He had had little to eat upon his +journey, yet he now sent his dinner away almost untasted; on the other +hand, though it was unusual with him to take much wine, he drank a +bottle of Champagne and some sherry, then lit a cigar, and strolled out +of doors. It was a beautiful evening; and he sauntered on the Hoe, +gazing upon that glorious prospect of sea and shore which it affords, +without paying regard to any thing, although all was as new as fair. His +mind, however, took in every object mechanically, and often presented +them to him again in after-years, just as it did that summer scene upon +the ruined tower. Was it laying in provision for itself against the +time, now drawing so nigh, when his physical eyes should have no more of +such fair sights to feed upon? Or was the circumstance only such as +attends all great changes and crises of our lives; for is not every +feature of the face of Nature, upon the eve of any vital event, thus +engraven on our recollection? Do we not note the daisies on the lawn +forever, when for one instant we look out upon it from the darkened room +wherein our loved one lies a-dying? + +It presently grew too late for the ordinary signs and tokens of life; +but Richard still paced to and fro, and gazed upon the darkening waters; +he saw the light leap out upon them from the distant Eddystone, and from +the craft in harbor, and from the houses that were built upon its +margin: blue and red, and white and yellow. + +There was one large vessel a great way off that he had not hitherto +observed, but which now became conspicuous by its green light. Richard, +vaguely interested in this exceptional beacon, inquired of a +miserable-looking man, who had in vain been offering his services as +cicerone, what it signified. + +"Well, Sir, them colors as the ships show all mean something different; +the red is from the floating powder-magazine, and the yellow is--" + +"I said the _green_ light," broke in Richard, with his usual impatience +of prolixity. "What is that vessel _there_, I say?" + +"Oh, that's the convict ship, Sir; they say she is waiting until after +the 'sizes, to take the drab-jackets to Portland." + +Richard nodded, and threw the man a shilling; then walked hastily away +into the town. The night was mild, but his teeth chattered, and he shook +in every limb. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE MINERS' BANK. + + +As, though Richard had fasted long, he could not eat, so, though he was +fatigued with the travel of the last two days, he could not sleep. He +turned from side to side upon his pillow throughout the weary night, and +strove to lose himself, and shut out thought, in vain, even for an +instant. He got up and paced the room; and, when the streaks of dawn +began to show themselves, drew up the blind, and looked forth. It was a +very different scene from that he had been accustomed to contemplate at +Gethin. In place of the waste of ocean, specked by a sail or two, whose +presence only served to intensify its solitary grandeur, the +thick-peopled city lay before him. But as yet there were no tokens of +waking life; the streets were empty, the windows shrouded, and a steady +drizzle of rain was falling, which gave promise of a wretched day. Even +when the morning advanced, it was difficult to make out the individual +buildings; but he had had the Miners' Bank pointed out to him on the +previous day, and he thought he recognized it now. It was there that the +business which he had proposed to himself was to be effected, and he +gazed at it with interest. The wisest of us are simple in some things, +and though so knowing in the ways of the world--that is, of _his_ +world--Richard knew nothing of banks whatever, and wondered whether he +would have any difficulty in carrying out his object. He could not +foresee any; it seemed to him that the banking folks would be glad to +oblige him in the matter in question, since, if there was any advantage, +it would be on their side. But there were six hours yet before he could +perform this business, and since sleep was denied him, how was he to +pass the time? There was a large book upon the drawers, which he had not +hitherto observed, with the royal arms stamped upon it, and the name of +the hotel inscribed beneath them. It did not look like a devotional +work, but it was the New Testament--a work that was very literally new +to Richard Yorke. He had seen it, of course, often; was acquainted by +hearsay with its contents, and had joked about them. It is the easiest +book in the world to make jokes upon, which, perhaps, accounts for its +being so favorite a subject of ridicule with foolish persons. Shakspeare +is also easy to make fun of, but the _soupçon_ of blasphemy is in that +case wanting, which, to many, forms the chief charm of witty converse. +Richard looked at it as a dog looks at a stick; but he took it up, and +opened it at random. "Having no hope, and without God in the world." + +He was not a believer in sortilege. If the text he had chanced upon had +been ever so applicable to his own condition, it would have made but +little impression upon him, and this was not very pertinent in its +application. He was by no means without hope. He had come to Plymouth +full of hope, though disappointed at its not having been already +exchanged for certainty. He had good hope of inspiring John Trevethick +with confidence in his social position, and consequently of obtaining +his consent to marry the woman who had now become indispensable to his +happiness. He had even some hope of yet inheriting a portion of his +father's great estate. He could not be accused of spiritual ambition. +Any other sort of hope than that of being in a position to enjoy himself +thoroughly had never entered into his mind. Just now, however, he was +far from enjoying himself; he was a prey to anxiety, and any opportunity +of forgetting it was welcome to him. Not without an effort to be +interested, therefore, he reflected upon these words, which seemed +rather to have been spoken in his ear aloud than merely to have caught +his eye. He had already shut the book with contemptuous impatience, but +he found himself, nevertheless, repeating: "Having no hope, and without +God in the world," and pondering upon their meaning. He wondered at +himself for taking the trouble to do so; but if he didn't do that, his +thoughts would, he knew, be even less pleasantly occupied; so he let +them slip into this novel channel. How _could_ a man be without God in +the world, if God was every where? as he had somewhere seen or heard +stated, and which he believed to be the fact. It was one of the +objections against the Bible, was his peevish reflection, that it was +self-contradictory in its assertions, and unmistakably distinct only in +its denunciations of wrath. Here was a case in point, and one which +might justly be "taken up" by a fellow, if it was worth while. As for +himself, he was no skeptic. Exeter Hall might have clasped him to her +breast (and would) upon that ground. He was accustomed to use the name +of the Creator whenever he wished to be particularly decisive; but for +any other purpose he had never named it with his lips. Even as a child, +his mother had never taught him to do so. She had never spoken to him on +religious subjects except in humorous connection with the Heads of the +two Churches to which her first husband had belonged--Emanuel Swedenborg +and Joanna Southcott. If the expression "without God in the world" meant +the living in it without the practice of religion, it certainly did have +an application to himself, but also to every one else with whom he was +acquainted. Of course he had known people who went to church--young men +of his own age, whom their parents compelled to do so, and who envied +him the liberty he enjoyed in that respect; and the poor folks at Gethin +went to chapel. But, even, there, shrewd fellows like Trevethick and +Solomon did not trouble themselves to do so. True, Harry went! But then +women, unless they were uncommonly clever, like his own mother, always +did go to hear the parsons. Parsons, as a rule, were hypocrites. He had +met one or two of them in town under circumstances that showed they had +really no more "nonsense about them" than other people, but in the +pulpit they were bound to cant. Look at Mr. Whymper, for instance--the +best specimen of them, by-the-by, he had ever known--who could doubt +that his mind was wholly set upon the main chance? To what slights and +insolences did he submit himself for the sake of feathering his own +nest; and how he had counted upon that fat living, of which the Squire +had so cruelly disappointed him! Talk of religion! why, there was Carew +himself, with thirty thousand a year, and did not spend a shilling of it +on religion! True, he kept a chaplain, but only as a check upon his +steward, to manage his estate for him. If there was really any thing in +it, would not a rich man like him have put aside a portion of his +wealth, by way of insurance--insurance against fire?--and here Richard +chuckled to himself. + +It was all rubbish, these texts and things. He would dress himself, and +go out and take a walk, although it was so early. He had already heard +sounds in the house, as though somebody was astir; so he rang the bell. +It was answered by a sleepy and disheveled personage, whom he scarcely +recognized for the sleek "night chamberlain," whose duty it was to watch +while others slept, and who had given him a bed-candle not many hours +before. + +"What! still up, my man?" said Richard, gayly. + +"Yes, Sir. The morning mail has but just come in; we had a passenger by +it. I put him in the room under you; but he seemed a quiet one, and I +didn't think he'd 'a disturbed you." + +"He did not," said Richard. "I have been awake all night, and never so +much as heard him. Can I have some hot water?" + +"Not yet, Sir, I'm afraid; there's no fire alight at present. I can get +you some brandy-and-soda, Sir." + +"No, no," answered Richard, smiling; "I sha'n't want that; and as for +the hot water, I can do without it; but, now you're here, just tell me, +for I am quite a stranger to your town, isn't that high roof yonder," +and he pointed to the object in question, "the Miners' Bank?" + +"Yessir, that's it. Ah, if the morning was but a little finer, you would +have a lovely view from this here window--half the town and a good slice +of the harbor! There's a splendid building out to the left there, if the +clouds would but lift a little. That's the County Jail, Sir." + +"Indeed," said Richard, carelessly, and turned away. "Just take my boots +down with you, as I shall want them as soon as you can get them +cleaned." + +The man did as he was bid. Directly he had left the room, Richard pulled +down the window-blind, and staggered to a chair. Perhaps want of food +and sleep had weakened him; but he sat down, looking very pale and +haggard, like one who has received a sudden shock. Why should one man +have answered him last night, "the convict ship," and now this fellow +have pointed out the jail? It was only a coincidence, of course; but if +there was ever such a thing as an evil augury, he had surely experienced +it on those two occasions. "This is what comes of burying one's self at +Gethin," thought he, smiling faintly at his own folly. "If I staid there +much longer, I should begin to believe in mermaids and the Flying +Dutchman." Jail! Why, if the very worst should happen, the matter would +only require to be explained; he was in no real peril from the law, +after all. Indeed, the very revelation which he most dreaded would only, +by exposing the true state of affairs, precipitate his happiness. +Trevethick would then be as eager as himself to hasten Harry's marriage. + +Thus he reasoned until something of equanimity returned to him. Then he +attired himself, buttoning his frock-coat carefully over his chest, and +went down stairs. As he reached the next landing, a gentleman emerged +from the room immediately beneath his own, like himself, fully dressed, +and carrying his hat and great-coat. He was a small stout man, with +bushy red whiskers, a good-natured face, and little twinkling black +eyes. With a civil bow he made way for Richard to pass him, and then +followed him down stairs into the coffee-room. It was a huge apartment, +and quite empty except for their two selves. Most persons meeting in +such a Sahara would have exchanged a salutation; and Richard, gregarious +by nature besides, being eager to divert his thoughts, at once entered +into conversation. + +"You are the gentleman who arrived by the mail this morning, I +conclude," said he, "otherwise you would scarcely keep such early +hours." + +"Just so, Sir," answered the other, smiling. "I thought it was not worth +while to go to bed, but just gave myself a wash and brush up; and here I +am, sharp-set for breakfast." + +It was plain this man was not a gentleman, but Richard cared very little +about that. He would have talked to the waiter, in default of any other +companion. + +"Well, I have been to bed," said Richard, smiling, "though something I +took at dinner disagreed with me, and kept me awake all night. Do you +mean to say you are not going to take any horizontal refreshment at +all?" + +"Well, no; I had some sleep in the coach, and a very little of that +article does for me. If you eat and drink enough, as I do, it is +astonishing how well you can get on without rest." + +"Indeed," said Richard. "I should like to see the substitutes you take +for what I have always found an indispensable necessity. Suppose we have +breakfast together, and you shall order it." + +"But not pay for it," stipulated the stout gentleman, in a tone that you +might take as either jest or earnest. "We'll go shares in that, eh?" + +"Unless you will allow me to be your host, we will certainly go shares," +said Richard, wondering to himself whether in all Gethin so great a boor +as this could be found above-ground or beneath it, or making his +business on the waters, but rather amused nevertheless. + +"I don't like misunderstandings," explained the little man, "nor yet +obligations. It's not that I grudge my money, or have not as much of it +as I want, thank Heaven!" + +"Then you've got more than any body else I know," said Richard, +laughing; "and I am acquainted with some rich men too." + +"I dare say, Sir; you are a rich man yourself, I hope. You look like a +young gentleman with plenty of money in your pocket." + +At any other time Richard would not have been displeased by such an +observation, which was, moreover, a perfectly just one. He looked from +head to heel like a young man of fortune, and had been brought up as +idly and uselessly as any such; but now he blushed and felt +uncomfortable; and his fingers, in spite of himself, sought that +breast-pocket which he had so carefully buttoned up, as though his +companion's observation had had a literal and material meaning. + +"Do you know Plymouth?" asked he of the stranger, by way of turning the +conversation. + +"Perfectly. Indeed, I live here; but I did not wish to arrive at home at +such an unseasonable hour as the coach comes in. If, as a resident, I +can be of any service to you, pray command me. But you don't eat, Sir." + +Richard, indeed, was only playing with a piece of toast, while eggs and +ham and marmalade were disappearing with marvelous rapidity down the +throat of his companion. + +"I am not like you," he answered. "Want of sleep produces want of +appetite with me. With respect to Plymouth, you are very good to offer +me your hospitality, but--" + +"Services, Sir--services while in the town, I said," observed the little +man. "Let us have no misunderstanding, nor yet obligation; that's my +motto. Now, what can I do for you, short of that?" + +"Well, I shall not greatly tax your prudence," rejoined Richard, this +time laughing heartily, "though you must certainly be either a Scotchman +or a lawyer, to be so anxious to act 'without prejudice.' The only +information I have to ask of you is, at what time the bank opens; for I +have got some business to do there, which I want to effect as soon as +possible, and then be off." + +"The bank! Well, there's more than one bank in Plymouth," observed the +little man, scraping up the last shreds of marmalade on his plate. "They +open at different hours." + +"The Miners' Company is the one I want to go to." + +"That opens at nine, Sir. It's on my way home, and I shall be glad to +show it you." + +"Thank you; but it was pointed out to me last night," said Richard, +stiffly; for he preferred to effect the business which he had on hand +alone. "It is still raining. What do you say to a cigar in the +smoking-room?" + +"With pleasure, when I have just written three words to tell my people +of my arrival," answered the stranger; "however, I can do that as well +there as here." + +And so eager did he seem for Richard's society that he had pen and paper +brought into the hotel divan, and from thence dispatched his note. + +"Take one of my cigars," said Richard, good-naturedly, offering his +case. + +"No, no," replied the little man, shaking his head, and looking very +grave; "you know my motto, Sir." + +"A cigar," urged Richard, "is one of those things that one can accept +even from a stranger without that sense of obligation from which you +shrink so sensitively. Seriously, my good Sir, I shall feel offended if +you refuse me this small favor." + +"Sooner than that shall be, Sir, I'll take your cigar," said the little +man. He held it up to the light, and sniffed at it with great zest. +"This is no common brand, I reckon." + +"Well, it is better than you will get out of the waiter's box, I dare +say," answered Richard, smiling; for his cigars, like every thing else +he had about him, were of the best. + +"Now I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll put this in my pocket, if you'll +allow me, young gentleman, for a treat when I get home. After an early +morning breakfast, I generally prefer a pipe;" and he produced one +accordingly from his pocket. + +The room was melancholy to the last degree, being lit only from a +sky-light; relics of the last night's dissipation, in the shape of empty +glasses and ends of cigars, were still upon the small round tables; +while a two-days-old newspaper was the only literature of which the +apartment could boast. + +"This place and hour would be dull enough, Sir, without your society," +observed Richard, genially. "I don't think I was ever up so early in my +life before, nor in such a den of a place." + +"It's reckoned a good inn, too, is the _George and Vulture_; but the +life of a hotel, you see, don't begin till later on in the day." + +"That's a pity," said Richard, laughing, "as I sha'n't have the +opportunity of seeing it at its best. I hope to be away by 9.30, or 10 +at latest." + +"Ah," said the little man, "indeed!" His words were meaningless enough, +but there was really a genuine air of interest in his tone. He was a +vulgar fellow, no doubt; but Richard rather liked him, mainly because it +was evident that the other was captivated by him. He had laid himself +out to please John Trevethick and his friend Solomon for the last six +months, without success, yet here was a man who had evidently +appreciated him at once. If he was but a bagman, or something of that +sort, it was only the more creditable to his own powers of pleasing; and +his vanity--and Richard was as vain of his social attractions as a +girl--was flattered accordingly. In his solitude and wretchedness, too, +the society of this stranger had been very welcome. + +"I am sorry," said Richard, when they had passed some hours together, +and it was getting near nine o'clock, "that I am obliged to leave +Plymouth so soon. It would have given me great pleasure if you could +have come and dined with me; though, indeed, I fear I have already +detained you from your family. It was the act of a good Samaritan to +keep me company so long, and I thank you heartily." + +"Don't mention it, Sir--don't mention it," said the little man, quite +huskily. "I have only done my duty." + +This courteous sentiment made Richard laugh. "Your duty to your +neighbor, eh?" said he. "Well, I must now wish you good-by;" and he held +out his hand with a frank smile. "Perhaps we may meet again some day." + +"Perhaps so, Sir," said the other, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, +and accompanying him into the hall. + +At the hotel door Richard called a fly, as it was now raining heavily. +"Shall I take you as far as the bank," said he, "since your road home +lies that way? or is even that little service contrary to your motto?" + +"I have got to see to my luggage," answered the other, evasively. + +"Well, good-by, then." + +"Good-by." + +The vehicle rattled down a street or two, then stopped before a building +of some pretension, with a tall portico and a flight of stone steps +before it. Another fly drove up at the same moment, but it did not +attract Richard's attention, which was concentrated upon the business he +had in hand, and made his heart beat very fast. He pushed his way +through the huge swinging door, and found himself in a vast room, with a +large circular counter, at which clerks were standing, each behind a +little rail. He had never been inside a bank before, and he looked +around him curiously. On the left was an opaque glass door, with +"Manager's Room" painted on it; on the right was an elevated desk, from +which every part of the apartment could be commanded; the clerk who sat +there looked down at him for an instant as he entered, but at once +resumed his occupation. Every body was busy with pen and ledger; men +were thronging in and out like bees, giving or receiving sheaves of +bank-notes, or heaps of gold and silver. Richard waited until there was +a vacant place at the counter, then stepped up with: "I want to +exchange some Bank of England notes, please, for your own notes." + +"Next desk, Sir," said the man, not even looking up, but pointing with +the feather of his quill pen, then scratching away again as though he +would have overtaken the lost time. + +There was a singing in Richard's ear as he repeated his request, and +fumbled in his breast-pocket for the notes; then a silence seemed to +fall upon the place, which a moment before had been so alive and noisy. +Every pen seemed to stop; the ring of the gold, the rustle of paper, +ceased; only the tick of the great clock over the centre door was heard. +"Thief, thief! thief, thief!" were the words it said. + +"How much is there?" inquired the clerk, taking the bundle of notes from +Richard's hand; and his voice sounded as though it was uttered in an +empty room. + +"Two thousand pounds," said Richard. "Is there any difficulty about it? +If so, I can take them elsewhere." + +But the clerk had got them already, and was beginning to put down the +number of each in a great ledger. Richard had not calculated upon this +course of procedure, and had his reasons for objecting to it. + +"80,431, 80,432, 80,433," read out the clerk aloud, and every soul in +the room seemed listening to him. + +"That will do," said another voice close to Richard's ear, and a light +touch was laid upon his arm. Scarlet to the very temples, he looked up, +and there stood the little red-whiskered man from whom he had parted not +ten minutes before. A very grave expression was now in those twinkling +black eyes. "I have a warrant for your apprehension, young man, upon a +charge of theft," said he. + +"Of theft!" said Richard, angrily. "What nonsense is this?" + +"Those notes are stolen," said the little man. "Your name is Richard +Yorke, is it not?" + +"What's that to you?" said Richard. "I decline--" + +Here the door of the manager's room was opened, and out strode Solomon +Coe, with a look of cruel triumph on his harsh features. "That's your +man, right enough," said he. "He'd wheedle the devil, if once you let +him talk. Be off with him!" + +The next moment Richard's wrists were seized, and he was hurried out +between two men--his late acquaintance of the hotel and a +policeman--down the bank steps, and into a fly that stood there in +waiting. + +"To the County Jail!" cried Solomon, as he entered the vehicle after +them. Then he turned to the red-whiskered man, and inquired fiercely, +why he hadn't put the darbies on the scoundrel. + +"Never you mind that," was the sharp reply. "I'm responsible for the +young gentleman's safe-keeping, and that's enough." + +"Young gentleman! I am sure the young gentleman ought to be much obliged +to you," replied Solomon, contemptuously. "Young felon, you mean." + +"Nobody's a felon until after trial and conviction," observed the little +man, decisively. "Let's have no misunderstanding and no obligation, Mr. +Coe; that's my motto." + +Here the wheels began to rumble, and a shadow fell over the vehicle and +those it held: they were passing under the archway of the jail. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +LEAVING THE WORLD. + + +What wondrous and surpassing change may be in store for us when the soul +and body have parted company none can guess; but of all the changes of +which man has experience in this world, there is probably none so great +and overwhelming as that which he undergoes when, for the first time, he +passes the material barrier that separates guilt from innocence, and +finds himself in the clutches of the criminal law. To be no longer a +free man is a position which only one who has lost his freedom is able +to realize; the shock, of course, is greater or less according to his +antecedents. The habitual breaker of the law is aware that sooner or +later to the "stone jug" he must come; his friends have been there, and +laughed and joked about it, as Eton boys who have been "swished" make +merry with the block and rod, and affect to despise them; the situation +is, in idea at least, familiar to him; yet even he, perhaps, feels a +sinking of the heart when the door of the prison-cell clangs upon him +for the first time, and shuts him from the world. The common liberty to +go where we will is estimated, while we have it, at nothing; but, once +denied, it becomes the most precious boon in life. How infinitely more +poignant, then, must be the feelings of one thus unhappily +circumstanced, to whom the idea of such a catastrophe has never +occurred; who has always looked upon the law from the vantage-ground of +a good social position, and acquiesced in its working with complacence, +as in something which could have no personal relation to himself! + +Thus it was with Richard Yorke when, for the first time, he found +himself a prisoner in the hands of Mr. Dodge, the detective, and his +blue-coated assistant. For the time he felt utterly unmanned, and might +have even fainted, or burst into tears, but for the consciousness that +Solomon Coe was sitting opposite to him. The presence of that gentleman +acted as a cordial upon him; the idea that he owed his miserable +position to that despised boor wounded him to the quick, but at the same +time gave him an outward show of calmness: he could not have broken down +before that man, though he had been standing beneath the gallows-tree. +Despondency would have utterly possessed him but for hate and rage--hate +of his rival and all who might be concerned in this catastrophe, and +rage at the arrest itself. For, though he had not the consciousness of +innocence to support him, he had no sense of guilt. He had had no +intention of absolutely stealing Trevethick's money; and yet he foresaw +how difficult it would be to clear himself of that grave charge. He also +looked back, and perceived for the first time the magnitude of the folly +which he had committed. He felt no shame for it as a crime--he had not +principle enough for that; but he recognized the extent of the +imprudence, and its mad audacity; yet he was mad and audacious still. He +had been brought up as much his own master as any youth in England, no +matter how rich or nobly born; he had never known control, nor even +(except during those few days at Crompton) what it was to control +himself; and he could not realize the fact that he might actually come +to share the fate of common thieves; to wear a prison garb; to be shut +up within stone walls for months or even years; no longer a man, but a +convict, known only by his number from other jail-birds. He did not +think it could even come to his standing in the felon's dock, subject to +the curious gaze of a hundred eyes, the indifferent regard of the stern +judge, the--In the midst of these bitter thoughts, which were indeed +disputations with his fears, the fly had stopped at the jail gate, and +Mr. Dodge, with a cheerful air, observed: "We must get out here, if you +please, Mr. Yorke." + +Richard hesitated; he was mistrustful of his very limbs, so severely had +the sight of those stone walls shaken him. + +"Your young friend does not seem much to like the idea of lodging here," +said Solomon, with a brutal laugh. + +"That is fortunate," answered the detective, dryly, "since he will not +have to do so. In my profession, Mr. Coe, we hold it a mean trick to +kick a man when he is down.--This way, Sir, if you please." For, at the +sound of Solomon's voice, Richard was up and out in a moment. "It is +merely a form that you have to go through before we go before the beak." + +"A form?" asked Richard, hoarsely; "what form?" + +"We shall have to search you, Sir; that's all." + +"That's all," echoed Solomon, with a grin. + +Richard's face changed from white to red, from red to white, by turns. + +"Mr. Coe will stay where he is," said Dodge, peremptorily, as he led the +way into a little room that opened from the gate-keeper's parlor. + +"I thank you for that, Mr. Dodge," said Richard, gratefully. + +"Not at all, Sir. If you have any thing of a compromising nature about +you--revolvers or such like--that's my business and the beak's, not +his.--Officer do your duty." + +Richard was searched accordingly. He had no revolver; but what +astonished himself more than it did the searcher was that a cigar was +found loose in his breast-pocket. + +"Why, this must be the one that I gave to you this morning, Mr. Dodge." + +"Just so, Sir. I put it back again as we came along. You know my motto. +When you come to be your own master again--which I hope'll be soon--then +I'll smoke it with you with pleasure; they'll keep it for you very +careful, you may depend upon it, and baccar is a thing as don't spoil. +That's a pretty bit of jewelry now--_that_ is." Mr. Dodge's remark +referred to a gold locket, with the word "Harry" outside it, written in +diamonds; and within a portrait of her, which he had executed himself. +"That's a token of some favorite brother, I dare say?" + +"Yes," said Richard. "Might I keep that, if you please; or, at all +events, might I ask that it should not be shown to the man in yonder +room? It's my own, Mr. Dodge," added he, earnestly, "upon my word and +honor." + +"No doubt, Sir; no doubt. There's no charge against you except as to +these notes. I must put it down on the list, because that's the law; but +you can keep it, and welcome, so far as I am concerned; though I am +afraid the Cross Key folks will not be so very easy with you." + +"The Cross Key folks?" + +"Well, Mr. Yorke, it's no use to hide from you that you will be sent to +Cross Key; that's the nearest jail to Gethin, I believe. I am afraid the +beak will be for committing you; the sum is so large, and the case so +clear, that I doubt whether he'll entertain the question of bail. You +have no friends in Plymouth, either, you told me." + +"None," said Richard, sadly; "unless," he added, in a whisper, "I can +count you as one." + +"Officer, just fetch a glass of water," said Dodge; "the prisoner says +he feels faint.--Look here, young gentleman," continued he, earnestly, +as soon as they were alone, "this is no use; I can do nothing for you +whatever, except wish you luck, which I do most heartily. I am as +helpless as a baby in this matter. I can only give you one piece of good +advice: when the beak asks if you've any thing to say, unless you have +something that will clear you, and can be proved--you know best about +that--say, 'I reserve my defense;' then, as soon as you're committed, +ask to see your solicitor; send for Weasel of Plymouth; your friends +have money, I conclude. Hush! Here's the water, young man; just sip a +little, and you'll soon come round." + +Not another word, either then or afterward, did Mr. Dodge exchange with +his prisoner. Perhaps he began to think he had acted contrary to the +motto which was his guide in life in the good-will he had already shown +him. Perhaps he resented the favorable impression that the attractions +and geniality of his acquaintance at the hotel had made upon him as +unprofessional. At all events, during their drive from the jail to the +office where the magistrate was sitting--it was not open at the hour +when Richard had been arrested, or he would have been searched +there--Mr. Dodge seemed to have lost all sympathy for his "young +gentleman," chatting with the officer quite carelessly upon matters +connected with their common calling, and even offering Mr. Coe a pinch +from his snuff-box, without extending that courtesy to Yorke. Nay, when +they were just at their journey's end, he had the want of feeling to +look his prisoner straight in the face, and whistle an enlivening air. +The melody was not so popular as it has since become, or perhaps Mr. +Dodge had doubts of his ability to render it with accuracy, but, as if +to inform all whom it might concern what it was that he was executing, +he hummed aloud the fag-end of the tune, keeping time with his fist upon +his knee, "Pop goes the weasel, pop goes the weasel." + +Richard understood, and thanked him with his eyes. He had no need, +however, to be reminded of the good-natured detective's word of advice. +The ignominy which he had just undergone had had the effect of revealing +to him the imminence as well as the full extent of the peril in which he +stood. Henceforward he could think of nothing--not even revenge--save +the means of extricating himself from the toils which every moment +seemed to multiply about him. The time for action was, indeed, but +short; if he was ever (for it already seemed "ever") to be free again, +the means must be taken to deliver him at once. The assizes would be +held at Cross Key--he had heard the Gethin gossips talk of them, little +thinking that they would have any interest for him--in three weeks. +Until then, at all events, he must be a prisoner; beyond that time he +would not, dared not, look. + +Within ten minutes Richard Yorke stood committed to Cross Key Jail. + +He followed his friend's counsel in all respects. But the messenger +dispatched for Mr. Weasel returned with the news that that gentleman was +out of town; he was very busy at that season--there were other folks in +difficulties besides our hero, urgent for his consolation and advice as +to their course of conduct before my Lord the Judge. Mr. Dodge, however, +assured Richard, upon taking leave, that he would dispatch the attorney +after him that very night. + +The road to Cross Key was, for many miles, the same which he had lately +traveled in the reverse direction; yet how different it looked! He had +been in far from good spirits on that occasion, but how infinitely more +miserable was he now! The hills, the rocks, the streams were far more +beautiful than he had ever thought them, but they mocked him with their +beauty. He longed to get out of the vehicle, and feel the springy turf, +the yielding heather, beneath his feet; to lave his hands in the +sparkling brook, to lie on the moss-grown rock, and bask in the blessed +sun. Perhaps he should never see them any more--these simple everyday +beauties, of which he had scarcely taken any account when they were +freely offered for his enjoyment. He looked back on even the day before, +wherein he had certainly been wretched enough, with yearning regret. He +had at least been a free man, and when should he be free again? Ah, +when! He was, as it were, in a prison on wheels, guarded by two jailers. +Escape would have been hopeless, even had it been judicious to make the +attempt. His only consolation was, that Solomon Coe was no longer with +him to jeer at his dejected looks. He had started for Gethin with the +news, doubtless as welcome to Trevethick as to himself, of the +prisoner's committal. What would Harry say when she came to hear of it? +What would she not suffer? Richard cast himself back in his seat, and +groaned aloud. The man at his side exchanged a glance with his +companion. "He is guilty, this young fellow." "Without doubt, he's +booked." They had their little code of signals for such occasions. + +The day drew on, and the soft sweet air of evening began to rise. They +had stopped here and there for refreshments, but Richard had taken +nothing; he had, however, always accompanied his custodians within doors +at the various halting-places. He was afraid of the crowd that might +gather about the vehicle to look at the man that was being taken to +prison. There was nothing to mark him as such, but it seemed to him that +nobody could fail to know it. He welcomed the approach of night. They +still traveled on for hours, since there was no House of Detention at +which he could be placed in safety on the road; at last the wheels +rumbled over the uneven stones of a little country town; they stopped +before a building similar, so far as he could see by the moonlight, to +that to which he had been taken at Plymouth: all jails are alike, +especially to the eyes of the prisoner. A great bell was rung; there was +a parley with the keeper of the gate. The whole scene resembled +something which Richard remembered to have read in a book; he knew not +what, nor where. A door in the wall was opened; they led him up some +stone steps; the door closed behind him with a clang; and its locks +seemed to bite into the stone. + +"This way, prisoner," said a gruff voice. + +Door after door, passage after passage; a labyrinth of stone and iron. +At last he was ushered into a small chamber, unlike any thing he had +ever seen in his life. His sleeping-room at the keeper's lodge at +Crompton was palatial compared with it. The walls were stone; the floor +of a shining brown, so that it looked wet, though it was not so. His +jailer-chamberlain pointed to a low-lying hammock, stretched upon two +straps between the walls. "There, tumble in," he said; "you will have +your bath in the morning. Look alive!" + +Richard obeyed him at once. "Good-night, warder," said he. + +"Night!" grumbled the other; "it's morn-in'. A pretty time to be +knockin' up people at a respectable establishment. If you want any +thin'--broiled bones, or deviled kidneys"--for the man was a wag in his +quaint way--"ring this 'ere bell. As for the other rules and regulations +of her Majesty's jail, you'll learn them at breakfast-time." + +The door slammed behind him. + +How the doors _did_ slam in that place! And Richard was left alone. If, +instead of the metal ewer of water that stood by his bed-head, there had +been a glass of deadliest poison, he would have seized it greedily, and +emptied it to the dregs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE LETTER LOOK. + + +On the day that Richard left Gethin, which was itself an incident to +keep the tongues of its gossips wagging for a good week, another +occurrence took place in that favored neighborhood, and one of even more +absorbing interest--the workings of Dunloppel were suspended. This, of +course, was not a wholly unexpected catastrophe. The new vein, after +giving an exceedingly rich yield for some months, had of late, it was +whispered, evinced signs of exhaustion, although the fact was not known +that for several weeks the undertaking had been carried on at a loss. +Neither Trevethick nor Solomon, who were the principal proprietors, was +the sort of man to play long at a losing game, or to send good money +after bad; so, for the present, the pit was closed. But Solomon believed +in Dunloppel; contrary to his custom, he had not disposed of a single +share when the mine was at a premium, and his stake in it was very +large. + +Only a few minutes after Richard had departed for Plymouth with his +check, Solomon returned to the inn with thoughtful brow. + +Trevethick was moodily smoking his pipe in the porch, still balancing +the rival claims of his sons-in-law elect, and dissatisfied with both of +them. He did not share Solomon's hopes, and he detested losing his money +above every thing. "Well, you've packed off all those fellows, I hope, +that have been eating me out of house and home for these three weeks?" + +"I've closed the mine, if that's what you mean," said Solomon. "But" (he +looked cautiously up at the windows of the inn, which were all open--the +guests were out in search of the picturesque, and Harry was on the +tower, straining her eyes after Richard) "I want to have a word with you +in private, Trevethick." + +"Come into the bar parlor, then," grunted the landlord, for he did not +much relish the idea of a confidential talk with Solomon just then, +since it might have relation to a matter about which he had not fully +made up his mind to give him an answer. + +"Is that young painter fellow out of the way, then?" asked Solomon. "We +have never had a place to ourselves, it seems to me, since _he_ came to +Gethin." + +"Yes, yes, he's far enough off," answered Trevethick, more peevishly +than before, for Sol's remark seemed to foreshadow the very subject he +would fain have avoided talking about. "He's gone to Plymouth, he is, +and won't be back these five days." + +"Umph!" said Sol. If he had said, "I wish he would never come back at +all," he could not have expressed his feelings more clearly. + +"Well," growled Trevethick, when they were in his sanctum, and had shut +the door, "what is it now? Bad news, of course, of some sort." + +It was a habit with Trevethick, as it is with many men of his stamp, to +have a perpetual grievance against Providence--to profess themselves as +never astonished at any bad turn that _It_ may do them--and, besides, he +was on the present occasion desirous of taking up a position of +discontent beforehand, so that the expected topic might not appear to +have produced it. + +"No; it's good news, Trevethick," said Solomon, quietly--"the best of +news, as it seems to me; and I hope to bring you over to the same +opinion." + +"He's got some scheme for marrying Harry out of hand," thought the +harassed landlord. "How the deuce shall I put him off?" + +There was not the slightest excuse for doing so; if Solomon had been of +a less phlegmatic disposition, he might have married her a year ago, +young as she was. "Read this," said he, producing a letter from his +pocket, "and tell me what you think of it. It's old Stratum's report +upon the mine." + +"Ay, ay," said Trevethick, diving into his capacious pocket for his +silver spectacles. As a general rule, he was wont to receive all such +reports with discredit, and to throw cold water upon Sol's more sanguine +views; but it was several minutes before he could get himself into his +normal state of dissatisfied depression, so much relieved was he to find +that his daughter was not to be the topic of the conversation. + +"Here's the plan," continued Solomon, "which accompanied the letter. I +got it just after I dismissed the men; and, upon my life, I'd half a +mind to set them on again. But I thought I'd just have a talk with you +first." + +"Ay," said Trevethick--"well?" He was quite himself again now--crafty, +prudent, reticent; about as unpromising a gentleman to "get on with," +far less get the better of in a bargain, as a Greek Jew. But Solomon was +quite accustomed to him. + +"Stratum feels confident about the continuation of the lode, you see; +and also that the fault is not considerable. We shall not have to sink +fifty feet, he thinks, before we come on the vein again." + +"He _thinks_" said Trevethick, contemptuously. "Is he ready to sink his +own money in it?" + +"It's no good asking him that," said Solomon, coolly, "because he's got +none. But I have always found Stratum pretty correct in his judgment; +and, as for me, I believe in Dunloppel. The question is, shall I go on +with it single-handed, or will you go shares?" + +"If it's so good a thing, why not keep it yourself, Sol?" + +"Because my money is particularly well laid out at present, and I don't +want to shift it." + +"That's just the case with mine," said Trevethick, from behind the plan. + +"I thought you might have five hundred pounds or so lying idle, that's +all," returned the other. "I'd give six per cent. for it just now." + +"Oh, that's another thing. Perhaps I have. I'll see about it." + +"If you could get it me at once, that would be half the battle," urged +Solomon. "There are some good men at the mine whom I should not like to +lose. If I could send round to-night to tell them not to engage, +themselves elsewhere, since they're opening so many new pits just now, +that would be a relief to my mind." + +"Very good; you may do that, then. I'll write for the money to-morrow." + +So blunt, straightforward, and exceedingly unpleasant a man as John +Trevethick was, ought to have been the very incarnation of Truth, +whereas that last observation of his was, to say the least of it, +Jesuitical. There was no occasion to write to any body for what he had +got above stairs, locked up in his private strong-box. But he did not +wish all the world to know that, nor even his _alter ego_, Solomon Coe. + +Trevethick, although a close-fisted fellow, was no miser in the vulgar +sense. He kept this vast sum at hand, partly because he had no +confidence in ordinary securities, and partly because he wished to be in +a position, at a moment's notice, to accomplish his darling scheme. If +Carew should happen to change his mind, it would be because he was in +want of ready money, and he would be in mad haste to get it. His +impatience on such occasions brooked no delay on the score of advantage; +and the man that could offer him what he wanted, as it were, in his open +hand, would be the financier he would favor in preference to a much less +grasping accommodator, who might keep him waiting for a week. It was not +so much the tempting bait of ready money that caught the Squire as the +fact of his wishes being obeyed upon the instant. He had not been used +to wait, and his pride revolted against it; and many a time had a usurer +missed his mark by not understanding with how great a bashaw he had to +deal in the person of Carew of Crompton. Trevethick was aware of this, +and indeed the chaplain had given him a hint to keep the proposed +purchase-money within easy reach, in case the Squire's mood might alter, +or his necessities demand his consent to what Mr. Whymper honestly +believed to be a very advantageous offer. Otherwise, Trevethick was not +one to keep a hoard in his house for the mere pleasure of gloating over +it. He had not looked into his strong-box for months, nor would he have +done so now, but for this unexpected demand upon it. It was safe enough, +he knew, in his daughter's room; and as for its having been opened, that +was an impossibility; the padlock hung in front of it as usual, and it +would have taken a man half a lifetime to have hit upon its open sesame +by trial. He was justly proud of that letter lock, which was his own +contrivance, invented when he was quite a young man, and had been +perforce compelled to turn his attention to mechanics, and he considered +it a marvel of skill. It was characteristic in him that he had never +revealed its secret even to his daughter. Indeed, with the exception of +Harry, nobody at Gethin--save, perhaps, Hannah, when she dusted her +young mistress's room--had ever set eyes upon it, nor, if they had, +would they have understood its meaning. + +It was therefore without the slightest suspicion of its having been +tampered with, that, an hour or two after the conversation just +narrated, Trevethick repaired to his strong-box, with the intention of +taking from it the sum of money required by Solomon. The padlock was +like a little clock, except that it had the letters of the alphabet +round its face instead of figures, and three hands instead of two; this +latter circumstance insured, by its complication, the safety of the +treasure, but at the same time rendered it useless--unless he broke the +box open--to the possessor himself if by any accident he should forget +the letter time at which he had set it; and accordingly Trevethick was +accustomed to carry a memorandum of this about with him; even if he lost +it, it would be no great matter, for what meaning would it convey to any +human being to find a bit of paper with the letters B, N, Z upon it? +Harry, as we have said, was out of the house, so his daughter's room was +untenanted. He went to a cupboard, and took down the box from its usual +shelf, with the same feeling of satisfaction that an old poet recurs to +his first volume of verse; he may have written better things, and things +that have brought him more money, but those spring leaves are dearest to +him of all. So it was with Trevethick's spring lock. He adjusted the +hands, and the padlock sprang open; he lifted the lid, and the box was +empty; the two thousand pounds in Bank of England notes were gone. + +He was a big bull-necked man, of what is called (in the reports of +inquests) "a full habit of body," and the discovery was almost fatal to +him. His face grew purple, the veins in his forehead stood out, and his +well-seasoned head, which liquor could so little affect, went round and +round with him, and sang like a humming-top. He was on the very brink of +a fit, which might have "annihilated space and time" (as far as he was +concerned), "and made two lovers happy." But the star of Richard Yorke +was not in the ascendant. The old man held on by the shelf of the +cupboard, and gradually came to himself. He did not even then comprehend +the whole gravity of the position; the sense of his great loss--not only +of so much wealth, but of that which he had secured with such toil, and +laid by unproductively so long for the accomplishment of his darling +purpose--monopolized his mind. Who _could_ have been the thief? was the +one question with which he concerned himself, and the answer was not +long delayed. It was the coincidence of amount in the sum stolen with +that which Richard had gone to Plymouth to realize, that turned his +suspicions upon the young artist. Why, the scoundrel had fixed upon that +very sum as the test of his possessing an independence for a reason that +was now clear enough: it was the exact limit of what he knew he could +lay his hand upon. But how _did_ he know?--or, rather (for the old man's +thoughts were still fixed upon the mechanical mystery of his loss), how +did he open the padlock? Then there flashed upon his mind that incident +of his having dropped the memorandum out of his watch-case in the bar +parlor in Richard's presence, and the whole affair seemed as clear as +day. It was Richard's intention to change the notes at Plymouth for the +paper of the Miners' Bank, or for gold, and then to exhibit it to him in +its new form as his own property. He did not believe that the young +artist intended to steal it; but he was by no means less furious with +him upon that account--quite otherwise. He piqued himself upon his +caution and long-headedness, and resented every deception practiced upon +him even more than an injury. Moreover, he felt that but for Solomon's +unexpected request for the loan the plan would have succeeded. In all +probability, he would not have discovered his loss until it had been too +late--he would not have known how to refuse the young man leave to +become his daughter's suitor; and once his son-in-law, he could scarcely +have prosecuted him for replacing two thousand pounds' worth of +bank-notes in his strong-box by notes of another kind. Exasperated +beyond all measure as Trevethick was, it did credit to his sagacity that +even at such a moment he did not conceive of Richard Yorke as being a +common thief. But he concluded him to be much worse, and deserving of +far heavier punishment, as a man that would have obtained his daughter +under false pretenses. He went down stairs, taking the box with him, to +seek his friend. Solomon had just returned from the cottage over the +way, where he had been giving orders to one of the best miners to still +hold himself engaged at Dunloppel, and had bidden him tell others the +same. He was in high spirits, and was twirling about in his large hands +Mr. Stratum's diagnosis of the mine. + +"You may put that away and have done with it," said Trevethick, +hoarsely; "I have no money to lend you for that, nor nothing else. This +box held two thousand pounds of mine, but it's all gone now." + +"Two thousand pounds!" exclaimed Solomon, too amazed at the magnitude of +the sum to realize what had happened to it. "Two thousand pounds in a +box!" He had always suspected that the old man kept something in a +stocking-foot, and had often rallied him upon his unnecessary caution +with respect to investments; but this statement of his appeared +incredible. + +"What does it matter if it was twenty thousand, when I tell you it's +gone," said Trevethick, sullenly. "That limb of the devil, Yorke, is off +with every shilling of it." + +"Do you mean to say _he's_ stolen it?" inquired the other, even more +astonished than before. + +"He's taken it to Plymouth with him, that's all." + +Solomon Coe was a man of action, and prompt in emergencies, but for the +moment he was fairly staggered. He had no liking for Richard, but such a +charge as this appeared incredible; it seemed more likely that the old +man had repented of his late offer of the loan of five hundred pounds, +and had invented this monstrous fiction to excuse himself. + +"Where was the box kept?" asked Solomon, dryly. + +For a moment or two Trevethick was silent. + +"It is as I suspected," thought the other; "the old man is making up the +story as he goes on." + +But the fact was that this question had gone to the very root of the +matter, and opened Trevethick's dull eyes wide. In his chagrin at his +loss (though he did believe it would be temporary), and irritation at +his sagacity having been set at naught, he had overlooked the most +serious feature of the whole catastrophe. How had Yorke come to the +knowledge that the strong-box was kept in Harry's room? and under what +circumstances had he obtained access to it? + +"Where's Harry?" exclaimed Trevethick, starting up with a great oath; +for it flashed upon him that she had fled with Richard. "Where's my +daughter?" + +"I saw her in the village just now," said Solomon, "talking to old +Madge. She had been for a stroll out Turlock way, she said. But what's +the use of vexing _her_ about the matter? Women are much best kept in +the dark when one don't want things to be talked about. The more quiet +you keep this story, the more chance you'll have of getting your money +back, you may depend upon it. It was in notes, of course?" + +"Yes, in notes," answered the other, with a vacant look, and drumming on +the table with his right hand. + +"Come, come, Trevethick, you must keep your head," remonstrated Solomon. +"I'll act for you quick enough, if you'll only supply me with the means. +It's a great loss, but it should not paralyze a man. You've got a +memorandum of the numbers of the notes?" + +"Yes, yes; I have somewhere." + +"Well; go and fetch it, while I order out a horse. I can get to Plymouth +before wheels can do it, and shall catch this scoundrel yet. He'll be +going there to change the notes, I reckon?" + +"Yes, yes," said Trevethick; "he'll be at the _George and Vulture_; so +he said." + +"Good," replied Solomon. "I'll get a warrant from old Justice Smallgood +on my way. Rouse up, man, rouse up; you shall have your money back, I +tell you, and see this rascal lagged for life into the bargain." + +"If I could only get him hanged!" answered the old man, fiercely--"if I +could only get _him_ hanged, Sol, I'd let the money go, and welcome!" + +Solomon stared after him, as he left the room and tramped up stairs in +search of the list of notes, with a ludicrous expression of wonder. In +_his_ eyes, no revenge at present seemed worth so extravagant a price. +But Trevethick had his reasons, or thought he had, for this excess of +hate; his slow-moving yet powerful nature resembled the python--it was +exceedingly tenacious when its object was once grasped, and it was apt +to glut itself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +A HARD ALTERNATIVE. + + +Solomon had ridden off, and was half-way to Turlock before Trevethick +felt himself sufficiently collected to summon Hannah, and bid her send +for her young mistress. He could not go in search of her himself and +speak what he had to ask: no bird of the air must carry her reply, no +wind of heaven breathe it, if it was such as he feared. There must be no +"scene" in public to let loose the gossips' tongues. He sat in the bar +parlor, with his huge head leaning on his hands, brooding over his +wrongs, and waiting for her--for the daughter by whose wicked +connivance, as he thought, he had been despoiled of his hard-earned +gains. He did not reproach himself for having thrown her so much with +Richard, in order that the latter might be kept in good-humor, and apt +to forward his plans as to Wheal Danes. He "wondered at their vice, and +not his folly." As to there being any thing beyond a flirtation between +the young people, he did not suspect it; but even as matters were, he +was bitterly enraged against Harry, and would have strangled Richard out +of hand if he could have got near him. It was evident to him that this +fellow had been courting his daughter, though he knew she was plighted +to another, and had wormed out of her the secret of his hoarded wealth. +Six months ago she would not for her life have dared to tell what she +knew he wished to hide; and now this young villain had wound himself so +cunningly about her that she had no will but his, and had even helped +him to rob her own flesh and blood. His heel was on that serpent's head, +however, or would be in a day or two, and _then_--The old man ground his +teeth as though his enemy were between them. + +"Well, father, here I am; Hannah said you wanted me." + +Harry's voice was as calm as she could make it, but her young limbs +trembled, and her face was very pale. + +[Illustration: "SHE DRAGGED UPON HIS ARM."] + +"Come here--nearer!" cried Trevethick, hoarsely, seizing her by the +wrist. "Do you know that you are the only creature but two--but one, I +may say, for gratitude ain't love--that I have ever loved in this +world--that I have worked for you, planned for you, and for you only, +all my life?" + +"Yes, father; and I am very grateful for it," answered she, +submissively. + +"No doubt," sneered the old man; "and the way you show how much you feel +it, the way you show your duty and your love to your father in return, +is to put a thief--a lying, cheating thief--in the road to rob him!" + +"You must be mad, father!" exclaimed Harry, in blank amazement. "I know +no thief!" + +"You know Richard Yorke, you wicked, wanton wench!" interrupted +Trevethick, passionately. "And how could _he_ have heard of yonder box +except through you? Of course you'll lie; a lie or two is nothing to one +like you. But here's the proof. The padlock has been opened, the money +taken. Who did it? Who could have done it, except him, or you?" + +"As I am a living woman, father, as I hope for heaven," answered Harry, +earnestly, "I did not do it, and I do not know who did." + +"You didn't, and you don't! The thing's incredible. Reach here that +Bible." He still held her by the wrist. "You shall swear that, and be +damned forever! What! you never told that villain where my money lay?" + +"I did tell Mr. Yorke that, father. Pray, pray, be patient. It was long +ago; we were talking together about I know not what, and it slipped from +me that you kept money in a strong-box. That was all." + +"All," said the old man, bitterly, and flinging her arm away from him, +the wrist all black and bruised with his angry clutch. "What more, or +worse, could you have told than the one secret I had bid you keep? You +told him the exact sum, too, I'll warrant? Two thousand pounds!" + +"Yes, father, I did. It was very wrong, and I was very sorry directly I +had done it. But I knew the secret would be safe with a gentleman like +Mr. Yorke." + +"A gentleman! A cheat, an impostor, a common rogue!" + +"Oh no, oh no, father!" + +"But I say 'yes.' To-morrow he will have the handcuffs on him! What! +Have you tears for him, and none for me, you slut! Perhaps you _showed_ +him where the box was kept, as well as told him! Did you, _did_ you?" + +There was something in Harry's frightened face that made her father rise +and lock the door. + +"Speak low!" said he, in an awful voice; "you have something to tell me. +Tell it." + +"Only that I love him, father--oh, so much!" pleaded Harry, +passionately. "Indeed, indeed, I could not help it! I tried to love Sol, +because you wished it, but it was no use; I felt that even before +Richard came. We walked every day together for weeks and weeks, and he +was so different from Sol, so bright and pleasant, and he loved me from +the first, he said. He told me, too, that you had listened with favor to +his suit, or, at all events, had not refused to listen--that there was +good hope of your consenting to it, and without that hope he knew he +could not win me. I only promised to be his on that condition. Speak to +me, father; pardon me, father! Don't look at me so. He never meant to +thieve, I am sure of that. You asked of him some warrant of his wealth, +some proof that he could afford to marry me. You would not have done +that had you set your face utterly against him. And I think--I +fear--though Heaven is my witness that I knew nothing of it until now, +that he took this money only to bring it back to you again, and win your +favor. It was an ill deed, if he has really done it, which even yet I do +not credit; but it was done for my sake; then for _my_ sake, father, +pity him, pardon him!" She had thrown herself upon her knees beside the +old man's chair; her long hair had come unfastened, and trailed upon the +sanded floor; her hands were clasped in an agony of supplication. No +pictured Magdalen ever looked more wretched or more beautiful. + +"You have more to tell?" said the old man, harshly. + +She shook her head, and uttered a plaintive moan. + +"Then _I_ have," continued he. "You say you love this man; now _I_ hate +him! I do not regret that he has robbed me, since, by that act, he has +placed himself in my power, and I mean to use it to the uttermost; but +for his cozening me to my face, as he has done so long, and for his +smooth, false ways, and for his impudent tales, which I had half +believed, and for his audacious attempt to pluck you from the hand for +which I had designed you, I _hate_ him. I tell you," cried out the old +man, fiercely, "if this villain had fifty lives, and the law would help +me to them, I would exact them all! If he stood here, I would brain him +with yonder staff; and if my curse could follow him beyond the grave--as +my vengeance shall to the grave's brink--he should perish in eternal +fire! _Hate_ him? I almost hate you for having loved him; and if I +thought you would dare to cross me further by holding to him now, I'd +drive you from my door this very hour. You will never see him more; but +I shall, once. This mouth shall witness against him to the uttermost; +these ears shall hear the judge pronounce on him his righteous doom." + +"No, no," gasped the young girl, faintly. "If you do not hate me yet, I +pray you to unsay those words. When you curse Richard, father, you are +cursing you know not whom." She dragged upon his arm, and brought his +ear down to the level of her mouth, and whispered in it. + +The old man started to his feet, and pushed her from him with a hideous +oath; then made as though he would have unlocked the door and thrown it +wide, to drive her, as he had so lately threatened, from his roof. But +there was a noise of many feet and chattering and laughter in the +passage without, which showed that some of the tourist guests had just +come in. Only a plank intervened between that little knot of giddy +pleasure-seekers, with their jokes and small-talk, and the father and +daughter in their agony. + +"Mercy! mercy!" cried the wretched girl. + +Trevethick clapped his hand upon her little mouth, with, "Hush, fool! +hush!" and she felt thankful that he called her by no worse name. + +"Forgive me--pity--pardon," murmured she. + +"Listen!" said he, in a stem whisper. "Obey me now, you wicked, wanton +slut, or I proclaim your shame before them all; one minute will decide +your fate! Be stubborn, and you shall go forth through yonder door, +discarded, friendless, infamous, to beg your bread, or win it how you +will; be tractable, and even yet you shall have a father and a home. +Make choice, and quickly; and having made it, be you sure of this, that +it shall hold. Do you hear me, trollop?" + +"I hear! I hear!" she murmured, shuddering. "I will obey you now, and +ever." + +"Then marry Solomon Coe--at once--within the month." + +"Oh, father, mercy!" + +His fingers were on the door, and the key grated in the lock. + +"The sea-air makes one famish," said a gay voice outside. + +"It's lucky," laughed another, "for there is sure to be nothing for +dinner but the inevitable ham and eggs." + +In another instant the final barrier between herself and public shame +would have been withdrawn by that relentless hand. + +"I promise--I promise--spare me!" cried the unhappy girl, and fell +fainting on the floor. + +The old man drew a long, deep breath, and wiped his forehead. His +victory had not been lightly won. He lifted his daughter up and carried +her to the sofa; then raised the little clumsy window, rarely opened, +and propped it with a stick, so that the breeze might blow upon her +tear-stained cheek. How white and worn and emptied of all joy it looked! +As he gazed upon her, a touch of pity stole into her father's face. He +poured out a little spirits in a glass, and put it to her lips. "Take a +sup of this, and you'll be better, child." + +She opened her heavy eyes, and shook her head. + +"You said you would have mercy, father, if I promised?" + +"Yes, yes; all shall be forgotten. We will not even speak of it to one +another." + +"And you will pardon _him_? You will not hurt my Richard?" + +"Your Richard!" + +"Yes, for he was mine once. You will not bear witness against him before +the judge? Is he not punished enough in losing me? Am _I_ not punished?" + +"Silence!" exclaimed the old man, in a terrible voice. His hand, +trembling with passion, had struck against the strong-box, and at its +touch his wrath broke out in flame. "That man is dead to you henceforth! +You gave your promise without conditions. Moreover, his fate is in the +hands of the law, and not in mine." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +AN UNEXPECTED GUEST. + + +Six days had come and gone since her lover's departure from Gethin, but +no tidings of him had reached Harry's ears. Solomon had returned on the +second day, and been closeted with her father for some hours, doubtless +in consultation about Richard; but not a word had been spoken of him, in +her presence, by either. She dared not mention him to her father, and +still less could she apply for information to his rival, her now +affianced bridegroom. How much, or how little, her father had disclosed +concerning him to Sol she did not know; but the latter had evidently +closed with the terms which she had in her late strait accepted on her +own part. The bans had been put up in the church upon the hill, and in a +month she would be this man's wife. She had been congratulated upon the +coming event by all the neighbors. Some had slyly hinted--little +guessing the pain they gave to that sore heart--at her late "goings-on" +with that young gentleman-painter; they had almost suspected at one time +that he would have supplanted her old flame; but they were glad to see +matters as they were. Solomon was a steady, sagacious man, as every body +knew, and would get on in the world; and what he gained he would not +waste in foolish ways. Such an old friend of her father's, too. Nothing +could be more fitting and satisfactory in all respects. Solomon, +notoriously a laggard in love, was likened to the tortoise, who had won +the race against the hare. + +To have to listen to all this well-meant twaddle was misery indeed. +Perhaps, upon the whole, good honest dullness does unknowingly inflict +more grievous wounds than the barbed satiric tongue. + +To think, to picture to herself the condition of her lover--deplorable, +she was convinced, from the grim satisfaction upon Solomon's face when +he first came back--was torture. She could not read, for her mind fled +from the page, like breath from a mirror; there was nothing for it but +occupation. She busied herself as she had never done before with the +affairs of the house, which afforded some excuse for escaping from Sol's +attentions, naturally grown somewhat pressing, now that his wedded +happiness was drawing so near. The _Gethin Castle_ was not, however, +very full of guests. It had been wet for a few days, and rain spoils the +harvest of the inn-keeper even more than that of the farmer. One night, +when it was pouring heavily, and such a windfall as a new tourist was +not to have been expected by the most sanguine Boniface, a lady arrived, +alone, and took up her quarters in the very room that Richard had +vacated. Trevethick himself was at the door when she had driven up and +asked with some apparent anxiety whether she could be accommodated. She +was wrapped up, and thickly veiled, but he had observed to his daughter +what a well-spoken woman she was, and an uncommon fine one too, though +her hair was gray. She had inquired whether there were any letters +waiting for her, addressed to Mrs. Gilbert; but there was no letter. + +Harry took in the new arrival's supper with her own hands. It was the +time when she would otherwise have been expected in the bar parlor, to +sit by Solomon's side, and feel his arm creep round her waist, more +hateful than a serpent's fold. A fire had been lit in the sitting-room, +on account of the inclement weather, and Mrs. Gilbert was standing +beside it with her elbow on the mantel-piece. She watched Harry come in +and out, without a word, but the expression of her face was so +searching and attentive that it embarrassed her. Under other +circumstances she would certainly have delegated her duties to Hannah, +but to evade Solomon's society she would have waited on the Sphinx. She +brought in each article one at a time, and when there was nothing more +to bring inquired deferentially whether there was any thing else that +she could do for the lady. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Gilbert, gravely; the voice was soft, but the manner +most earnest and impressive. "I want five minutes' talk with you; can I +have it secure from interruption?" + +"Certainly, madam," answered Harry, trembling, she knew not why. + +"Close the door, girl. Come nearer, and away from the window; we must +not be overheard." + +Harry was constitutionally timid, and it struck her that this poor lady +was not in her right mind. She hesitated. The other seemed to read her +thoughts. + +"I am not mad, child," said she, sorrowfully, "though I have trouble +enough to make me so. You are the daughter of the landlord of this inn, +I think?" + +"Yes, madam." + +"And I am the mother of Richard Yorke." + +She was standing in the same position, and had spoken coldly and as +sternly as such a voice as hers could speak, when something in the young +girl's face caused her whole manner to change. With a sudden impulse she +turned toward her, and held out both her arms; and Harry threw herself +into them with a passionate cry, and sobbed as though her heart would +break. + +"Hush! hush!" whispered the other, tenderly; "we must not weep now, but +act!" + +But the girl still sobbed on, without lifting up her face. Tears had +been strangers to her heated eyes for days, and she had longed in vain +for one sympathizing breast on which to lay her head. "I have been his +ruin," she murmured; "but for me he would never have done wrong. How +you, who are his mother, must hate me!" + +"No, Harry, no!" answered the other, putting aside those rich brown +locks, and gazing upon the fair shut face attentively. "I do not wonder +at his loving you; for such beauty as yours many a man would lose his +soul! I did hate you until now. But you love my Richard truly, as I see; +and we two can not afford to be enemies. We must work together for his +good to avert the ruin of which you speak, for it is imminent. He has +sent me to you, for he can not come himself. He is in prison, Harry!" + +"In prison! O Heaven, have mercy!" + +She sank down on her knees, and covered her face with her hands. + +"Yes, Harry, think of it. Our Richard, so bright, so dear, within prison +walls! He may pass his life there for what he has done for your sake, +unless you help him." + +"Help him? I would die for him!" + +"Calm yourself. Sit down. To grieve is selfish where one can do better; +when all is lost it is time enough for that. All _will_ be lost a +fortnight hence, unless we bestir ourselves. Hush! I hear a step in the +passage. Who is that?" + +"It is Sol, madam--Solomon Coe." + +"The man you are to marry, is it not?" + +A stifled groan was the girl's reply. + +"I can not speak what I have to say here," said the other, thoughtfully. +"Is there no other place? Stay. I can be ill--overfatigued with my +journey--and you will come and tend me in my own room presently. That +can be managed, can't it?" + +"Yes, madam, yes." + +"Then wipe your eyes--be a brave girl. Think of Richard, and not of +yourself--think of him, when yonder boor is clasping the hand that once +rested in his--think of him, when those alien lips press yours at +parting, and be strong! If I were in your place, he would find that I +had not deserted him in his trouble." + +"Desert him, madam? I? Oh, never!" + +"To be weak is to desert him, girl--to let yonder man and your father +suspect that any friend of Richard's is beneath this roof is to desert +him--to weep when there is need to work is to desert him. Did I not tell +you I was his own mother; and yet _I_ shed no tears! Look up, and learn +your lesson from me." + +The faces of the two women were indeed in strong contrast--the younger, +yielding, feeble, despairing; the elder, calm, patient of purpose, and +inflexible. Her cheeks were plump, and radiant with health; her form +erect and composed; her eyes, indeed, betrayed anxiety, but it was from +want of confidence in the person she addressed, not in herself; the +white hair seemed to fitly crown that figure, so full of earnestness and +firmness. + +"I will do my best," cried the young girl, "though I know I am but weak +and foolish. Pity me, and pray for me. I am going to the torture, but I +will be resolute. Tell Hannah--the servant-maid--that you wish me to +attend you in your room. Send for me soon, for mercy's sake! How I long +to know how I can help our Richard!" + +As she left the room Mrs. Gilbert's face grew dark. "A fool! a dolt!" +she muttered, angrily. "How could he risk so much for such a stake! Oh, +Richard! Richard!"--her voice began to falter at that well-loved +name--"was this to have been the end of all my hopes? What fatal issue, +then, may not my fears have end in! my beautiful, bright boy! The only +light my lonely life possessed! to think of you as like yourself, and +then to think of you as you are now!" She looked around her on the +sordid walls, the vulgar ornaments upon the mantel-piece, the wretched +ill-chosen books; then listened to the splash of the rain in the unpaved +street. "And this was Paradise, was it, my poor boy, because this girl +dwelt in it! I ought to have known that there was danger here. His +letters few and short and far between, his patient tarrying in so wild a +place, should have been enough to warn me. But not of this; in no +nightmare dream could I have conceived this unimaginable peril. Ah, me! +ah, me!" She sat down at the untasted meal, and strove to eat. "I must +be strong, for Richard's sake," she murmured. But she soon laid down her +knife and fork to muse again. "This Trevethick is a hard, stern man, I +see. There is no hope in his mercy. The only path of safety is that +which the lawyer pointed out; but will this puling girl have the heart +and head to tread it? Will she not faint, as she nearly did just now, +and lose her wits when my Richard most requires them? And then, and +then?" As if unable to continue such reflections, she rose and rang the +bell, which Hannah answered. + +"Bring me a bed-candle, girl; I will seek my room at once; and please +ask Miss Trevethick to look in upon me before she retires herself, for I +feel far from well." + +"Yes, ma'am." Hannah thought within herself that the new arrival looked +uncommon fresh and well considering her years, and that her young +mistress had far more need of rest and "looking to" than she; but, +nevertheless, she gave the message; and Harry, at her usual time for +going to rest, repaired to the new-comer's room accordingly. + +"Are they gone to bed, those men?" inquired Mrs. Gilbert, anxiously, as +soon as the door was closed. + +"No, madam; my father and Solomon always sit up together now till late." + +"Ay; plotting against my boy, I doubt not. Well, let us, then, +counterplot. Who sleeps on either side of this room?" + +"No one, madam. Both rooms are empty at present; the last visitor, +except yourself, left us this evening." + +"And the servants?" + +"They have retired long ago up stairs." + +"That's well. Sit here, then, close to me, and listen. You know that +Richard is in prison, placed there by your father and that other man on +a false charge. They know as well as I or you that he had no intention +of committing the crime of which he stands accused, and yet they both +mean to swear the contrary." + +"Oh, madam, they will surely not do that!" + +"But I say 'Yes;' they want revenge upon him. I know them better than +you, who have known them all your life; or perhaps you say they will +not, because you hope so. Is it possible," she broke forth, impatiently, +"that in such a strait as this, girl, you can encourage such delusions! +You are like the fool in the Scripture, of whom it is written, that +though thou shouldst bray him among wheat with a pestle, yet will not +his foolishness depart from him." + +"I know I am not like you, madam," answered Harry, piteously. "Richard +has often told me how wise and brave you are; but yet my love for him is +as great as yours can be. Whatever you think fit that I should do to +help him, that shall be done. Trust me; it shall, indeed." + +"That's well said, girl. Be you the hand, and I the head, then, of this +enterprise, and we shall conquer yet. I say again, that if they could, +these men would swear my Richard's life away. They might as well do that +as what they mean to do, and deprive him of his liberty; cast him for +years into prison, and herd with the worst and basest of mankind; to +work under a task-master with irons on. Do you understand, girl, what it +is to which, unless we can hinder them, these wretches would doom him?" + +"Yes, yes, I do," she murmured, shuddering. "It is horrible, most +horrible! God help us!" + +"We must help ourselves," answered Mrs. Gilbert, sternly. + +"Yet God is surely on our side, and for the truth, madam. If they swear +falsely--" + +"You must swear also," interrupted the other, angrily; "you must meet +them with their own weapons, if you would defend the innocent against +them. As it is, the law is with them, and will prove the instrument of +their vengeance. The notes were found upon his person; he strove to +change them, that he might pass their substitutes more easily. He +counted upon your father not missing them from his strong-box until it +was too late. The case is clear against him that he stole them." + +"Great Heaven!" cried Harry, clasping her hands in agony; "and yet he +did not mean to steal them." + +"Of course not; nay more, he did _not_ steal them, for _you gave them to +him_." + +"_I_ gave them to him? Nay, I never did." + +"You did--you did, girl; you acquiesced in his plan for obtaining your +father's consent to your engagement; you undertook to supply him +temporarily with the money requisite to establish his pretensions as a +man of fortune. Or, if you did _not_"--and here her voice assumed an +intense earnestness--"your Richard, the man you pretend to love, will be +a convicted felon--a prisoner for all the summer of his life, and for +the rest an outcast!" + +Harry was silent; her hands were pressed to her forehead, as though to +compel her fevered brain to think without distraction. "I see, I see," +she murmured, presently; "his fate hangs upon my word. 'So help me, +God,' is what I have first to say, and then say _that_!" + +"Why not?" rejoined the other, stoutly. "Will not these men, too, call +God to witness what they know to be a lie? Will not _He_ discern the +motive that prompts _you_--desire to see a wronged man righted, the +innocent set free--and the motive that prompts _them_--malicious hate? +Or do you deem the all-seeing eye of Heaven is purblind? I tell you +this, girl, if I were in _your_ place, and the man I loved stood +_justly_ in such peril, I would swear a score such oaths to set him +free! Yet here, with justice on your side and truth, and Heaven itself, +you hesitate; you shrink from uttering a mere form of words, the spirit +of which is contrary to the letter, and for conscience sake, forsooth, +will let your lover perish! _Your_ lover! yes, but you were never _his_, +although he thinks so. I will go hence, and tell him that you refuse to +speak the thing that alone can save him from life-long wretchedness; I +will go and tell him that the girl for whose sake he has brought this +load of ruin on himself will not so much as lift it with her little +finger! You fair, foul devil, how I hate you!" She drew herself up to +her full height, and regarded the wretched girl with such contemptuous +scorn that even in her abject misery she felt its barb. + +"I have not earned your hate," said Harry, with some degree of firmness, +"if I have earned your scorn; nor is it meet that you should so despise +me, because I fear to anger God." + +"And man," added the other, with bitterness. "You fear your father's +wrath far more than Heaven's." + +That bolt went home: the unhappy girl did indeed stand in greater terror +of her father than of the sin of perjury; and the idea of affirming upon +oath what she had but a few days before so solemnly denied to him was +filling her with consternation and dismay. Still the picture that had +just been drawn of the ruin that would assuredly befall her Richard, +unless she interposed to save him, had more vivid colors even than that +of Trevethick's anger. Let him kill her, if he would, after the trial +was over, but Richard should go free. + +"I will do your bidding, madam," said she, suddenly, "though I perish, +body and soul." + +"You say that now, girl, and it's well and bravely said; but will you +have strength to put your words to proof? When I am gone, and there are +none but Richard's foes about you, will you resist their menaces, their +arguments, their cajolements, and be true as steel?" + +"I will, I will; I swear it," answered Harry, passionately; "they shall +never turn me from it. But suppose they prevent me from leaving Gethin, +from attending at the trial at all?" + +"Well thought of!" answered Mrs. Gilbert, approvingly; "she has some +wits, then, after all, this girl. As for their forbidding you to give +evidence, however, Mr. Weasel, who is Richard's lawyer, will see to +that. You will be subpoenaed as a witness for the defense. You will say, +then, that it was you who opened the strong-box, and took out the notes, +and gave them into Richard's hand." + +"But how could I open the letter padlock?" + +"Good, again!" answered the other; "you have asked the very question for +which I have brought the answer. Now, listen! Have you access to your +father's watch at times when he does not wear it?" + +"Yes; he does not always put it on--never on the day he goes to market, +for instance. He comes back late, you see." + +"Just so; and sometimes, perhaps, not altogether sober. Very good. Now, +you once opened that watch from curiosity, and saw a paper in its case +with B N Z upon it. Those letters formed the secret by which the lock +was opened. You tried it, just in fun at first, and found they did. Do +you understand?" + +"I do," said Harry. + +"You will not forget, then, what you have to say; or shall I +recapitulate it?" + +"There is no need," groaned Harry. "I shall remember it forever, be sure +of that, and on my death-bed most of all." With a wearied look on her +wan face, and a heavy sigh, the young girl rose to go. "Good-night, +madam. We need not speak of this again to-morrow, need we?" + +"Surely not, child. My mission here is done. The rain is falling still, +and that will be a sufficient excuse for my departure. I had a sick +headache to-night--remember that--but it will be better after a night's +sleep." + +"Do you sleep?" asked Harry, simply. "Ah me, I would that _I_ could +sleep!" + +"Of course I do. Is it not necessary for Richard's sake that I should be +well and strong? I could weep all night and fast all day, if I let my +foolish heart have its own will. It is easy enough to grieve at any +time; one has only to think to do that. Sleep, child, sleep, and dream +of him as he will be when you have set him free; then wake to work his +freedom. I will tell him that you will do so. Press your lips to mine, +that I may carry their sweet impress back to him. One moment more. Do +not get your lesson by heart, lest they should doubt you; but hold by +this one sentence, and never swerve from it: 'I gave Richard Yorke the +notes with my own hand.' That is the key which can alone unlock his +prison-door. Good-night, good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +MR. ROBERT BALFOUR. + + +An author of sensitive organization has always a difficulty in treating +the subject of prison life. If he avoids details, the critics do not +ascribe it to delicacy, but to incompetence; if, on the other hand, he +enters into them, they nudge the elbow of the public, and hint that this +particular phase of human experience is his specialty--that he "ought to +know," because he has been "through the mill" himself. This is not kind, +of course; but the expression, "a little more than kin and less than +kind," is exceedingly applicable to the critic in relation to his humble +brother, the author. We will take a middle course, then, and exhibit +only just so much of Cross Key as may be seen in a "justice's visit." + +Twenty years ago, the system of treatment of prisoners before trial +incarcerated in her Majesty's jails was not so uniform as it now is. In +some they were permitted few privileges not enjoyed by the convicts +themselves; in others a considerable difference was made between the two +classes. The establishment at Cross Key leaned to the side of +indulgence. Its inmates who were awaiting their trial were allowed to +wear their own clothes; to write letters to their friends without +supervision (though not without the suspicion of it on their own part); +and to mingle together for some hours in a common room, where that +unbroken silence which pervades all our modern Bastiles, and is perhaps +their most terrible feature, was not insisted upon. In this common room +Richard Yorke was sitting on the afternoon following his incarceration. +The principal meal of the day had been just concluded, and himself and +his fellow-guests were brooding moodily over their troubles. The +platters, the block-tin knives, so rounded that the most determined +self-destroyer could never job himself with them into Hades, and the +metal mugs had been removed, and their places on the narrow deal table +were occupied by a few periodicals of a somewhat depressing character, +though "devoted to the cultivation of quiet cheerfulness," and by a +leaden inkstand much too large to be swallowed. The prisoners--upon the +ground, perhaps, of not needing the wings of liberty for any other +purpose--were expected to furnish (from them) their own pens. There were +but half a dozen of these unfortunates; all, with two exceptions, were +of the same type--that of the ordinary agricultural criminal. Ignorant, +slouching, dogged, they might have fired a rick, or killed a keeper, or +even--sacrilegious but unthinking boors--have shot a great man's +pheasant. They did not make use of their privileges of conversation +beyond a muttered word or two, but stared stupidly at the pictures in +the magazines, wondering (as well they might) at the benevolent faces of +the landlords, clergymen, and all persons in authority therein +portrayed, or perhaps not wondering at them at all, but rather pondering +whether Bet and the children had gone into "the House" or not by this +time, or whether the man in the big wig would be hard upon themselves +next Wednesday three weeks. + +One of these two exceptions was, of course, our hero, who looked, by +contrast with these poor, simple malefactors, like a being from another +world, a fallen angel, but with the evil forces of his new abode already +gathering fast within him. His capacities for ill, indeed, were ten +times theirs; and the dusky glow of his dark eyes evinced that they were +at work, though they did but ineffectually reflect the hell of hate that +was beginning to be lit within him. It flamed against the whole world of +his fellow-creatures, so mad he was with pride and scorn and rage; his +hand should be against every man henceforth, as theirs was now against +him; his motto, like the _exeunt_ exclamation of the mob in the play, +should be: "Fire, burn, slay!" He was like a spoiled child who for the +first time has received a severe punishment--for a wonder, not wholly +deserved--and who wishes, in his vengeful passion, that all mankind +might have one neck in common with his persecutor, that (forgetting he +is no Hercules) his infant arms might throttle it off-hand. The love +which he still felt for Harry and his mother, far from softening him +toward others, rather increased his bitterness of spirit. They, too, +were suffering wrong and ill-treatment, and needed an avenger. His fury +choked him, so that he had eaten nothing of what had been set before +him, and he now sat leaning with his elbows on the bare boards, staring +with heated eyes at the blank wall before him, and feeding on his own +heart. + +"This is your first time in quod, I guess, young gentleman," observed a +quiet voice beside him. + +Richard started. He had thrown one contemptuous glance upon the company +when they first assembled, and had decided that they possessed no more +interest for him than a herd of cattle; buried in his own sombre +thoughts, he had lost consciousness of their very presence, as of that +of the warder, who was pacing up and down the room with monotonous +tread. But now that his attention was thus drawn to his next neighbor, +he saw that he differed somewhat from the rest; not that he was more +intelligent-looking--for, indeed, there was a reckless brutality in his +expression which the others lacked--but there was a certain resolution +and strength of will in his face, which at least told of power. But it +was the tone of voice, which, coming from such a man, though it was a +gruff voice enough in itself, had something conciliatory and winning in +it, that chiefly attracted Richard. Perhaps, too, the phrase "young +gentleman" flattered his vanity. We can not throw off all our weaknesses +at a moment's notice, no matter how stupendous the crisis in our +fortunes, any more than, though our boat be sinking under us, we can +divest ourselves of our clothes with a single shrug; and sympathy and +deferential respect had still their weight with Richard Yorke. Perhaps, +too, his nature had not yet even got quit of its gregariousness, and he +was not sorry to have his acquaintance sought, though by this hang-dog +thief. + +"I have never been in prison before, if that is what you mean," returned +he, civilly. + +He who asked the question was a stout-built, grizzled fellow, of about +fifty years. He was dressed like a well-to-do farmer, but his accent +smacked of London rather than the country; and his hands, Richard +observed, were not so coarse and rough as might be expected in one used +to manual labor, though his limbs and frame were powerful enough for the +most arduous toil. His gray eyes looked keenly at Richard from under +their bushy brows, as he propounded a second inquiry: + +"What are you in for? Forgery or embezzlement, I reckon--which is it?" + +"Neither," answered Richard, laconically, a bitter smile parting his +lips in spite of himself. + +"Well, now, that's curious," observed the other, coolly. "If it was not +that you were sent here with the rest of us, and not shut up by +yourself, I should have guessed 'Murder' outright, for you were looking +all that a minute ago; and since it could not be murder, I thought it +must be one of the other two." + +"I don't know what I am here for," said Richard, gloomily, "except that +the charge is false." + +"Oh, of course," rejoined the other, with a grim chuckle; "it's always +false the first time, and as often afterward as we can get the juries to +believe us. I'm an old hand myself, and my feelings are not easily +wounded; but I have never yet disgraced myself by pleading guilty. It's +throwing a chance away, unless you are a very beautiful young woman who +has put away her baby, and that I never was, nor did." + +"Beauty in distress mollifies the court, does it?" inquired Richard, +willing to be won from his own wretchedness by talk even with a man like +this. + +"Mollifies!--yes, it makes a molly of every body. I have known a judge +shed tears about it, which he is not bound to do unless he has the black +cap on--that always set him going like an onion. Why, I've seen even an +attorney use his pocket-handkerchief because of a pretty face in +trouble; but then she was his client, to be sure. Talking of attorneys, +you'll have Weasel, of course?" + +Richard nodded an affirmative. + +"Quite right. I should have him myself, if there was a shadow of a +chance; but, as it is, it's throwing good money out o' winder. I wish +you better luck, young gentleman, than mine is like to be; not that you +want luck, of course, but only justice." + +Richard did not relish this tone of banter, and he showed it in his +look. + +"Come, come," said the other, good-humoredly, "it is a pity to curdle +such a handsome face as yours with sour thoughts. Let us be friends, for +you may be glad of even a friend like me some dirty day." + +"It is very likely," answered Richard, bitterly. "I see no fine days +ahead, nor yet fine friends." + +"I hope you will see both," answered the other, frankly. "The first time +one finds one's self provided for so extra careful as this," with a +glance at the iron bars across the low-arched windows, "the prospect +always does seem dark. But one learns to look upon the bright side at +last. Is the figure very heavy that you're in for? Excuse my country +manners: I don't mean to be rude, nor do I ask the question from mere +curiosity; but you don't look like one to have come here for a mere +trifle." + +"The amount in question is two thousand pounds." + +"No whistling there!" cried the warder, peremptorily, for the "old hand" +had not been able to repress an expression of emotion at this +announcement. He looked at Richard with an air of self-complacency, such +as a gentleman of the middle classes exhibits on suddenly discovering +that he has been in familiar converse with a person of title, or a small +trader on being brought into unexpected connection with a merchant +prince. The gigantic character of the "operation" had invested this +young man with an increased interest in the stranger's eye. + +"That's a great beginning," said he, admiringly, "and could scarcely +have happened with a poor devil like me. One requires to be born a +gentleman to have such opportunities. Now, I don't mind telling _you_" +here he sank his voice to a whisper, and looked cautiously about him, +"that I was forty years of age before I ever got such a haul as yours. +I've done better since, but it's been up-hill work, for all that." + +"It doesn't seem to have been very hard work," said Richard, with a +meaning glance at the other's hand. + +"Well, no, I can't say as it's been hard; a neat touch is what is wanted +in my profession." + +"Why, you're not a pick--" Richard hesitated from motives of delicacy. + +"A pickpocket? Well, I hope not, Sir, indeed," interrupted the other, +indignantly. + +"Then what _are_ you?" said Richard, bluntly. + +As a coy maiden blushes and hangs her head in silence when asked the +question which she is yet both proud and pleased to answer in the +affirmative, so did Mr. Robert Balfour (for such was the name of our new +acquaintance) pause and in graceful confusion rub his stubble chin with +his closed fist ere he replied: "Well, the fact is, I have been in the +gold and precious stone line these thirty years, and never in the +provinces until this present summer, when I came down here, as a Yankee +pal of mine once put it, 'to open a little jewelry store.'" + +"With a crowbar?" suggested Richard, with a faint smile. + +"Just so," said the other, nodding; "and it so happened that yours +truly, Bob Balfour, was caught in the very act." + +"And what term of punishment do you expect for such a--" + +"Such a misfortune as that?" answered Mr. Balfour, hastening to relieve +Richard's embarrassment. "Well, if I had got the swag, I +should--considering the testimonials that will be handed in--have been a +lifer. But since I did not realize so much as a weddin' _ring_, twenty +years ought to see me through it now." + +Twenty years! Why, this man would be over seventy before he regained his +liberty! + +"Great Heaven!" cried Richard, "can you be cheerful with such a future +before you! and at the end of it, to be turned old and penniless into +the wide world!" + +A genuine pity showed itself in the young man's look and tone. A minute +before he had thought himself the most wretched of human beings; yet +here was one whose fate was even harder, and who met it without +repining. Community of trouble had already touched the heart which he +had thought was turned to stone. + +"Are you sorry for me, young gentleman," inquired the convict, in an +altered voice, "you who have got so much trouble of your own to bear?" + +"I am, indeed," said Richard, frankly. + +"You would not write a letter for me, though, would you?" inquired the +other, wistfully. "I should like to tell--somebody as I've left at +home--where I am gone to; and the fact is, I can't write; I never +learned how to do it." + +A blush came over Bob Balfour's face for the first time; the man was +ashamed of his ignorance, though not of his career of crime. "If it's +too much trouble, say so," added he, gruffly. "Perhaps it was too great +a favor to ask of a gentleman born." + +"Not at all," said Richard, hastily, "if the man will bring us pen and +paper." + +"Hush! the _officer_, if you please," said Balfour. "They like to be +'officered,' these gentry, every one of them. Some friends of mine +always addresses 'em as 'dogs;' but that's a mistake, when they has to +watch you." + +Mr. Robert Balfour spoke a few respectful words to the warder, and the +requisite materials were soon laid upon the table. Richard dipped his +pen in the ink, and waited for directions. "It's only a few words," +muttered Mr. Balfour, apologetically, "to my old mother. Perhaps you +have a mother yourself, young gentleman?" + +"I have." He had written to her guardedly the previous day, before he +left Plymouth, to tell her the same sad news which he was now, as he +supposed, about to repeat for another, and to urge her to repair to +Cross Key at once. + +Mr. Balfour beat softly on the table with his forefinger for a moment, +and then, as though he had found the key-note of the desired +composition, dictated as follows: + + "MY DEAR MOTHER,--When this comes to hand, I shall have took your + advice, and started for the New World. There's a ship a-sailing + from Plymouth in a day or two, and my passage in her is booked. I + didn't like to come back to town again, for fear I should change my + mind, and turn to the old trade. The post is queer and doubtful, + they tell me, in these far-away parts; but you shall hear from me + whenever I have an opportunity. All as is mine is yours, remember; + so, use it. I have no need of money myself, for there's a place + being kept for me, out yonder, in the carpentering line. Hoping + this finds you well, as it leaves me, I am your dutiful son, ROBERT + BALFOUR." + +"Then you don't tell her any thing about what's happened to you?" said +Richard, wonderingly. + +"Why should I? The poor soul's over seventy, and will never see me +again. It's much better that she should have a pretty picture to look at +than such a reality as this; ain't it?" + +"Well, I suppose it is." + +This delicate feeling on the part of Mr. Balfour jarred upon Richard. +_He_ had taken no pains to break the news of his imprisonment to _his_ +mother; on the contrary, he had painted the wretchedness of his +position, with a view to set forth the urgent necessity for help, in its +most sombre colors. Of course there was a great difference in the two +cases, an immense difference; but still he resented this exhibition of +natural piety, as contrasting unpleasantly with his own conduct. + +The other, however, had no suspicion of this. His thoughts, just then, +were far away; and the subject of them gave an unwonted softness to his +tone as he observed: "I thank you for this, kindly, young gentleman. +Here's the address--Earl Street, Spitalfields. It's her own house; and +she will have enough, and to spare, while she lives, thank the Lord! +Well, that's done with; and if Bob Balfour can do you a good turn for +it, he will. Hello, you're wanted." + +"Richard Yorke!" repeated the warder, loudly. "Can't you hear?" + +Richard had heard well enough; but the idea that it was his mother who +had come to see him had for the moment unmanned him; he well knew how +proud she had been of him; and how was he to meet her now, disgraced, +disheartened, in prison, a reputed thief! But the next instant he +reflected that her arrival could not be possibly looked for for some +days; perhaps it was Trevethick, who had, in the mean time, learned all, +and was come to announce his willingness to withdraw from the +prosecution; perhaps Harry herself was with him; perhaps-- + +But there was no time for further prognostication; a second warder was +at the door, beckoning impatiently, and Richard rose at once. The dull +faces of the rest were all raised toward him with a malign aspect; they +feared that some good news was come for him, that they were about to +lose a companion in misfortune. Only one held out his hand, with a "Good +luck to you, young gentleman; though I never see you again, I shall not +forget you." + +"Silence there!" cried the officer in charge, as Richard passed out into +the stone passage. "You ought to know our ways better than that, +Balfour." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +ATTORNEY AND CLIENT. + + +In a hall of stone stood a room of glass, and in that room the inmates +of Cross Key Jail were permitted to have access to their legal advisers. +They were not lost sight of by the jealous guardians of the place, one +of whom perambulated the hall throughout the interview; but though he +could see all that passed, he could hear nothing. Mr. Weasel of Plymouth +was very well known at Cross Key as being a frequent visitor to that +transparent apartment, and those prisoners whom he favored with his +attentions were justly held in high estimation by the warders, as +gentlemen who, though in difficulties, had at least some considerable +command of ready money. He was waiting now, with his hat on (which he +always wore, to increase his very limited stature), in this chamber of +audience; and so withered up he looked, and such a sharp, shrunk face he +had, that Richard, seeing him in the glass case, might have thought him +some dried specimen of humanity, not alive at all, had he not chanced to +be in the act of taking snuff; and even that was ghostly too, since it +produced the pantomimic action of sneezing without its accompanying +sound. + +"Mr. Richard Yorke, I believe?" said he, as soon as they were shut up +within the walls of glass, "I am glad to make your acquaintance, Sir, +though I wish, for your sake, that it happened in another place. You'll +excuse my not offering you my hand." + +Richard drew back his extended arm and turned crimson. + +"Don't be offended, Sir," said the lawyer; "but the fact is, the +authorities here don't like it. There are some parties in this place who +employ very queer legal advisers; and in shaking hands, a file or a +gimlet, and a bit of tobacco, are as likely to pass as not. That warder +can see every thing, my dear young Sir; but he can no more hear what we +say than he can understand what a couple of bumble-bees are murmuring +about who are barred up in a double window. We can therefore converse +with one another as much without reserve as we please, or rather"--and +here the little man's eyes twinkled significantly--"as _you_ please. +What I hear from a client in this ridiculous place is never revealed +beyond it, except so far as it may serve his interests. If Mr. Dodge (to +whose favor, as I understand, I owe this introduction) has told you any +thing concerning me, he will, I am sure, have advised you to be quite +frank and candid." + +"There was no necessity for such a warning, Mr. Weasel, in my case, I do +assure you," answered Richard, earnestly. "I have nothing to conceal +from you with respect to the circumstances of my position: they are +unfortunate, and doubtless very suspicious; but I am as innocent of this +disgraceful charge--" + +"Hush, hush! my dear Sir; this will never do. It is mere waste of time, +though it might have been much worse. Good Heavens! suppose you had been +guilty, and told me _that_! you would have placed me in the most +embarrassing situation, as your professional adviser, it is possible for +the human mind to conceive. What I want to know is _your_ story, so far +as these two thousand pounds found in your possession are concerned. +Whether it is true or not, does not matter a button. I want to know +whether it _seems_ true; whether it will seem true to a judge and jury. +You have thought the matter over, of course; you have gone through it in +your own mind from beginning to end--now please to go over it to me." + +The little man whipped out a note-book, leaned forward in his chair, and +looked all eye and ear, like a terrier watching at a rat-hole. + +After a moment's pause, Richard stated his case pretty much as we are +already acquainted with it; the little lawyer interrupting him now and +then by a gesture, but never by a word, in order that he might set down +a point or a memorandum. + +"Very good," said Mr. Weasel, when he had quite finished. "That's your +story, is it?" + +"It's the truth, Sir." + +"Hush! my dear young Sir. We shall have enough of that--the truth, the +whole truth, and nothing but the truth--a fortnight hence. What you and +I have to consider are the probabilities. Why did you go to Plymouth, +more than any other place, to change these notes?" + +"Because I had heard there was a Miners' Bank there, and Trevethick had +mentioned the notes of that company as being as good, in his opinion, as +those of the Bank of England. I thought it would be easier to get the +Mining notes in exchange for those of the Bank of England, than others +of the same bank." + +"The check which you showed this Trevethick was not, then, a _bonâ fide_ +piece of paper, eh?" + +"It was not," said Richard, casting down his eyes. + +"Very good," answered the lawyer, so cheerfully that you would have +thought his client had cleared himself of the least suspicion upon +_that_ score, at all events. "Now, where did you get it?" + +"My mother sent me a blank check, at my request, and I filled it in." + +"That check is destroyed, you say--you burned it, of course?" + +"No; I tore it up, and threw it out of the window of the carriage." + +"The devil you did!" said Mr. Weasel, in perturbation. "That is not the +way to destroy checks. Had your mother an account at the bank on which +it was drawn?" + +"Of course." said Richard, simply. + +"There is nothing 'of course,' Mr. Yorke, in this matter," answered the +lawyer, gravely. "Are you quite sure?" + +"Quite. She has always had an account there; though to no such amount as +two thousand pounds." + +"It is a large sum," muttered the lawyer, thoughtfully, "but still they +have not lost one penny of it. In case things went against you, Mr. +Yorke, would an appeal to the prosecutor be likely to be of service?" + +"Certainly not," answered Richard, hastily. "I would not accept mercy at +his hands; besides, it is not a question of mercy." + +"It may come to that," observed the other, gravely. "We must not deceive +ourselves, Mr. Yorke." + +"Good Heavens! do you believe, then, that I took this money with intent +to steal it?" + +"What my belief is is of no consequence, one way or the other; but my +opinion is that the jury will take that view, if they hear your story as +you tell it. The fact is, you have left out the most important incident +of all: the whole case will hinge upon the young lady's having given you +these notes with her own hand. It is evident, of course, that she +sympathized with you in your scheme," pursued the lawyer, rapidly, and +holding up his finger to forbid the protest that was already rising to +Richard's lip: "nothing could be more natural, though most imprudent and +ill judged, than her behavior. She had no more idea of stealing the +money than you had; how should she, since it was in a manner her own, +she being her father's sole heiress. You and I see that clearly enough, +but to a jury used to mere matters of fact, motive has little +significance unless put into action. What we want, and what we must +have, is evidence that you got these notes, not only for this girl's +sake, but from her fingers. Nobody can hurt _her_, you know. Trevethick +could never prosecute his own daughter; indeed, the whole affair +dwindles down to a lover's stratagem, and there is no need for +prosecuting any body, if we can only put Harry Trevethick into the +witness-box. Now can we, Mr. Yorke, or can we not? that's the question." + +Richard was silent; the lawyer's argument struck him with its full +force. He had no scruples on the matter for his own part, but he feared +that Harry might entertain them--they would be only too much in keeping +with her credulous and superstitious nature. + +"If I could talk to her alone for five minutes," muttered Richard, +uneasily. + +"That is impossible," said Mr. Weasel, with decision. "We can only play +with such cards as we hold. I could go to Gethin myself, though it would +be most inconvenient at this busy time, and refresh this young woman's +memory; but it is a delicate task, and would be looked upon by the other +side with some suspicion. Now, is there no judicious friend that can be +thoroughly depended upon--a female friend, if possible, since the affair +may require tact and sympathy--to effect this little negotiation? Think, +my good Sir, think." + +"Why, there is my mother herself!" ejaculated Richard, suddenly. "She is +the wisest of women, and the very one to conduct this matter, if +properly instructed." + +"Is she, now, is she?" said the lawyer, cheerily. "Come, come, that's +well, and I begin to see a little light. Let her go down to Gethin, +where, as I conclude, she is not known, and see Miss Trevethick herself. +I should like to see her beforehand, however; indeed, that is absolutely +necessary." + +"In my note to her, yesterday, I asked her to call at your office in +Plymouth on her way hither," stammered Richard. "I thought it +better--that is, in the first instance--that she should hear from you +how matters stood." + +Mr. Weasel took a copious pinch of snuff, and shut his eyes, as though +he were going to sneeze. Whenever a client got upon an embarrassing +topic Mr. Weasel took snuff, to obviate the necessity of looking him in +the face; while, in case of any compromising disclosure, Mr. Weasel +sneezed, to obviate hearing it. + +"In a case of this kind, Mr. Yorke, not a moment is to be lost. I should +advise your mother's going direct to Gethin from my house, and making +sure of this young lady's evidence. There is even a possibility--I don't +say it is probable, but there is just a chance, you see--that she may be +subpoenaed _by the other side_." + +"Just so," assented Richard, so naïvely that a smile flitted across the +little lawyer's face. + +"Under these circumstances, then, this is what we will do, my dear young +Sir: Mrs. Yorke will go to the _Gethin Castle_ as a guest, and, as I +shall venture to suggest, under another name; she will then find an +opportunity of speaking to Miss Trevethick without awakening her +father's suspicions; and when she comes to Cross Key, she will have, I +trust, some good news to bring you, something to talk about (although +you must be very careful and guarded, mind that, for you will not be +left alone together, as we are) besides mere regrets and lamentations; +don't you see, don't you see?" + +Richard saw exceedingly well, and felt more grateful to the lawyer for +devising such an arrangement than he would like to have confessed; +nevertheless, he did thank him heartily. + +"Not at all, not at all, my dear young Sir," drawing on one of his +gloves, in signal of departure. "In a case like this, we must consult +feelings as well as array our facts; we must bring heart and head to +bear together. Speaking of head reminds me, by-the-by, of the subject of +counsel. I propose to instruct Mr. Smoothbore, who leads upon this +circuit; I gather from your letter that there will be no difficulty with +respect to funds." + +"Whatever may be necessary, Mr. Weasel, for my defense will be, you may +rest assured, forthcoming. My mother--" + +The smile disappeared from the lawyer's face with electrical rapidity. +"Pardon me, my young friend," said he; "but as a professional man, I +only deal with principals in these matters. The word forthcoming is a +little vague. Counsel are paid beforehand, you must remember." + +We must not be angry with Mr. Weasel, who was really a good sort of man +after his kind. He was naturally cautious, and if he had been the most +trustful of mankind his experience would have taught him prudence. He +did like to see his money down; and really, as to Mr. Yorke, all he knew +of his pecuniary position was with relation to that blank check, the +history of which was not of a nature to inspire confidence. + +"I was about to observe," said Richard, haughtily, "that my mother would +satisfy all claims; but, in the mean time, there were over a hundred +pounds in notes and gold which were found upon me when I was searched at +Plymouth. If you doubt me, you have only to make inquiries." + +"My dear young Sir," returned the lawyer, earnestly, "this is not +courteous, this is not kind. I never doubted you from the first moment +that I saw you; no one with any knowledge of mankind could do so. +Professional etiquette compelled me to remark that I could treat with +principals only, that is all. Let me see," added he, consulting his +note-book, "have I any thing more to say? Yes, yes. With respect to this +young lady, Miss Harry Trevethick--I did not like to interrupt you at +the time, but I see I have made a memorandum--is she pretty?" + +"She is very, very beautiful," said Richard, earnestly, the remembrance +of her beauty giving a tenderness to his tone. + +"That's capital!" nodded the lawyer. "Old Bantam is our judge this +session, and he likes a pretty face. So do we all, for the matter of +that, I hope. You are young and good-looking yourself, too; Smoothbore +will make something of _that_, you may depend upon it. 'Gracious +Heavens, is the iron arm of the law to sunder these happy lovers for a +mere indiscretion, and make their bright young lives a blank forever?' +He'll give them something like that, Sir, in a voice broken by emotion, +and bring you off with flying colors." + +"I don't care about the colors, if he only brings me off," said Richard, +grimly. + +"A very natural remark, my dear young Sir, for one in your present +situation; but three weeks hence, as I both hope and believe, you will +not be so easily satisfied; the more we have, the more we want, you +know--except in the matter of time. I have very little to spare of it +just now, and must therefore take my leave." + +Mr. Weasel had put on his other glove and his hat, and, with a cheerful +nod, had actually placed his fingers on the door-handle, when he +suddenly turned round, and said: "By-the-by, I had almost forgotten a +little form of words, which in your case I am sure will be _but_ a form, +and yet I do not like to omit it. I never leave a client in your +position without asking him the question; so you must excuse me, my +young friend, and not be offended." + +"I am not in a position to be very sensitive about what is said to me," +answered Richard, bitterly. "Pray ask whatever you please." + +Mr. Weasel looked cautiously round, to see that the warder was not too +near, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Is this little affair your +first, my dear young Sir? I mean," added he, "have you ever been in +trouble with the law before?" + +"Certainly not," replied Richard, smiling. + +"I had anticipated your answer," said the little lawyer, gayly; "but I +thought it right to make quite certain. Because, if the affair should +happen to reach a stage where the question of 'character' is mooted +(though it won't get so far as _that_, I trust, in our case), one +doesn't like to be taken altogether by surprise, do you see? You have +been a landscape-painter, you say. A most innocent and charming +occupation, I am sure, and one which Smoothbore will make the very most +of. The case altogether will afford him such opportunities that he +really ought to do it cheap. And you've never been any thing else, have +you? never had any other calling, or obtained your livelihood by any +other than quite legal and permissible means--eh? What, what? You have +not been quite frank and candid with me, my dear Sir, I fear." + +"It is really not of much consequence," said Richard, hesitating. + +"You must allow me to be the judge of that, Mr. Yorke," said the other, +gravely, taking off his hat once more and one of his gloves. "Imagine +yourself a good Catholic, if you please, with Father Weasel for your +priest." + +The confession lasted for some minutes. + +"I think you will admit that what I have told you has not much bearing +upon the matter in hand," said Richard, when he had finished. + +"None at all, none at all--that is, I hope not," answered the other, +thoughtfully. "But what an interesting revelation it is! What a nice +point as to whether the matter is an offense against the law or not! How +prettily Smoothbore would treat the subject, if it chanced to come in +his way!" He looked at Richard with admiration. "You're a most +remarkable young man, Sir; I wish that circumstances permitted of my +shaking you by the hand. Good-morning, my dear Sir. You may depend upon +my not permitting the grass to grow under my feet. When your mother +comes she will have good news for you. Good-morning." + +The warder took possession of Richard, while Mr. Weasel, followed by the +young man's longing eyes, was ushered to the opposite door, on the other +side of which was liberty. But the lawyer's mind was still within the +prison walls, though his legs were free, and walking up the street of +the little town toward his inn. + +"Now, that is really a most remarkable young man," he murmured to +himself. "A most ingenious young fellow, upon my word. The idea of his +having invented a new crime! Why, bless my heart, it's quite an +epoch--quite an epoch!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE IRON CAGE. + + +So long as Richard had had Mr. Weasel to bear him company, half his +troubles--so elastic was his nature, and so apt for social +intercourse--seemed to have been removed; but now that that brisk, +confident voice was heard no more, and the stone passages only echoed to +the tread of the warder and himself, his spirits sank even lower than +they had been before. Alone in his comfortless cell, he went over the +lawyer's talk anew, and it was strange how the sparks of comfort died +out of it. It was clear that in the first instance his companion had +taken a gloomy view of his case, that he looked upon Richard's own story +with utter disbelief, and was convinced it would not hold water before a +jury. His remark about the money having been recovered must have had +reference to a possible mitigation of the sentence, and therefore took +conviction for granted. Nor, upon reconsideration of the case with +calmness--the calm of loneliness and despair--was, Richard himself +admitted, any other conclusion to be arrived at by a stranger. Those who +were acquainted with his rash and impulsive character and reckless ways +would understand that he had no serious intention of robbing +Trevethick--except, that is, of his daughter; even Trevethick himself +must be aware of that; though, with that same exception before his eyes, +it was more than doubtful whether he would acknowledge it. Smarting with +the sense of the deceit that Richard had practiced (almost with success) +upon him, he might conceal his real impression of the affair, and treat +it as a common felony. Taking the brutality of Solomon's manner to him +when he was arrested as an index of his prosecutor's purpose, he felt +that this was what would happen; and if so, what chance would he have +against such evidence? Would the judge and jury be persuaded to believe +that he had acted with the romantic folly that had in reality possessed +him? And if not, to what protracted wretchedness might he not be doomed! + +His old hopes, in short, lay dead within him, and he felt that his late +adviser had been right in suggesting the evidence of Harry Trevethick as +the only means to secure his acquittal. He did not look beyond _that_ +for an hour. Life for the next three weeks would have but one event for +him--his trial and its result. The little attorney, whom he had seen but +once, the suasive barrister, of whom he had only heard, were from +henceforth the two persons upon earth who had the most interest for him +of all mankind. If _they_ failed him, all was lost. If they succeeded, +all, or what had now become his all, was gained. He thought of Harry +only as the being upon whose testimony his fate depended; he did not +picture her to himself in any other character, though perhaps he would +have refused to part with her even at the price of that liberty which +had become so precious in his eyes. She would surely not refuse to say +the half-dozen words which were the "open sesame" that alone could set +him free! He thought of his mother, not so much as such--the truest and +most unselfish friend he had--as the person best qualified to win Harry +over to speak those words. He was no longer ashamed to see her; his +heart was so full of anxious fear that there was no room for shame; but +he was glad that the lawyer had recommended her to visit Gethin before +coming to Cross Key. What he thirsted for was hope, a gleam of sunshine, +a whisper of good news. If his mother had not that to give him, let her +stay away. He did not wish his heart to be melted within him by regrets +and tears; if there was no hope, let it harden on, till it was as hard +as adamant, for the hour, that, however long delayed, must come at +last--of vengeance! He thought of Solomon Coe as one of a dominant race +thinks of the slave who has become his master, and was his murderer in +his heart ten times a day. He thought of him as the man who would marry +Trevethick's daughter, his own Harry, while he (Richard) rotted in jail. + +Such were the bitter reflections, creeping fears, and meagre hopes which +consumed him when he was alone, that is to say, for five-sixths of the +day and all the weary night. In the society of Balfour he found, if not +solace, at least some respite from his gnawing cares. The importance +which this man had attached to the recovery of stolen goods as +mitigating the punishment of crime, and to good looks in the case of a +female witness or prisoner, corroborated as it had been by the judicial +experience of Mr. Weasel, gave him confidence in the convict's +intelligence; or, at least, in his judgment with respect to the matter +on which Richard's thoughts were solely concentrated. He was never weary +of asking this man's opinion on this point and on that of his own case, +the details of which he fully confided to him. Balfour, on his part, +gave him his best advice, and whatever comfort he could. He did not +resent, nor even seem to be aware of the fact, that the position in +which he stood himself awoke no corresponding sympathy in Richard. He +had taken a fancy to this young fellow, so different from any companion +that he had ever known; was flattered by his confidence; and felt that +enthusiasm toward him which friendship, when it exists between two +persons of widely different grades, sometimes begets in the inferior. + +A week passed on, and then, at the same time and place as before, +Richard was summoned from his fellow-prisoners. He turned pale in spite +of himself, as he rose from the table to meet for the first time, since +disgrace had overwhelmed him, his mother's face. + +"Don't give way, my young master," whispered Balfour, good-naturedly, +"for that will only make the old woman fret." + +Richard nodded, and followed the warder, who on this occasion led the +way through a different door. "It ain't Mr. Weasel this time," said the +latter, in answer to his look of surprise; "it's a private friend, and +therefore we can't let you have the glass box." He ushered him into what +would have been a stone courtyard, except that it had a roof also of +stone. In the middle of this, running right across it, was a sort of +cage of iron, or rather a passage some six feet broad, shut in on either +side by high iron rails; within this paced an officer of the prison; and +on the other side of it stood a female figure, whom Richard at once +recognized as his mother. It was with this iron cage between them, and +in the presence of an official, that prisoners in Cross Key Jail were +alone permitted to receive the visits of their friends and kinsfolk. It +was no wonder that in an interview under such restrictions, Mr. Weasel +should have recommended caution. + +To do Richard justice, however, that was not the reflection that now +passed through his mind. For all his selfish thoughts and calculations, +he had really yearned to cast himself on his mother's breast, and feel +once more her loving arms around him; to whisper in her ever-ready ear +his sorrow for the past, his anxieties for the future; and when he saw +that this was not to be, the heart that he would have poured out before +her seemed to sink and shrink within him. In this material obstacle +between them he seemed to behold a type of the dread doom that was +impending over him--separation from humanity, exclusion from the world +without, a life-long entombment within stone walls. He put his hand and +arm through the bars, mechanically, to touch his mother's fingers, and +when he found he could not reach them, he burst into tears. It was only +by a great effort that Mrs. Yorke could maintain her self-control; but +she, nevertheless, did do so. Her face was calm, and her eyes, though +full of tenderness and pity, were tearless; only her low, soft voice +gave token of the woe within her in its tremulous and faltering tones. + +"Dear Richard," it said, "my own dear Richard, take heart; a few days +hence, and you will be folded in your mother's arms; not to stray from +them again, I trust, my boy, my boy!" She pressed her forehead with its +fine white hair against the cruel bars, and seemed to devour him with +her loving eyes. "All will yet be well," she continued; "your innocence +can not fail to be established, and this dreadful time will be forgotten +like an evil dream." + +"Have you been to Gethin, mother?" + +"Yes, dear; I only came from thence this morning. Harry sent you her +best love. Your faith in her, she bade me tell you, is not misplaced; +_she will be in the witness-box, for certain_." This last sentence was +uttered in the French tongue, and very rapidly. + +"I am very sorry, ma'am," interrupted the official, who had retired to +the further extremity of the cage, "but my orders are to prohibit +conversation between prisoners and their friends in a foreign language." + +"I will take care not to transgress again," said Mrs. Yorke, with a +sweet smile; "your consideration for us I am sure demands all +obedience." + +"Has Mr. Weasel made his arrangements, mother?" + +"Yes, all; the subpoena will be sent to Gethin to morrow. He is most +confident as to the result." + +"And what does Mr. Smoothbore say? Have you seen _him_?" + +"No, dear, no. But the matter on which I went to Gethin having been +satisfactorily arranged, we may consider that is all settled. Your +counsel has no doubt of being able to establish your innocence, +notwithstanding the malice of your enemies." + +"But what is he like, this Smoothbore?" + +"Well, the fact is, Richard, we have not got him, but another man, Mr. +Balais--quite his equal, Mr. Weasel assures me, in all respects." + +"Not got him!" cried Richard, impatiently. "Why, Weasel told me +Smoothbore led the circuit. Why have we not secured him?" + +"He has been retained by the other side," answered Mrs. Yorke, in a tone +that she in vain endeavored to render cheerful. "To say the truth, +Richard, the prosecutor is exhibiting the utmost vindictiveness, and +straining every nerve for a conviction. Money, which he was said to be +so fond of, is now no object with him, or at least he spares none. But +he can not bribe twelve honest men, nor a righteous judge." + +"I knew it," exclaimed Richard, stamping his foot on the stone floor. +"Those sullen brutes, Trevethick and the other, would have my life, if +they could. There is nothing that they would stick at, be assured of +that--and do you put Weasel on his guard--to work my ruin. How could he +be such a dolt as to let them be beforehand with him, when he himself +said there was not an hour to be lost!" + +"Indeed, Richard, all was done for the best. One could scarcely expect +Mr. Weasel to advance so large a sum as was required, without security; +and he did communicate with Mr. Smoothbore as soon as he had satisfied +himself upon that score. He assures me Mr. Balais is quite as clever a +counsel. Indeed, I should not have told you of the change, had you not +pressed the question so directly." + +"Tell me all, mother; tell me every thing; I adjure you to keep nothing +back. To think and guess and fear, in a place like this, is worse than +not to know the worst. Trevethick is a miser, and yet you say he is +spending with a lavish hand. How is it you know that?" + +"Why, Mr. Smoothbore's clerk is a friend of Mr. Weasel's, and he hears +from him that his master has never received so large a retaining fee as +on this occasion. The sum we offered, two days afterward, though larger +than is customary, was, he said, but a trifle compared with it." + +"You have something else to tell me yet, mother--I see it in your eyes. +If you go away with it untold, you leave me on the rack." + +"There is nothing more," answered his mother, hesitatingly, "or almost +nothing." + +"What is it?" cried Richard, hoarsely--"what is it?" + +"Well, merely this: that thinking that no money should be spared to help +you in this dreadful trouble, Richard, and having but a very little of +my own, I--I forgot my pride and steadfast resolution never to ask your +father--" + +"You did not apply to Carew for money, surely?" ejaculated Richard, +angrily. "To let him know that I was here was ruin." + +"It may have been ill judged, indeed, dear Richard," replied his mother, +quietly; "but it was not ill meant. Do you suppose it cost me nothing to +be his suppliant? Do you suppose I have no scorn nor hate, as you have, +for those who have wronged me and you? If fury could avail to set you +free, your mother would be as the tigress robbed of her young. It is an +easy thing enough to fume and foam; it is hard to have to clasp the +knees of those whom you despise, in vain." + +"He refused you, then--this man?" + +"He did, Richard. He told me--what I had not learned from you; I do not +say it to reproach you, dear--what it was that had so long detained you +at Gethin. He mentioned, in coarsest terms, your love for Harry, and how +you had misrepresented yourself to Trevethick as the heir of Crompton in +order to win her. He expressed a callous indifference to your present +peril, and added something more in menace than in warning respecting +that affair with Chandos which caused you to leave his roof. Since it +seemed you had made no secret of the matter to Mr. Weasel, I showed him +Carew's note; and his opinion is that Trevethick has spies at work to +track your past. This may or may not injure you. Mr. Weasel thinks that +it will not; but it shows the rancor with which this case is pressed by +Trevethick--a malice which we are altogether at a loss to understand." + +Richard ground his heel upon the stone without reply, while his mother +looked at him in gravest sorrow. + +"Your time is almost up, ma'am," said the warder; "there's only a minute +more." + +"You told her how much depended on her, mother, did you?" said Richard, +rousing himself in the effort. + +"Yes, dear. She will not fail us, never fear. Keep heart and hope; and +as for me, you will be sure that not a moment of my waking thoughts is +wasted upon aught but you. I shall see you again, once more at least, +before your--before the trial comes on; and Mr. Weasel will be here next +week again. Is there any thing, my own dear boy, that I can do for you?" + +"One moment, mother. Carew has not punished _you_ on my account, I +trust? He has not cut off--" + +"The annuity? Yes; he has stopped that." + +"May he rot on earth, and perish everlastingly!" + +"Hush, hush, dear; pray be calm; there is no need to fret. I can support +myself without his aid; indeed I can; and perhaps he may relent when he +gets sane, for he was like a madman at my coming to Crompton. Mr. +Whymper will do all he can, I am sure. How cruel it was of me to heed +your words, and tell you--Look to him, warder, look to my son!" she +screamed. + +Richard had indeed turned deadly pale, and though his fingers still +mechanically clutched the iron rail, was swaying to and fro; the warder +unlocked the passage-gate, and ran to him just in time to save his +falling headlong on the pavement. + +"Are you a man," said the agonized woman, "or iron like this"--and she +beat against the railing passionately--"that you will not let a mother +kiss her son when he is dying?" + +"Nay, nay, ma'am; it's not so bad as that," said the warder, +good-naturedly; "see, he's a-coming round agen all right. I've seen a +many took like that. In half a minute he'll be himself again. It's his +trouble as does it, bless you. If you'll take my advice, you'll spare +both your son and yourself the pain of parting, and leave him as he is. +I'd go bail for it, it's just a faint, that's all." + +"Let me kiss him once," implored the unhappy woman. "Oh, man, if you +have ever known a mothers love, let me kiss him once! Here is a +five-pound note--take it, and leave me still your debtor--but one kiss." + +"Nay, ma'am, I can't take your money; of which, as I couldn't help +hearing you say, you have not got too much to spare. But you shall kiss +your bonnie boy, and welcome;" and with that the stout warder took the +unconscious lad up in his arms, and bore him within the passage; and +his, mother put her lips between the bars and pressed them to his +forehead once, twice, thrice. + +"There, there, ma'am; that will do," muttered the man, impatiently; "and +even that is as much as my place is worth. Now, just tap at yonder door, +and they'll let you out." + +Mrs. Yorke obeyed him without a word. She had heard the heavy fluttering +sigh that betokened Richard's return to consciousness, and knew that the +worst was over; unless, indeed, the coming back to life might not be the +worst of all. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +IN THE COURT-HOUSE. + + +It is proposed by some elevators of the public mind to make us all +philosophers, and to abolish the morbid interest which mankind at +present entertains in the issues of life and death. They hold it +weakness that we should become excited by incident, or enthralled by +mystery, and prophesy a future when intelligence shall reign supreme, to +the extinction of the vulgar passion for sensation. In the mean time, +however, the sympathetic hopes and fears of humanity remain pretty much +as they have been within all living memory; and one of the greatest +treats that can be provided for the popular palate is a criminal trial. +There are many reasons why this should be the case; the courts of law +are free, and a sight that can be seen for nothing is of itself +attractive, since we are, at all events, not losing our time and money +too. Again, the most popular drama, the most popular novel, are those to +which the dénouements can not easily be guessed; and in the court-house +we see drama and novel realized with the verdict of the jury and the +sentence of the judge--a matter of anxious speculation to the very last. +Where theatres and books are rare the passion for such scenes is +proportionally stronger, and perhaps there is no periodical event which +so deeply stirs the agricultural interest--speaking socially, and not +politically--as the advent of the Judges of Assize. + +At Cross Key, at all events, there was nothing else talked of for weeks +beforehand; and the case which above all others was canvassed, and +prejudged, and descanted upon over all sorts of boards--from the +mahogany one in the dining-room at Cross Key Park to the deal tripod +which held the pots and pipes at the road-side beer-house--was that of +Richard Yorke, the young gentleman-painter, who had run away with old +John Trevethick of Gethin's hoarded store. The rumor had got abroad that +he had almost run away with his daughter also, and this intensified the +interest immensely. The whole female population, from the high-sheriff's +wife down to the woman who kept the apple-stall in the market-place, was +agog to see this handsome young Lothario, and especially to hear the +evidence of his (clandestinely) betrothed, who was known to have been +subpoenaed for the defense. + +There were innumerable biographies of the prisoner to be had for +nothing. He was a noble-man in disguise; he was the illegitimate son of +the prime minister; he was indirectly but immediately connected with +royalty itself; he could speak every European language (except Polish), +and painted landscapes like an angel; he had four thousand a year in +land, only waiting for him to come of age, which carried with it half +the representation of a Whig borough; he had not a penny in the world, +but had hitherto supported himself in luxury by skillful forgeries; +young as he was, he was a married man, and had a wife (three times his +age) alive. All these particulars were insisted upon and denied forty +times a day. The least scraps of trust-worthy intelligence concerning +him were greedily devoured. The turnpike-man who had opened gate to let +him through on the night he came to the jail was cross-examined as to +his appearance and demeanor. The rural policeman of the district (who +had never had a chance of seeing him) was treated to pots of ale, and +suddenly found himself the best of company. The _Castle_ at Gethin was +thronged by local tourists, who, under pretense of being attracted by +the scenery, came to stare at Harry, and, having seen her, returned to +Cross Key with marvelous stories of her charms. As the time drew on the +applications for admittance to the court-house made the life of the +under-sheriff a burden, and caused the hearts of his subordinates (who +got the half-crowns) to sing for joy. + +The unhappy Richard was wholly ignorant of all this excitement. When he +pictured the court-house to himself, as he often did, he only beheld a +crowd of indifferent persons, who would pay no more attention to his own +case than to that of Balfour, or any other that might follow or precede +it. He saw himself taken out in custody, and carried in some conveyance, +such as he had arrived in, through the gaping street; but the idea of +that ordeal gave him no uneasiness. Those who saw him would forget him +the next moment, or confuse him with some other in the same wretched +plight. His mind always reverted from such reflections, as comparatively +trivial, to the issue of the trial itself. Indeed, that thought might be +said to be constant, though others intruded on it occasionally without +obscuring it, like light clouds that cross the moon. As to the details +of the scene of which he was about to be so prominent an actor, he knew +nothing; for the warders never opened their lips to him, except +officially, and Mr. Balfour had never happened to come to grief in the +course of his professional practice in that particular locality before. + +But the fact was that the jail of Cross Key, though situated in so +out-of-the-way a spot, was a model establishment in its way, and built +upon the very highest principles of architecture, as connected with the +administration of the criminal law. No prisoner was ever taken out of it +for trial at all, but was conducted by an underground passage into the +court-house itself--indeed, into the very heart of it, for a flight of +steps, with a trap-door at the top, led straight into the dock, in which +he made his appearance like a Jack-in-the-box, but much more to his own +astonishment than to that of the spectators. + +Imagine the unhappy Richard thus confronted, wholly unexpectedly, with a +thousand eager eyes! They devoured him on the right hand and on the +left, before him and behind him; they looked down upon him from the +galleries above with a hunger that was increased by distance. Even the +barristers in the space between him and the judge turned round to gaze +at him, and the judge himself adjusted his spectacles upon his nose to +regard him with a searching look. Not a sound was to be heard except the +monotonous voice of the clerk reading the indictment; it was plain that +every one of that vast concourse knew him, and needed not that his +neighbor should whisper, "That is he." Was his mother there? thought +Richard, and above all, Was Harry there? He looked round once upon that +peering throng; but he could catch sight of neither. The former, with a +thick veil over her features, was, indeed, watching him from a corner of +the court; but the only face he recognized was that of his attorney, +seated immediately behind a man with a wig, whom he rightly concluded to +be Mr. Sergeant Balais. + +There was a sudden silence, following upon the question, "How say you, +Richard Yorke, are you guilty of this felony, or not guilty?" The +turnkey by the prisoner's side muttered harshly behind his hand, "They +have called on you to plead." + +"Not guilty," answered Richard, in a loud, firm voice, and fixing his +eyes upon the judge. + +A murmur of satisfaction ran softly through the court-house. His +hesitation had alarmed the curious folks; they were afraid that he might +have pleaded "Guilty," and robbed them of their treat. Not a few of +them, and perhaps all the women, were also pleased upon his own account. +He was so young and handsome that they could not choose but wish him +well, and out of his peril. + +Then Mr. Smoothbore rose, and was some time about it. He was six feet +four inches high, and it seemed as though you would never see the last +of him. ("Oh, Jerryusalem, upon wheels!" was the remark that Mr. Robert +Balfour muttered to himself when some hours afterward _he_ found himself +confronted by the same gigantic counsel, instructed specially by the +crown to prosecute so notorious a marauder.) The twelve men in the box +opposite at once became all ear. Some leaned forward, as though to +anticipate by the millionth of a second the silvery accents of Mr. +Smoothbore; others leaned back with head aside, as though to concentrate +their intelligence upon them; and the foreman held his head with both +his hands, as though that portion of his person was not wholly under +control, but might make some erratic twist, and thereby lose him some +pregnant sentence. These honest men did not know Mr. Smoothbore, and +thought (for the first five minutes) that they could sit and listen to +him forever; before they had done with him they began to think that they +should have to do it. + +Far be it from us to emulate the prolixity with which the learned +counsel set forth his case; it must be conceded that he did not hang +over it; his words ran as smoothly as oil, and with perfect +distinctness, and if any body missed his meaning, it was not for want of +its being sufficiently expressed. To a listener of average ability, +however, he became insupportable by repetition, which is, unhappily, not +exclusively "the vice of the pulpit." We will take care to avoid his +error. It will be sufficient to say that when he had finished Richard +stood accused not only of having stolen two thousand pounds from John +Trevethick, but of having compassed that crime under circumstances of +peculiar baseness. He had taken advantage of his superior education, +manners, and appearance, to impose himself upon the honest Cornishman as +the legitimate son of his landlord, and secured within that humble home +a footing of familiarity, only the better to compass a scheme of +villainy, which must have occurred to him at a very early period of +their acquaintance. Indeed, Mr. Smoothbore hinted that the prisoner's +profession of landscape-painting was a mere pretense and pretext, and +that it was more than probable that, having heard by some means of +Trevethick's hoard, he had come down to Gethin with the express +intention of becoming possessed of it, which his accidental discovery of +the secret of the letter padlock enabled him to do. In short, by artful +innuendo at this or that part of the story, Richard was painted as a +common thief, whose possession of such faculties as dexterity and +_finesse_ only made him a more dangerous enemy of society. There had +been rumors, Mr. Smoothbore admitted, of certain romantic circumstances +connected with the case, but he was instructed to say that they were +wholly baseless, and that the matter which the jury would have to decide +upon was simply an impudent and audacious robbery, committed in a manner +that he might stigmatize as being quite exceptionally void of +extenuation. + +The speech for the prosecution immensely disappointed the general +public, already half-convinced, in spite of themselves, by Mr. +Smoothbore's impassioned clearness and straightforward simplicity, while +it pleased the jury, who were glad to hear that the matter in hand was, +after all, an ordinary one, which would necessitate no deprivation of +victuals, nor absence of fire and candle. The witnesses for the +prosecution appeared, as usual, in an order in inverse ratio to the +interest and importance of their respective testimonies--the clerk of +the Miners' Bank into whose hands the notes had been paid, policemen, +Mr. Dodge, and others, who only repeated what we already know. Even the +appearance of Solomon Coe was marked by nothing especial, save to the +eyes of the accused. In the triumphant bearing of this witness, and in +the malignant glance which he had shot toward him ere he began his tale, +Richard read that the charge against him was to be pushed to the bitter +end. It was in this man's power, more than in any other's (save one), to +extenuate or to set down in malice; and there was no doubt in his +rival's mind (though his rancor took so blunt a form that it might well +have been mistaken by others for outspoken candor) which of the two +courses Solomon had chosen. He showed neither scruple nor hesitation; +every word was distinct and decisive, and on one occasion (though the +repetition of it was forbidden by the judge) even accompanied by a blow +with his sledge-hammer fist in the way of corroboration. It seemed that +the story he had to tell was, after all, a very plain one. + +When John Trevethick, who was the last witness examined for the +prosecution, strode into the box, this feeling was intensified. His +giant frame and massive features seemed, somehow, to associate +themselves with a plain story; and his evidence was as much in +consonance with his counsel's speech as evidence could be with pleading. + +But when he had quite done with his unvarnished tale, and when Mr. +Smoothbore had given him a parting nod in sign that _he_ had done with +him, Sergeant Balais rose, for the first time, with an uplifted finger, +as though, but for that signal of delay, the honest landlord would have +fled incontinently, and hanged himself, like another Judas. + +"You have a daughter, I believe, Mr. Trevethick?" and the Sergeant +looked at the jury, with elevated eyebrows, as though he would have +said, "If we can get even that admission out of this hoary miscreant, we +may consider ourselves fortunate." + +And indeed John Trevethick did hesitate for one instant ere he replied. +He had not even looked at the prisoner before, but at that question he +gave an involuntary glance toward him, and met Richard's answering look. +When two men are fighting, each with his hands upon the throat of the +other, not for dear life, but for the longed-for death of his foe, it is +possible that in their faces some such inextinguishable lurid fire of +hatred may be seen burning as then flashed from witness-box to dock, +from dock to witness-box; but scarcely under any other circumstances +could such a look of deadly malice be exchanged between man and man. It +passed, however, in an instant, like the electric fire, and was gone, +leaving no trace behind it. + +"I _have_ a daughter," replied Trevethick; and as he spoke his face, +though somewhat pale, became as blank and hard and meaningless as a wall +of stone. + +"This man is about to perjure himself," thought the experienced Mr. +Balais; and he looked around him with the air of one who was convinced +of the fact. + +"The prisoner at the bar was, I believe, your daughter's lover, was he +not?" + +"Not that I knew of." + +"Not that you know of?" repeated Mr. Balais. "Will you venture to repeat +that?" + +"The witness said _knew_," interposed the judge, demurely, and ordered a +sky-light to be closed, the draught from which inconvenienced him. Every +body looked at the officer of the court who pulled the string and shut +the sky-light, as though it had been the most ingenious contrivance +known to man. Not that it was a relief to them to do so, but from that +inexplicable motive which prompts us all to observe trivial +circumstances with which we have nothing whatever to do, on any occasion +of engrossing interest. Even Richard regarded this little process of +ventilation with considerable concern, and wondered whether the judge +would feel himself better after it. + +"Oh, you didn't know of this attachment between the prisoner and your +daughter at the time it was going on under your roof, but you knew of it +afterward, did you? You read of it in the papers, I suppose, eh?" + +"I heard of it, after the robbery was discovered, from my daughter +herself." + +"And, upon your oath, you did not know of it before then?" + +"I did not." + +"Nor suspect it even, perhaps?" + +"Nor even suspect it." + +Mr. Balais smiled, shrugged his shoulders. His principles of oratory +were Demosthenean; his motto was "Action, action, action." His. friends +on circuit called him the Balais of action. He had had some experience +of the depravity of human nature, said the shrug, but this beat every +thing, and would be really amusing but for its atrocious infamy. Good +Heavens! + +"Then you never had any conversation with the prisoner with reference +to your daughter at all?" + +"Never." + +Mr. Balais bent down and interchanged a word or two with Mr. Weasel +behind him. + +"Now be so good as to give me your best attention, Mr. Trevethick, for +upon my next question more may depend than you may be aware of. If you +have any regard for your own interests you will answer it truly; for as +sure as--" + +"Is this necessary, Brother Balais?" interrupted the judge, scratching +his forehead with his forefinger, and looking up at the sky-light, as +though that matter was not satisfactorily settled even yet. + +"My lud, I am instructed that nothing less than a conspiracy has been +entered into against my unfortunate client." + +The judge nodded slightly, shivered considerably, and made a mental note +to complain of that infernal draught before he should dismiss the grand +jury. + +"I ask you, Mr. Trevethick," continued the counsel, solemnly, "whether +or not, in a conversation which you held with the prisoner upon a +certain day last month, you mentioned two thousand pounds as the sum you +must needs see in his possession before you could listen to any +proposition of his with respect to your daughter's hand?" + +"I did not." + +"You never spoke of that particular sum to him at all?" + +"Never at all." + +It was Mr. Balais who looked up at the sky-light this time--as though he +expected a thunder-bolt. + +"The notes, of which we have heard so much, as being hoarded in this +ingenious box of yours--and that you are a very ingenious man, Mr. +Trevethick, there is no doubt--this box, I say, was kept in a certain +cupboard, was it not?" + +"It was." + +"And now, please to look at the jury when you answer me this question: +Where was this particular cupboard situated, Mr. Trevethick?" + +Into the landlord's impassive face there stole for the first time a look +of disquiet, and his harsh, monotonous voice grew tremulous as he +replied, "The cupboard was in my daughter's bedroom." + +"That will do, Mr. Trevethick, _for the present_," observed Mr. Balais, +with emphasis; "though I shall probably have the opportunity of seeing +you another time"--and he glanced significantly toward the dock--"_in +another place_." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +FOR THE DEFENSE. + + +When Mr. Balais rose again it was to speak for the defense, and he +addressed the jury amidst an unbroken silence. So rapt, indeed, was the +attention of his audience that the smack of a carter's whip, as he went +by in the street below, was resented by many a frown as an impertinent +intrusion; and even the quarters of the church clock were listened to +with impatience, lest its iron tongue should drown a single sentence. +This latter interruption did not, however, often take place, for Mr. +Balais was as brief in speech as he was energetic in action. He began by +at once allowing the main facts which the prosecution had proved--that +the notes had been taken from Trevethick's box, and found in the +prisoner's possession, who had been detected in the very act of +endeavoring to change them for notes of another banking company. But +what he maintained was, that this exchange was not, as Mr. Smoothbore +had suggested, effected for the purpose of realizing the money, but +simply of throwing dust in the prosecutor's eyes. He had changed the +notes only with the intention of returning his own money to Trevethick +under another form. Even so young a man, and one so thoroughly ignorant +of the ways of the world and of business matters as was his client, must +surely have been aware, if using the money for himself had been his +object, that it could be traced in notes of the Mining Company as easily +as in notes of the Bank of England; nay, by this very proceeding of his, +he had even given them a _double_ chance of being traced. He (Mr. +Balais) was not there, of course, to justify the conduct of the prisoner +at the bar. It was unjustifiable, it was reprehensible in a very high +degree; but what he did maintain was that, even taking for granted all +that had been put in evidence, this young man's conduct was not +criminal; it was not that of a thief. He had never had the least +intention of stealing this money; his scheme had been merely a stratagem +to obtain the object of his affections for his wife. This Trevethick was +a hard and grasping man, and it was necessary for the young fellow to +satisfy him that he was possessed of certain property before he would +listen to any proposition for his daughter's hand. His idea--a wrong and +foolish one, indeed, but then look at his youth and inexperience--was to +impose upon this old miser, by showing him his own money in another +form, and then, when he had gained his object, to return it to him. Mr. +Balais was, for his own part, as certain of such being the fact as that +he was standing in that court-house. Let them turn their eyes on the +unhappy prisoner in the dock, and judge for themselves whether he looked +like the mere felon which his learned friend had painted him, or the +romantic, self-deceiving, thoughtless lad, such as he (Mr. Balais) felt +convinced he was. They had all heard of the proverb that all things were +fair in love as in war. When the jury had been young themselves perhaps +some of them had acted upon that theory; at all events, it was not an +unnatural idea for young people to act upon. Proverbs had always a +certain weight and authority of their own. They were not necessarily +Holy Writ (Mr. Balais was not quite certain whether the proverb in +question was one of Solomon's own or not, so he put it in this cautious +manner), but they smacked of it. This Richard Yorke, perhaps, had +thought it no great harm to win his love by a false representation of +the state of his finances. He could not see his way how otherwise +to melt the stony heart of this old curmudgeon, who had +doubtless--notwithstanding the evidence they had heard from him that +day--encouraged the young man's addresses so long as he believed him to +be Mr. Carew's lawful heir. The whole question, in fact, resolved itself +into one of _motive_; and if there was not a word of evidence +forthcoming upon the prisoner's part, he (Mr. Balais) would have left +the case in the jury's hands, with the confident conviction that they +would never impute to that unhappy boy--who had already suffered such +tortures of mind and body as were more than a sufficient punishment for +his offense--the deliberate and shameful crime of which he stood +accused. He had lost his position in the world already; he had lost his +sweetheart, for they had all heard that day that she was about to be +driven into wedlock with his rival, a man twice his age and hers; he had +lost the protection of his father--his own flesh and blood--for since +this miserable occurrence he had chosen to disown him; and yet here was +the prosecutor, who had lost nothing (except his own self-respect, and +the respect of all who had listened to his audacious testimony that +morning), pressing for a conviction, for more punishment; in a word, for +the gratification of a mean revenge. If he (Mr. Balais) had nothing +more, therefore, to urge in his client's defense, he would have been +content to leave the jury to deal with this case--Englishmen, who +detested oppression, and loved that justice only which is tempered with +mercy. But as it so happened, there was no need thus to leave it; no +necessity to appeal to mercy at all. He had only to ask them for the +barest justice. He was happily in a position to prove that the prisoner +at the bar had no more stolen this two thousand pounds than their own +upright and sagacious foreman. + +A sigh of relief was uttered from a hundred gentle breasts. "We are +coming to something at last," it seemed to say. A hundred fair faces +looked at Mr. Balais--who was growing gray and wrinkled, and found every +new performance of his pantomime harder and harder--as though they could +have kissed him, nevertheless. "Yes, gentlemen of the jury, that money +was given to him by the prosecutor's daughter with her own hand." + +A murmur of satisfaction ran round the court-house. + +There _was_ a romance--a love-story--in the case, then, after all. + +Mr. Balais concluded a most energetic speech with a peroration of great +brilliancy, in which Richard and Harry were exhibited like a +transparency in the bright colors of Youth, and Hope, and Passion, and +finally sat down amidst what would have been a burst of applause but for +the harsh voice of the usher nipping it in the bud by proclaiming +silence. + +There was no need for his doing that when Mr. Balais jumped up to his +feet again, as though he were on springs, and called for Harry +Trevethick. The judge was taking snuff at the time; and such was the +stillness that you could hear the overplus falling on the paper before +him on which he wrote down his notes. There was a minute's delay, during +which every eye was fixed upon the witness-box, and then Harry appeared. +She was very pale, and wore a look of anxious timidity; but a bright +spot came into her cheeks as she turned her face to the prisoner in the +dock, and smiled upon him. From that moment Richard felt that he was +safe. Guarded as he was, and still in peril, he forgot his danger, and +once more resolved that he would cleave to this tender creature, to whom +he was about to owe his safety, to his life's end. + +Harry was simply yet attractively attired in a pale violet silk dress, +with a straw bonnet trimmed with the same modest color. It was observed, +with reference to this and to the innocence and gentleness of her +expression, that she looked like a dove; and a dove she seemed to +Richard, bringing him the signal that the flood was abating, the deep +waters of which had so nearly overwhelmed both soul and body. Even the +judge, as Mr. Weasel had foretold, regarded her through his double +glasses with critical approval; for a most excellent judge he was--of +female attractions. + +Mr. Balais smiled triumphantly at the jury. "Did I not tell you," he +seemed to say, "that my client is guiltless in this matter? Here is +Truth herself come to witness in his favor. Bless her!" Richard's +feverish eyes were fixed upon her; he knew no God, but here was his +spring in the wilderness, his shadow of the great rock in a weary land. +As for her, she looked only at the judge, expecting--poor little +ignoramus--that it was he who would question her. + +"You are the daughter of John Trevethick, of Gethin?" said Mr. Balais. + +This interrogatory, simple as it was, made her color rise, coming from +that unexpected quarter. + +"Yes, Sir." + +"He keeps an inn, does he not; the"--here Mr. Balais affected to consult +his brief, to give her time to recover herself from her modest +confusion--"the _Gethin Castle_, I believe?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"The prisoner at the bar has been staying there for some months, has he +not?" + +She stole another look at Richard: it spoke as plainly as looks could +speak, "Oh yes; that is how I came to know and love him." But she only +murmured, "Yes, Sir." + +"Speak up, Miss Trevethick," said the counsel, encouragingly; "these +twelve gentlemen are all very anxious to hear what you have to say." The +judge nodded and smiled, as though in corroboration, as well as to add, +upon his own account, that it would give _him_ also much pleasure to +hear her. + +"Was the prisoner staying in the inn as an ordinary guest, or did he mix +with the family?" + +"He was in the bar parlor most nights, Sir, along with father and me and +Solomon." + +"He was in the bar parlor most nights," repeated Mr. Balais, +significantly, for he was anxious that the jury should catch that +answer--"'With father and me and Solomon.' And who introduced him into +the parlor?" + +"Father brought him first, Sir, on the second day after he came to +Gethin." + +"Father brought him in, did he? Now, that is rather an unusual thing for +the landlord of an inn to do, is it not? To introduce a young man whom +he had known but twenty-four hours to his family circle, and to the +society of his daughter, eh?" + +"Please, Sir, I don't know, Sir." + +"No, of course you don't, Miss Trevethick; how should you? But I think +the jury know. You have no idea, then, yourself, why your father +introduced this young gentleman to you so early?" + +"Father said he was a friend of Mr. Carew's, of Crompton, who is +father's landlord." + +"Just so," said Mr. Balais, with another significant glance at the +attentive twelve. "Mr. Trevethick had already discovered that this youth +was of a good social position, and likely to prove an excellent match. +'Will you walk into my parlor?' said the spider to the fly; 'I have the +prettiest daughter that ever you did spy.'" + +Every body tittered at this except Mr. Smoothbore and his solicitor; +even the judge blew his nose. + +"Now, not only did the prisoner at the bar spend most nights in the bar +parlor, but, as I am given to understand, he spent most days there, or, +at all events, in your society, did he not?" + +"Father and Solomon were away most days, Sir, and so we were left a good +deal together." + +"Just so. Your father took care to be away most days, did he, in order +that you should be left a good deal together?" + +Mr. Smoothbore started to his feet. "My lud, I submit," etc.; meaning +that this was a mode of interrogating the witness that he could _not_ +submit to for an instant. + +"Very good," said Mr. Balais, smiling. "I will not put the question in +that form, then. The form is of very little consequence. You were left +together, however, and the consequence was that you two young people +fell in love with one another, eh?" + +Harry was crimson. "I--he--we;" and there she stuck. + +"I am very sorry to embarrass you, my dear young lady, but I am +necessitated to press this question. Did you fall in love with one +another or not?" + +No answer. Harry was thinking of Solomon, to whom she was to be married +within ten days, and hung her head. + +"Come, did he fall in love with _you_, then? There was ample apology for +it, I am sure, and he ought to have been ashamed of himself if he +hadn't. Now, did he 'court' you? I think you must know what that means." + +No answer. Every eye was upon her, the judge's double glasses included. +They might have been burning-glasses, she felt so hot and frightened. + +"Come, did this young gentleman ever give you a kiss?" + +"Yes, Sir," murmured poor Harry, almost under her breath. + +"Did you say 'Yes' or 'No?'" inquired the judge, dipping his pen in the +ink. + +"I said 'Yes,' my lord," said the unhappy Harry. + +"There were more kisses than one, now, I dare say," said Mr. Balais, +with a wink at the jury; "and they were not all on one side, eh?" + +No answer. + +"Some of them were on the other side, were they not? I don't mean on the +other cheek, for I have no doubt he was perfectly indifferent as to +that." + +Again there was a little titter. + +"She is your own witness, Brother Balais," observed his lordship, "but +it seems to me you are giving her unnecessary pain." + +He had a very tender heart, had the old judge, where a young and pretty +woman was concerned--otherwise he was a Tartar. + +"My lud, it is absolutely necessary to prove that my client's passion +was reciprocated. Did you ever return one of these many kisses, Miss +Trevethick?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"Did you ever meet him alone at night in a place, I believe, called the +Fairies' Bower?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"Yes," repeated Mr. Balais, recapitulating these facts upon his fingers; +"you were left alone with him all day; you met him alone at night, away +from your father's roof; you returned his kisses; and all this without +the slightest suspicion--if we are to believe his evidence--being +aroused upon the part of your parent. Now, Miss Trevethick, you were +aware that your father kept a large sum of money--these two thousand +pounds--in his strong-box, were you not?" + +"I was, Sir." + +"Did you ever speak to the prisoner at the bar about it?" + +"I think--yes, I did, Sir, on one occasion," and here Harry's voice +fluttered and faltered. No one noticed it, however, except the prisoner; +if any neighbor eyes had watched him narrowly--but they were all fixed +upon the witness--they would have seen his face whiten, and his brow +grow damp. Why should she have laid that stress upon "on one occasion?" + +"You told him that the two thousand pounds were in the box in the +cupboard in your bedroom?" + +"I did, Sir." + +"The fastening of the box was not an ordinary lock, I believe. It was +what is called a letter padlock?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"Did you ever open it?" + +"No, Sir." + +A great bell seemed to be suddenly set tolling in Richard's brain--it +was the knell of all his hopes. + +"You had never opened it at that time, eh?" continued Mr. Balais, +cheerfully. "But you learned the secret afterward?" + +"I--yes--I did." + +"Do you remember the letters that did open it?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"What were they?" + +"B, N, Z." + +"Very good. We have heard from the counsel for the prosecution that they +were so; and that Mr. Trevethick kept a memorandum of them on a piece of +paper that fitted into his watch-case. Did he always carry that watch +about with him?" + +"Not always. When he went out to market, and was likely to be late, he +sometimes left it at home." + +"In his own room, I suppose, where you or any body else could get at +it?" + +"I suppose so, Sir." + +"You _suppose_? You know he did, do you not? Did you not open the +watch-case yourself, and so discover the means of unlocking the box?" + +"No, Sir," said Harry, faintly; and once more she turned her eyes to +Richard. It was a true and tender glance, one would have said, and +accompanied by an attempt at a smile of encouragement. But if it had +been a glance of a gorgon, it could not have had a more appalling +effect; it literally seemed to turn him into stone. + +[Illustration: "COME, DID THE YOUNG GENTLEMAN EVER GIVE YOU A KISS?"] + +"Recollect yourself, Miss Trevethick," said Mr. Balais, earnestly; "you +are getting confused, I fear. Now please to give me your attention. You +say that you knew that the letters B, N, Z were those which formed the +key of the letter padlock, and yet that you did not open your father's +watch-case. How, then, did you become possessed of the secret?" + +No answer. Harry caught her breath convulsively, and turned deadly pale. +She could never tell how Mrs. Yorke had endeavored to suborn her. + +"Well, well, this is a matter of very little consequence--though I see +my learned friend is making a copious note of it," said Mr. Balais, +gayly. "The main point is what, as you have told us, did occur--that you +found out the secret somehow. When you got it, I suppose you opened the +box?" + +No answer, save from Mr. Smoothbore, who observed, tartly: "You have no +right to assume that, Sergeant." + +"Let the young woman have a glass of water," suggested the kindly judge. + +"My lord, my lord!" cried Harry, with sudden passion, "he is not guilty. +Richard did not mean to steal the money; indeed he did not. He only +wished to get possession of it that my father might believe him to be a +man of wealth. He did but--" + +"Endeavor to compose yourself, young woman," interposed the judge. "The +learned counsel will only ask what is necessary." + +"Take your time. Miss Trevethick, take your time," pursued Mr. Balais, +in his blandest tones. "The question is, how the prisoner became +possessed of this money. Now, tell us, did you not give it him with your +own hands?" + +The bell was still tolling in Richard's brain, and yet he could hear the +buzzing of a fly against a window of the court-house, and the careless +whistle of some lad in the street without. It was the same tune that the +keeper at Crompton had been wont to whistle in his leisure moments at +home; and his mind reverted with a flash to the glades of the stately +park, the herds of deer, the high-mossed gate, which he had shut in the +face of the hounds when they were chasing Carew's carriage. Was it the +bang of the gate, or had Harry really answered in a firm voice, that +resounded through the silent court-house, "No, Sir?" + +"What!" said Mr. Balais, raising his voice a little. "Do you mean to +say, then--and recollect that the fate of the prisoner at the bar may +depend upon your reply to this question--that Richard Yorke did not +become possessed of these notes by your connivance, through your means, +at all?" + +"No, Sir, no," answered Harry, passionately; "I can't say that; indeed, +Sir, I can not. But he is innocent--Richard is innocent--he never meant +to steal them. O God, help me!" In her excitement, and not because she +wished to do so, she had turned about, and once more caught sight of the +prisoner at the bar. It was her turn now to shrink appalled and +petrified. It was not reproach that she saw pictured in that well-loved +face, but downright hate and loathing. "He will never, never forgive +me!" cried she, with a piteous wail; and then scream followed scream, +and she was borne out in haste, and a doctor sent for. + +Cross-examination was, of course, quite out of the question; and, +indeed, Mr. Smoothbore was much too sagacious a man to wish to exercise +that privilege. The failure of the witness for the defense had proved +the case of the prosecution. + +It was Mr. Smoothbore who could now best afford to praise the innocence +and candor of the unhappy Harry. Was it not evident that that tender +creature had been tampered with, and almost persuaded to perjure +herself, for the sake of the prisoner at the bar--almost, but, happily +for the ends of justice, not quite persuaded! Her natural love of right +had conquered the ignoble passion with which she had been inspired by +this unscrupulous man. What words could sufficiently paint the baseness +of the conduct of the accused! Was it not clear that he had endeavored +to escape scot-free, at the sacrifice of this poor girl's good name? +_She_, forsooth, was to proclaim herself thief, to save his worthless +self! It was not for Mr. Smoothbore--Heaven forbid!--to exaggerate such +wickedness, but was it possible that the phrase, "Young in years, but +old in vice," had ever had a more appropriate application than in the +present case! For the credit of human nature, he trusted not. The point +upon which his learned friend had mainly relied having been thus proved +wholly untenable--the fact of Richard's taking the money having been +incontestably brought home to him--it only remained for him (Mr. +Smoothbore) to notice what had been said with respect to motive. If the +prisoner at the bar had even had the intention, which had been so +gratuitously imputed to him, of returning this money to the prosecutor, +when once the object of his supposed scheme had been effected, he would +be no less guilty of the crime that was laid to his charge. It was +possible, indeed, in such a case, that there might be extenuating +circumstances, but those would not affect the verdict of the jury, +however they might influence his lordship's sentence after that verdict +had been truly given. And this he would say, after what had just +occurred in that court--after the painful scene they had just +witnessed--the breaking down of that innocent girl in an act of +self-sacrifice, culpable in itself, but infinitely more culpable in him +who had incited her to do it--for he could not for an instant suppose +that the prisoner's legal advisers could have suggested such a line of +defense: taking all this into consideration, he, Mr. Smoothbore, would +confidently ask the jury whether the prisoner at the bar was to be +credited with merely a romantic stratagem, or with a crime the +heinousness of which was only exceeded by the means by which he had +striven to exculpate himself from it, and to evade the ends of justice. + +When Mr. Smoothbore had thus concluded a lengthened and impassioned +harangue, he sat down, wiping his hands upon his handkerchief, as though +implying that he had washed them of the prisoner for good and all, and +that a very dirty job it had been; while the judge rose and left the +court, it being the hour appointed to his system, by nature, for the +reception of lunch. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE SENTENCE. + + +Richard remained in the dock. The warder who had charge of him gave him +the option of retiring, but he preferred to stay where he was till all +was over. He had at last caught sight of his mother, straining her +loving eyes toward him--with still some hope in them--from a distant +corner of the gallery; and he kept his gaze fixed upon that spot. They +had all the world against them now, these two, so clever, and yet so +wholly unable to combat with inexorable fate. Harry's evidence, and +especially the manner of it, had not needed Mr. Smoothbore's fiery scorn +to turn all hearts against the accused. To the great mass of spectators +it seemed as though Richard would have made the girl change places with +himself, and become a vicarious sacrifice for his worthless self. + +The majesty of the law having withdrawn itself, a hum of many voices +filled the court-house; a munching of biscuits, a sipping of flasks. The +silence of suspense no longer reigned. The struggle was virtually over, +and the victim was only waiting his doom. It was hoped it would be a +severe one. The spectators were pitiless, and had turned their thumbs +toward their breasts. As to the verdict there was no doubt. Those who +knew the character of the judge opined that this young gentleman would +"get it hot," notwithstanding that this was his first offense. Odds were +taken that he would have fourteen years. "At all events," said one of +the small officials, in answer to eager inquiries, "more than he could +do on his head." With this enigmatical reply of the oracle its +astonished questioners were compelled to be content. + +"Silence in the court--si-lence." The judge had returned. It was thought +by some that it was in the prisoner's favor that the judge had lunched. +They were mistaken, or perhaps a fatal economy had provided African +sherry. His charge was scarcely less dead against the prisoner than had +been Mr. Smoothbore's closing speech. As for the motive, upon which such +stress had been laid by the counsel for the defense, that might be a +plea for a recommendation to mercy, if the jury believed it, but it +could not affect the question of the prisoner's guilt. That the stolen +property had been found in the possession of the accused there was no +sort of doubt. If the prisoner at the bar had not himself taken it out +of the prosecutor's strong-box, who had? + +Such was the form in which the case was left for the jury. + +"It's UP," whispered Mr. Weasel behind his hand to Mr. Balais. Mr. +Balais nodded indifferently; the case was over so far as he was +concerned, and he was not going to employ significant action +gratuitously. That would have been waste of power indeed at his age. The +jury did not leave the box; they laid their heads together, like a +hydra, and "deliberated" for half a minute; that is to say, the foreman +whispered, "We can return but one verdict, I should say, gentlemen;" and +the eleven answered, "But one." + +"We find the prisoner guilty, your lordship." + +His lordship nodded approval. "In my opinion, gentlemen, you could not +have done otherwise. Hem!" Then that common phrase, "You could have +heard a pin drop," might have been used with respect to that vast +assemblage. That "hem!" was a very fatal sign with Mr. Justice Bantam, +as the bar well knew. + +"I'll take you six to five in sovs he gives him seven years," whispered +one learned gentleman to another, without moving his lips. + +"It seems to me you are rather fond of a good thing," returned the +other, scornfully, but with a like precaution. + +"Hem!" said the judge again. "Is there any one in court able to give any +information concerning the antecedents of the prisoner?" + +"We have no witnesses to character, my lud," said Mr. Balais, gravely; +"we had hoped it would not have been necessary." + +"There _is_ a witness in court, please your lud-ship, a detective of the +A division of metropolitan police, I believe," observed Mr. Smoothbore, +"who knows something of the prisoner." + +"Let him stand up," said the judge. + +Here was an extra excitement--an additional attraction, which had not +been advertised in the bills--and the public evinced their satisfaction +accordingly by craning and crowding. Richard turned his heated eyes in +the direction of this new enemy. He had no hope of seeing a friend. The +individual in question was unknown to him. He was a tall, quiet-looking +man, whose face might have been carved out of box-wood, it was so hard +and serious, but for its keen eyes, which seemed to meet his own with a +look of recognition. + +"I know the prisoner at the bar; that is to say, I have seen him on a +previous occasion, when he passed under the name of Chandos, and on +other occasions, as I believe, under other names. From information +received I attended a competitive examination, under the authority of +government." + +"Do you mean that you were employed by the government, or that the +examination was a government one?" interrupted the judge. + +"You'll hear something now," whispered Mr. Weasel to Mr. Balais, "by +Jove!" + +"Both, my lord," explained the witness. "It had come to the knowledge of +the government that there had been several cases of personation in the +competitive examinations recently instituted both for the military and +civil services. Not only were young gentlemen, who had apparently passed +with credit, found grossly ignorant of the subjects which they had +previously been examined upon, but their physical appearance was +sometimes such as would have seemed to have disqualified them: it +appeared incredible that they should have passed the preliminary medical +examination. One was hump-backed; another almost blind. It was +understood that some systematized scheme of imposture, of +mispersonation, was at work to produce these results, and I was +instructed to inquire into it. I did so. I came to the conclusion that +only one person was concerned in the matter--the prisoner at the bar. I +had had my suspicions of him for some time. I had seen him on three +separate occasions as a candidate at public examinations. His nomination +was correct and genuine, but (as I have since discovered) it had been +issued to another person. He succeeded in every instance in obtaining +the appointments in question for his employers, who received them in due +course, though they have, I believe, since been canceled. In the case of +Chandos, a letter was written, by the supposed successful candidate, to +the authorities of the government branch--the India Board--under which +he was to serve, so grossly misspelled that the fraud was at once +suspected. In this instance the guilt was brought home to the prisoner +by the confession of the young man Chandos himself, who paid over to him +a considerable sum of money for the service in question. But I am now in +a position to prove that on several other occasions the prisoner has +committed the same offense; and, in short, if he may be said to have a +calling, it is that of personating, at competitive examinations, young +gentlemen of small ability, who are thus enabled to secure situations +and appointments which they could otherwise never obtain." + +Mr. Justice Bantam had his prejudices, but he had a fair and honest +mind. + +"This is a most unlooked-for communication, Brother Balais," said he, +doubtfully; "and it is not permitted you to cross-examine upon a point +of character." + +"I am sorry to say, my lud," returned Mr. Balais, after a hurried +conversation with the little attorney, "that my client is not in a +position to dispute the evidence just adduced. He prefers to throw +himself upon the mercy of the court, on the ground--a very tenable one, +I think--of his youth and," he was going to add "inexperience," but, +under the circumstances, he thought it better not--"of his extreme +youth, my lud; my unhappy client is barely eighteen years of age." + +"Very good," said Mr. Justice Bantam, looking as if it could not be +worse. "Hem! Prisoner at the bar: after a careful and fair trial, in +which you have had the benefit of the best legal aid, you have been +found _guilty_ of the charge of which you are accused. In that verdict I +cordially concur. The offense was a very serious one; but the endeavor +which you have made to screen yourself, at the expense of that beautiful +and innocent young girl, is, in my opinion, still more heinous and +contemptible than the crime itself. Having made yourself master of her +affections, you used your power to the utmost to effect her moral and +social hurt. You would have had her perjure herself, and proclaim +herself guilty of a crime she did not commit, in order that you might +yourself escape justice. Nobody who heard her evidence--who saw her in +yonder box--can doubt it. Still, as your counsel has just remarked, you +are but a youth in years, and I looked about me in hopes to find some +extenuating circumstances in your past career--some record of +good--which might have justified me in inflicting on you a more lenient +sentence than your offense had earned. I had no other purpose in asking +whether any thing was known of your previous career. The reply to that +question has astonished and shocked me, as it has shocked and astonished +every right-thinking person in this court who heard it. We knew to what +base purpose you had used the comeliness and youth and good address with +which nature had endowed you; and now we have learned how evilly you +have misused your talents--with what perverted ingenuity you have +striven, at so early an age, to set at naught those precautions by which +your country has lately endeavored to secure for itself efficient public +servants." + +"That's neat," whispered a learned friend to Mr. Balais, reverently +shutting his eyes, as though in rapt admiration. + +"Very," returned that gentleman. "He's bidding for the Lord Chief +Justiceship." + +"In the whole course of my legal experience, young man," continued the +judge, "I have never seen a case which seems to me to call for more +exemplary punishment than yours. The promise of your future is dark +indeed--bad for yourself, and bad for that society which, though so +fitted to adorn and benefit it, you have chosen to outrage. I will not, +however, reproach you further; I will rather express a hope that when +you return to the world after your long probation--and it will be as +long as I am able to make it--you may be a wiser and better, as well as +a much older man. The sentence of the court is, that you be kept in +penal servitude for the space of twenty years." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +BROODING. + + +Not a syllable of the judge's exhortation was lost upon the prisoner at +the bar. He listened to it as attentively as one who is waiting for the +thunder listens to the muffled menace that precedes it, and the fall of +each big drop of rain. When the words of doom smote upon his ear a +solemn hush succeeded them; and then one piteous, agonized shriek, and a +dull fall in the gallery above. + +"This way," said a warder, sharply; and Richard was seized by the arm, +and hurried through the trap-door, and down the stairs, by the way he +had come. It seemed to him like descending into hell itself. + +Twenty years' penal servitude! It was almost an eternity of torment! +worse than death! and yet not so. He already beheld himself, at the end +of his term of punishment, setting about the great work which alone was +left him to do on earth--the accomplishment of his revenge. He had +recognized his mother's voice in that agonized wail, and knew that her +iron will had given way; that the weight of this unexpected calamity had +deprived even her elastic and vigorous mind of consciousness--had +crushed out of her, perhaps, even life itself. Better so, thought he, in +his bitterness, if it had; there would then be not a single human +creature left to soften, by her attachment, his heart toward his +fellows--none to counsel moderation, mercy, prudence. + +If the view taken by the judge had even been a correct one, as to +"motive," Richard had been hardly dealt with, most severely sentenced; +but in his own eyes he was an almost innocent man--the victim of an +infamous conspiracy, in which she who, was his nearest and dearest had +treacherously joined. After flattering him with false hopes, she had +deserted him at the eleventh hour, and in a manner even more atrocious +than the desertion itself. He knew, of course, that it was mainly owing +to her evidence, to which he had looked for his preservation, that his +ruin had been so complete and overwhelming; but what he hated her worst +for was for that smile she had bestowed upon him as she entered the +witness-box, and which had bade him hope where no hope was. He could not +be mistaken as to that. She had known that she was about to doom him by +her silence to years of misery, and yet she had had the devilish cruelty +to smile upon him, as she had often smiled, when they had sat, cheek to +cheek, together! Since they had done so, he could never lift his hand +against her (he felt that even now)--never strike her, slay her, nor +even poison her; but he would have revenge upon her for all that. He +would smite her, as she had smitten him, no matter how long the blow +might be in falling: if her affections should be entwined in any human +creatures, against them should his rage be directed; he would make her +desolate, as she had rendered him; he would turn their love for her to +hate, if it were possible, and, if not, he would destroy them. As for +her father--as for that stone devil Trevethick--it choked him to think +that nature herself might preserve him from his wrath, that the old man +might die before his hour of expiation could arrive. But Solomon Coe +would live to feel his vengeance. His hatred was at white heat now; what +would it be after twenty years of unmerited torture? To think that this +terrible punishment had befallen him through such contemptible +agencies--through such dull brains and vulgar hands--was maddening; and +yet he must needs feed upon that thought for twenty years, and keep his +senses too, that at the end they might work out his purpose to the +uttermost. There was plenty of time to plan and scheme and plot before +him, and henceforth that should be his occupation. Revenge should be his +latest thought and his earliest, and all night long he would dream of +nothing else. His wrath against judge and jury, and the rest of +them--though if he could have slain them all with a word he would have +uttered it--was slight compared with the vehemence of his fury against +those three at Gethin. Rage possessed him wholly, and, though without +numbing him to the painful sense of his miserable doom, rendered him +almost unconscious of what was going on about him. + +When he found himself in his cell again he had no recollection of how he +had got there; and the warder had to repeat his sharp command, "Put on +these clothes," before he could get him to understand that he was to +exchange his garments for the prison suit that lay before him. It was a +small matter, but it brought home to him the reality of his situation +more than any thing that had yet occurred. With the deprivation of his +clothes he seemed to be deprived of his individuality, and, in adopting +that shameful dress, to become an atom in a congeries of outcasts. From +henceforth he was not even to bear a name, but must become a number--a +unit of that great sum of scoundrels which the world was so willing to +forget. That he was to suffer under a system which had authority and +right for its basis made his case no less intolerable to him; he felt +like one suddenly seized and sold into slavery. That his master and +tyrant was called the Law was no mitigation of his calamity; nay, it was +an aggravation, since he could not cut its throat. + +"It is no use, young fellow," said the warder, coolly, as Richard looked +at him like some hunted beast at bay. "If you was to kill me and a dozen +more it would do you not a morsel of good; the law has got you tight, +and it's better to be quiet." + +Richard uttered a low moan, more woeful than any cry of physical +anguish. It touched his jailer, used as he was to the contemplation of +human misery. "Look here," said he; "you keep up a good heart, and get +as many _V G_'s as you can. Then you'll get out on ticket-of-leave in +fifteen years: it ain't as if you were a lifer." + +He meant it for consolation; but this unvarnished statement of the _very +best_ that could by possibility befall poor Richard seemed only to +deepen his despondency. + +"Why, when you've done it," pursued the warder, "you'll be quite a young +man still--younger than I am. There's Balfour, now; he's got some call +to be down in the mouth, for he'll get it as hot as you, and he's an old +un, yet he's cheery enough up yonder"--and he jerked his head in the +direction of the court-house--"you may take your 'davey he is. You get +_V G_'s." + +"What are those?" said Richard, wearily. + +"Why, the best marks that can be got; and remember that every one of 'em +goes to shorten your time. You must be handier with your room, to begin +with. You might be reported by some officers for the way in which that +hammock is folded, and then away go your marks at once; and you must +learn to sweep your room out cleaner. We couldn't stand _that_ in one of +our regulars, you know;" and he pointed to some specks of dust upon the +shining floor. "As for the oakum pickings which will be set you +to-morrow, I'll show you the great secret of that art. Your fingers will +suffer a bit at first, no doubt, but you'll be a clever one at it before +long. Only buckle to, and keep a civil tongue in your head, young +fellow, and you'll do." + +"Thank you," said Richard, mechanically. + +"If you'll take my advice, you'll set about something at once; sweepin', +or polishin', or readin' your Bible. Don't brood. But you will do as you +like for this afternoon, since you won't begin regular business till +to-morrow." + +The warder looked keenly round the cell, probably to make sure that it +afforded no facilities for suicide; but the gas was not yet turned on, +and if it had been, his prisoner was unaware that by blowing it out, and +placing the jet in his mouth, more than one in a similar strait to his +own has found escape from his prison woes forever. + +"I'll bring you some supper presently," he added; and with a familiar +nod, good-naturedly intended for encouragement, he slammed the iron door +behind him. + +That he should have become an object of pity and patronage to a man like +this would in itself have wounded Richard to the quick had he not been +devoured by far more biting cares, and even now it galled him. His +twenty years might possibly, then, by extremity of good luck, be +curtailed by five. By diligent execution of menial drudgery; by +performing to some overlooker's satisfaction his daily toil; by careful +obedience and subservience to these Jacks in office, themselves but +servants, and yet whose malice or ill-humor might cause them to report +him for the most trifling faults, or for none at all, and thereby +destroy even _this_ hope--he might be a free man in fifteen years! He +would, even then, he was told, be still a young man. But that he would +never be young again Richard was well aware. Within these last three +weeks--nay, within that last hour, he had already lived a life, and one +that had aged him beyond the power of years. High spirits, pleasure, +hopefulness, love, and all the attributes of youth, were dead within him +for evermore. For the future he was only to be strong and vigorous in a +will that could not have its way for fifteen years at earliest. + +Through the grating of his narrow window a few rays of the setting sun +were streaming in, and fell upon the bare brown wall behind him. What a +flood of glory they were pouring on the woods of Crompton, now in their +autumn splendor--on the cliffs at Gethin--on the copse that hid the +Wishing Well--on the tower where he had first clasped Harry in his arms! +He saw them all, and the sunset hues upon them became suddenly +blood-red. He was once more at Gethin, and in imagination taking his +revenge upon old Trevethick, and for the moment he was almost happy. +"Pity on his gray hairs?" No, not he--though the gallows loomed before +him, though hell yawned for him, he would slake his thirst in the +life-blood of that perjured villain; and as for her, he would drag her +by the hair to look upon her father's corpse. Where was she? Ah, with +Solomon upon the castled rock; and see!--he had pushed him from the +edge, and there he hung exactly as he himself had hung when Harry had +preserved him! How long would a man hold on like that, even a strong man +like Coe, on such a narrow ledge, with the gulls screaming about him? +Not twenty years--no, nor fifteen! + +The clatter of the trap in the door of his cell, as it fell in and +formed a table, awoke him from this gloating dream. "Supper," said the +warder, looking in at him through this orifice. "What! you're still +brooding, are you?--that's bad;" then marched on to the next cell. + +Some gruel and bread stood upon this little improvised side-board. If +they had been the greatest luxuries imaginable, he could not have +swallowed a morsel. The sunlight had faded away; his dream of +retribution was over; he seemed to be touching the utmost verge of human +wretchedness. Was it possible to kill himself? His neckerchief had been +taken away; but he had his braces. The gas-pipe was the only thing to +which he could attach them, and it would never bear his weight. He had +read somewhere of some poor wretch who had suffocated himself by turning +his tongue inward. Had he determination enough for such a device as +that? Plenty. His will was iron; he felt that; but it was set on +something else than suicide--that afterward, or death or life of any +kind, he cared not what; but in the first place, and above all things, +Vengeance! In the mean time, there were twenty years in which to think +upon it! Twenty years! + +The bar dined with the judge that night at Cross Key, and talked, among +other things, "shop." + +"A curious case that of that young fellow, Yorke," said one. "I wonder +whether he has been playing his game long with these competitive +examinations? That Chandos must be a queer one, too--son of Lord +Fitzbacon's, is he not?" + +"I dare say," answered another, carelessly. "It is only vicariously that +the juvenile aristocracy ever get an appointment in these days, having +no wits of their own. This conviction will be a great blow to them." + +"Very good, Sharpshins! but you'd better not let old Bantam hear you, +for he dearly loves the Swells. By-the-by, what a pretty girl that +witness for the defense was, who turned out to be for the prosecution, +eh?" + +"Yes, she upset her lover's coach for him nicely. Is it true, I wonder, +that the little traitress is going to marry that dull, heavy fellow whom +Smoothbore had such work to pump? Gad! if I had been she, I'd have stuck +to the other." + +"Yes; but kissing goes by favor. She marries him next week, I hear. Is +there any thing of interest at Bodmin?" + +"Nothing of interest to _me_, at all events. Smoothbore and Balais get +all there is between them, confound them! I say, just pass that claret." + +Not another word about Richard. The judge himself had forgotten him +except as a case in his notes. The jury forgot him in a week. A murder +of a shipwrecked sailor happened soon afterward on that coast, and +became the talk of the country-side in his place. The world went on its +way, and never missed him; the rank closed up where he had used to +march, and left no gap. + +Richard Yorke was out of the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +IN COUPLES. + + +What tender-nurtured boy, newly-arrived at school--that Paradise when +looked back upon from afar, that _Inferno_ of the present--has not +awakened from sweet dreams of home with a heavy heart? Who has not +pictured to himself the weary months that must elapse before he once +more regains his freedom and his friends? The burden (one may say) is +light, but then the back is also weak that bears it. It is a genuine +woe. Something of this, but tenfold in intensity of wretchedness, did +Richard feel when he awoke for the first time a convicted felon. He had +dreamed that Carew was dead, and left him heir of Crompton; his mother +and he were there, and Harry as his wife. The splendor of the house, the +beauty of the grand domain about it, were as vividly presented to him as +when he saw them with his eyes; and they were all his own. The hope of +his youth, the desire of his manhood, were gratified to the uttermost; +yet through all ran an undercurrent which mirrored a portion of the +present reality. In the marshy pond where he had fought the Squire by +moonlight lay two bodies; it was shallow, as it really had been, and he +could see their faces as he peered into the water: they were those of +Coe and Trevethick. He kept them there, and would not have the pond +dragged; but would go thither and gloat upon them for half a summer's +day. The mansion was full of gay folks--his old town companions invited +to visit him, and behold his greatness (as he had often imagined they +should be): Tub Ryll was _his_ jester now, and Parson Whymper his +"chaplain." They were all playing pool as usual, and he was just about +to make an easy hazard, when somebody jogged his elbow. It was the +warder of the jail. + +"Come, come--this won't do," said he, gruffly. "You must jump up when +the bell rings, or we shall quarrel. Fold up your hammock, and clean +your room." + +Even the school-boy does not begin on his first morning to reckon on his +chimney almanac, "One day gone; twenty-four hours nearer to the +holidays;" and how should Richard make that cheerful note, who had +twenty years of prison life before him, save one day! + +He did as he was ordered, wearily, with a heart that had no hope: it +seemed to the warder that his air was sullen. + +"If this happens again, young fellow, I report you; and then good-by to +your _V G_'s." + +He did not mean to be brutal; but Richard could have stabbed him where +he stood. There were times to come when the temptation to commit such an +act was to be very strong within him; and when no thought of punishment, +far less of right, restrained him, but that of his projected vengeance +always did. Every rough word, every insult, every wrong, was treasured +up in his mind, and added to the long account against those who had +doomed him to such a fate. It should be paid in full one day; and in the +mean time the debt was out at compound interest. + +He took his sordid meals, his cocoa, his bread, his gruel, not because +he had ever any appetite for them, but because without them he should +lose his strength. He must husband that for the long-expected hour when +he might need it; when the moment had arrived to strike the blow for +which his hand was clenched ten times a day. His hate grew every hour, +and, like a petrifying spring, fell drop by drop about his heart, and +made it stone. In the mean time, a fiend in torment could alone imagine +what he suffered. He spoke to no one but his warders and the chaplain; +for now he was a convict, there was no communication with his fellows; +only once a day for an hour and a half he took his monotonous exercise +in the high-walled prison-yard. Tramp, tramp, tramp, each half a dozen +paces behind the other, with an officer on the watch to see that the +limit was preserved. + +"Keep your distance, you there, unless you want to be reported." + +Richard did not want that; but at times his temper was like a devil +unchained, and it got the better of him, and even of his treasured +purpose; he sometimes returned a sharp answer. This weakness was almost +the only feeling within him that reminded him that he was human. He was +put on bread and water within the first fortnight; then cursed his folly +for thus postponing the one object of his life, and amended. His case +was quoted to the visiting justices as an exemplification of the +efficacy of cutting short a prisoner's supplies. + +While exercising one day he recognized Balfour, who happened to be on +the opposite side of the ever-moving circle: the old jail-bird, without +glancing toward him, threw his open hands out twice. By this he conveyed +to him that his own sentence was also twenty years. During the nine +months that Richard remained at Cross Key, this was all that happened to +him which could be called an incident. At the end of three months his +mother essayed to visit him, but he would not see her. She had been ill, +it seemed, ever since that dreadful day of the trial, and was only just +convalescent; she had had lodgings in the town, within a hundred yards +of him, ever since: it was something, poor soul, to know that she was +near him, however inexorably separated. "It would please him," she +wrote, "to learn that, through Mr. Whymper's intercession, Carew had +continued her pension. She had money enough, therefore, and to spare, +but intended to go on with her business of lodging-house keeping in a +new quarter of London, and under another name (that of Basil), that she +might save, and her Richard find himself a rich man when he regained his +liberty. In fifteen years--she had discovered that his time could be +remitted to that extent--there would be quite a little fortune for him. +In the mean time, she thought of him night and day." But there was +something else in the letter. "She confessed that in her agony at his +dreadful doom, she had written to his prosecutor to adjure him to appeal +for mercy to the crown, and he had refused to do so." This news had +driven Richard almost to frenzy. He had written her such a letter as the +prison authorities had refused to send, and now he would not see her. + +He wrote again; more moderately, however, to bid her never mention +Trevethick's name again, nor Coe's, nor Harry's, if she wished him to +think of her as his mother: they were dead to him, he said, _for the +present_. To be brief, Richard never saw his mother after his +conviction. He wished to harden his heart, and not to have it melted +within him; and perhaps his fury at her having appealed to Trevethick +was purposely exaggerated with this object. His recollection of "the +cage," it must be remembered, was also not such as to make the idea of +an interview attractive; moreover, that his mother should see him in his +convict dress, kept within iron bars like a wild beast, seemed to him to +afford a triumph to his deadly enemies. + +In the tenth month, Richard, with the other convicts, was transferred to +Lingmoor, one of the great penal settlements. They were "removed," for +some portion of the distance, in vans, like furniture, or, we might +rather say, in caravans like wild beasts; but for some miles they +traveled by railway. They were handcuffed and chained together two and +two, as pointers are upon their journeys, except that the connection was +at the wrist instead of the neck. Silence was strictly enjoined, but +this one opportunity of conversing with their fellow-creatures was not +to be let slip. Richard's other half was a notorious burglar called +Rolfe; this man had passed a quarter of a century in jail, and was +conversant with every plan of trickery and evasion of orders. His +countenance was not at all of that bull-dog type with which his class is +falsely though generally credited; he had good features, though somewhat +hard in their expression, and very intelligent gray eyes. It was their +very intelligence, so sharp, so piercing, and yet which avoided your +gaze, that showed to those who studied such matters what he was. After +one glance at Richard he never looked at him again, but stared straight +before him, and talked in muttered tones unceasingly, and with lips as +motionless as those of a ventriloquist. He was doing fourteen years for +cracking a public-house, and had cracked a good many private ones, +concerning the details of which enterprises he was very eloquent. When +he had concluded his autobiography he began to evince some interest in +the circumstances of his companion. Richard, however, did not care to +enlighten him on his own concerns, but confined his conversation to the +one topic that was common between them--jails. Rolfe gave him a synopsis +of the annals of Lingmoor, to which he was bound not for the first time. +It was a place that had a bad reputation among those who became perforce +its inmates; tobacco, for which elsewhere convenient warders charged a +shilling an ounce, was there not less than eighteenpence: such a tariff +was shameful, and almost amounted to a prohibition. A pal of his had +hung himself there--it was supposed through deprivation of this +necessary. It was "a queer case;" for he had "tucked himself up" to the +bars of his cell by his braces, the buckles of which had left livid +marks upon his neck. His Prayer-book had been found open at the Burial +of the Dead, and it was understood that he had read that service over +himself before taking leave of the world. He had also written his will +with a point of the said brace-buckles upon the brick of his cell. He +himself (Mr. Rolfe) had been called as a witness at the inquest, and had +thereby obtained two hours' relaxation from labor; but upon the whole he +would rather have been working with his gang--the affair had quite upset +him; and, since its occurrence, the inmates of Lingmoor were forbidden +to use braces. + +"Were there any escapes from Lingmoor by any other means?" inquired +Richard. + +"Escapes?" Mr. Rolfe's countenance assumed a more solemn vacuity than +ever. It was an indiscretion of his young friend to shape that word with +his lips while a warder sat in the same carriage. Yes, there had been +such things even at Lingmoor. But it was a difficult job, even for one +used to cracking cribs. The outer wall was not to be scaled without a +ladder, and ladders were even more difficult to procure than tobacco. +Even if you did get over the outer wall, the space around the prison was +very bare, and the sentries had orders to shoot you fleeing. If you got +to Bergen Wood, two miles away, you might be safe so far, but it was a +dangerous business. Nobody had ever done it yet without "putting +somebody out." + +This was a euphemism for murder, as Richard was by this time "old hand" +enough to know. + +"Warders?" inquired he indifferently; for he had already learned to +value that objectionable class at a low figure. + +"Hush! Yes; you must kill 'a dog' or two before you say good-by to +Lingmoor, unless you can put them to sleep." (Bribery.) "There was a man +once as had to kill his pal to do it." + +"How could that help him?" Richard felt no interest whatever in these +narratives as stories; but since they referred to escapes they +entrancing. The convict who is cast for death thinks of nothing but a +reprieve; the "lifer" or the long-termer, thinks of nothing but an +escape--and (sometimes) vengeance. + +"Well, it was curious. There was a 'Smasher'" (utterer of counterfeit +coin) "named Molony in for life there--a thin-shanked, shambling fellow, +as Smashers mostly are--mere trash. He had got a file, this fool, and +dared not use it--kept it as close as though it were 'bacca,' and waited +for his chance, instead of making his chance for himself. Damme, if _I_ +had a file!" + +Mr. Rolfe's feelings of irritation were almost too much for him; he +turned up the whites of his eyes, so that persons who were unacquainted +with his views upon religious subjects might have supposed him to be +engaged in some devotional exercise. + +"Next door to this fellow--though it seemed a long way off, for the cell +was in an angle of the prison--there was one of the right sort; name of +Jeffreys. No prison in England could have held _him_ if he had had a +file. With a rusty nail as he had picked up he dug through his cell +wall, and came out one night, all of a sudden, upon the Smasher--thought +he was out of doors, poor beggar, through this cursed angle, you see, +and after all had only changed his room." + +"That must have been the devil," observed Richard. + +"It _was_," said Mr. Rolfe, significantly. + +"'Why, how on earth did you do it?' asked the Smasher. At least I +suppose he did, for the conversation was not reported, as you shall +hear. 'With a mere nail, too. Why, _I_'ve got a file, and yet I never +thought of that.' + +"'A file!' cried Jeffreys. 'Let's look. Give it to me.' + +"But Molony wouldn't give it him. The case was this, you see. If +Jeffreys could have filed his irons off, and then the window-bars, he +could have made a push for it; but he couldn't wait for the other; the +night was too far gone for that--there was only time for one to free +himself and get away. The Smasher was willing enough to make an effort +now; the other's pluck had put a good heart into him. But since he had +been there so long, and never moved a hand to help hisself, Jeffreys +thought he might stop a little longer; it seemed to him +dog-in-the-manger like to be refused the file--at least that's my view +of what he thought; though he's been blamed a good deal for what +afterward happened." + +"But what did happen?" + +"Well, they got to high words; the t'other wouldn't give up the file; +and when Jeffreys tried to get hold of it, what did the aggravation +Smasher do--for you see he was used to bolting half-crowns and such +like--but _swallow the file_!" + +"Why, that must have killed him?" observed Yorke. + +"So Jeffreys concluded," returned Mr. Rolfe, coolly; "and indeed that +was his defense when his trial came on. He pleaded that Molony was dead +already. 'I did not put the file down his throat, though I did deprive +him of it afterward. I was obliged to do it.' He made an anatomy of him +with the nail, in fact, just as the surgeons do with their +dissecting-knives, though not so neat, in order to get at the file. An +ugly job, I call it; but it was a very pretty case, the lawyers said, as +to whether murder had been done or not." + +"But did this Jeffreys get off?" + +"Upon the trial--yes; but not from the prison. He got into the yard all +right, and climbed the wall by making steps of the file and the nail; +but, in dropping on the other side, he broke his leg, and so they nabbed +him. It's a very hard nut to crack, is Lingmoor, _I_ can tell you." + +With these and similar incidents of prison-life, Mr. Rolfe regaled his +companion's ears. The sound of this man's voice, muffled as it was, +notwithstanding the nature of his talk, was pleasant to Richard after so +many months of enforced silence. After long starvation the stomach is +thankful for even garbage; and so it is with the mind. Moreover, any +thing would have seemed better than to sit and think during that hateful +journey. The railway part of it was by far the worst. To be made a show +of at the various stations--every one curious to see how convicts looked +in their full regimentals, chained and ironed; to behold the other +passengers who were free; to see the happy meetings of lovers and +friends, of parents and children; and the partings that were scarcely +partings at all compared with his own length of exile from all mankind: +these were things the bitterness of which Richard felt to the uttermost; +his very blood ran gall. His friend Balfour was among his +fellow-travelers, but they did not journey in the same van nor railway +carriage. Had it been otherwise Richard might have felt some sense of +companionship; whereas the contact of this man Rolfe seemed to degrade +him to his level, and isolate him from humanity itself. At the same +time, he shrank with sensitiveness from the gaze of the gaping crowd. It +is so difficult, even with the strongest will to do so, to become +callous and hardened to shame except by slow degrees: every finger +seemed to point at him in recognition, every tongue to be telling of his +disgrace and doom; whereas, in simple fact, his own mother would +scarcely have known him in such a garb, and with those iron ornaments +about his limbs; his fine hair cropped to the roots; his delicate +features worn and sharpened with spare diet and want of sleep; above +all, with those haggard eyes, always watching and waiting for something +a long way off--almost, indeed, out of sight at present, but coming up, +as a ship comes spar by spar above the horizon, taking shape and +distinctness as it nears. There were nineteen years and three months +still, however, between him and _it_. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +OUT OF THE WORLD. + + +This tedious, shameful travel came to an end at nightfall. Their way had +lain all day through landscapes of great beauty, though about to lose +the last remnants of their autumn splendor; but when they left the rail, +the woods, and glens, and rivers were seen no more. All was dreary +moorland, where winter had already begun to reign. A village or two were +passed, among whose scanty population their appearance created little +excitement: such sights were common in that locality. They were on the +high-road that leads to Lingmoor, and to nowhere else. The way seemed as +typical of their outcast life-path as a page out of the _Pilgrim's +Progress_. Vanity Fair, where they would fain have tarried if they +could, was left far behind them, while to some of them the road was +doomed to be the veritable Valley of the Shadow. They were never to see +the world, nor partake of its coarse and brutal pleasures--the only ones +they cared for, or perhaps had experienced--any more. How bare, and +desolate, and wretched was the prospect! There was no living thing in +sight; only the wild moorland streams hurried by, as if themselves +desirous to escape from the barren solitude. Not a tree was to be seen +save Bergen Wood, which Richard's companion indicated to him, as they +neared it, by a movement of the eyelid. It had been the tomb of many a +convict, who had striven for freedom, and found death. As they emerged +from it, Lingmoor prison presented itself, solid, immense, and gloomy, +as though it were built of steel--"Castle of Giant Despair." Its guarded +gate was swung back, and all were marched into a paved courtyard, where +their names were called over, and their irons removed. Then each was +stripped and searched, and another uniform substituted for that they had +worn at Cross Key. The old hands seemed to take a pride in knowing what +was about to be done beforehand; in being recognized by the warders, +though their greeting was but a contemptuous shrug; and in threading the +windings of the stone labyrinths with an accustomed step. Richard was +ushered into a cell the exact counterpart of that he had lately +inhabited; and yet he regarded it with the interest which one can not +fail to feel in what is to be one's home for years. + +Home! Frightful misnomer for that place, warm and well-ventilated as it +was, and supplied with the latest products of civilization. The gas was +burning brightly; fresh cool water flowed at his will; at his touch a +bell rang, and instantly, outside his door, an iron plate sprang out, +and indicated to the warder in what cell his presence was required. "How +clean and comfortable!" says the introduced-by-special-order visitor, to +his obsequious acquaintance the governor, on observing these admirable +arrangements. "How much better are these scoundrels cared for," cries +the unthinking public, "than are our honest poor!" It is not, however, +that the convict is pampered; but for this unkindly care he would not be +able to endure the punishment which justice has decreed for him. Science +has meted out to him each drop of gruel, each ounce of bread, each +article of clothing, and each degree of warmth. Not one of all the +recipients of this cruel benevolence but would gladly have exchanged +places with the shivering tramp or the work-house pauper. To cower under +the leafless branches of Bergen Wood, while the November night-blasts +made them grind and clang, would have seemed paradise compared with that +snug lodging; nay, the grave itself, with its dim dread Hereafter, has +been preferred before it. + +Life at Lingmoor was existence by machinery--monotony that sometimes +maddened as well as slew. To read of it is to understand nothing of +this. The bald annals of the place reveal nothing of this terrible +secret. + +Richard rose at five at clang of bell, cleaned out his cell, and folded +up his bed more neatly than did ever chamber-maid; at six was +breakfast--porridge, and forty minutes allowed for its enjoyment; then +chapel and parade; then labor--mat-making was his trade, at which he +became a great proficient. His fingers deftly worked, while his mind +brooded. At twelve was dinner--bread and potatoes, with seventy minutes +allowed for its digestion; then exercise in the yard, and mat-making +again till six in summer, and four in winter; prayers, supper, school +till eight; when the weary day was done. On Sunday, except two hours of +exercise and chapel, Richard was his own master, to brood as much as he +would. There were also no less than three holidays in the year, on which +it has been whispered with horror that the convicts have pudding. There +was, however, no such excess at Lingmoor. + +As for society, there was the chaplain. This gentleman could make +nothing of Richard, though he tried his best. It was evident to him that +the young man had something on his mind; if he would only confide in his +spiritual adviser, he assured him comfort could be administered. But no +confidence ever took place. It was a most distressing case; here was a +youth of superior position, and well educated, as obstinate and stubborn +as the most hardened criminal in the establishment. His Bible was never +opened. One of his warders had expressed his opinion that No. 421 was +vindictive, but he (the chaplain) was bound to say he had observed +nothing of that. The remarks in his note-book respecting 421 were these: +"Richard Yorke--aged twenty, looks ten years older; reserved and +cynical; a hopeless infidel, but respectful, uncomplaining, and +well-mannered." + +Richard had been reported more than once for "inattention to orders," +and had lost some of his good marks accordingly. The cause of this was +one over which he could now be scarcely said to have control. He had +become so absent and _distrait_ that he sometimes hardly knew what was +going on about him. The perpetual brooding in which he indulged had, in +fact, already postponed the accomplishment of the very object which +enthralled his thoughts. The effect of this was serious; and he had good +reason for the apprehension which seized him, that his wits might leave +him before that day of liberty arrived, which was still so many years +distant. On account of his previous calling, which was described in the +prison books as landscape-painter, he had been put to a handicraft +trade; but he now applied for harrow-work, and the surgeon seconded his +application. This change of occupation, which was destined in some +respects to be beneficial, proved at the outset most unfortunate. The +outdoor toil was mostly spade and barrow labor on the moor, on which the +convicts worked in gangs--each gang under supervision of two warders, +armed with sword and musket. The first face that Richard's eyes lit on, +when he found himself in the open, with the free air of heaven blowing +on him, and already, as it seemed, bearing the seeds of health and hope, +was that of Robert Balfour. In his joyous excitement he sprang forward +and held out his hand; the other hesitated--for the old cracksman was +prudence itself--then, as if with an incontrollable impulse, grasped the +offered fingers, with an "I am right glad to see you, lad." The next +instant they were both in custody, and marched back to the prison, +charged with the high crime and misdemeanor of conversation, which at +Lingmoor was called "colloguing," "conspiracy," and other terrible +terms. Brought before the authorities upon this serious charge, Richard +at once confessed himself alone to blame; the fresh air had, in a +manner, intoxicated him, after his long confinement within stone walls; +and the sight of his old acquaintance had caused him to forget the +rules. On the offense-list being examined, it was found, however, that +No. 421 was a good deal in the habit of forgetting. His cell-warder gave +him but an indifferent character; and Richard, in a fury, committed the +fatal indiscretion of rebutting this latter accusation by a +countercharge of tyranny and ill-usage. The next instant he could have +bitten his tongue out--but it was too late; he felt that he had made an +enemy of this body-servant, who was also his master, for the remainder +of his term. An "old hand," unless he is a professional garroter (in +which case he is generally too much respected to be ill-used), is always +careful to keep on good terms with his attendant; otherwise--since a +warder's word, if it be not law, is at all events worth that of ten +prisoners--there may be no end to your troubles. This is not because +warders are not as a class a most respectable body of men, but simply +because you can't get all the virtues for a guinea a week. A strict and +impartial sense of justice is especially a rare and dear article--even +governors have sometimes been deficient in it. Most men have their +prejudices, as women have their spites; and a prejudice against a +fellow-creature is a thing that grows. Richard's warder was no +tyrant--only a sullen, ignorant fellow, in a false position; he had an +almost absolute power over his fellow-creatures, and like many--perhaps +like most who have ever possessed such a thing--it was too much for him. + +"I am a tyrant, am I?" said he, significantly, as he marched Richard +back to his cell after sentence was decreed. "Very well; we'll _see_." + +Richard got bread and water for three days certain, and, what was far +worse, another "monstrous cantle" might be cut out of that period of +remission which began to be all the dearer in his eyes the more +problematical it grew. Garroters, as we have said, were respected at +Lingmoor; they are so ready with their great ape-like hands, and so +dull-brained with respect to consequences; yet Richard's warder, when he +brought his bread and water, with a grin, that night, was probably as +near to death by strangling as he had ever been during his professional +experience. It was not that he was on his own account the object of his +prisoner's wrath, but that by his conduct he had, as it were, +supplemented the inexpiable wrong originally committed, and earned for +himself a portion of the undying hate which was due elsewhere. "I may +kill this brute some day," thought Richard, ruefully, "in spite of +myself." And he resolved on the first opportunity to communicate a +certain secret which was on his mind to a friendly ear; so that _that_ +at least should be utilized to the disadvantage of his foes, in case +incontrollable passion should one day compel him to sacrifice a lesser +victim, and make his great revenge to fail. It had not once entered into +his mind that he could _forego_ his purpose, but only that circumstances +might render it impossible. + +The occasion for which he looked was not long in coming. His days of +punishment concluded, he was once more marched out upon the moor, and +again found himself in Balfour's company. Not a sign passed between them +this time, but as they delved they talked. "I fear you have been +suffering for my sake," said Richard. + +"It is no matter. My shoulders are broad enough for two," returned the +other, kindly. "I am right glad to see your face again, though it is so +changed. You have been ill, have you not, lad?" + +"I don't know. Something is wrong with me, and I may be worse--that is +why I want to speak to you. Listen!" + +"All right. Don't look this way, and sink your voice if either of these +dogs comes to leeward." + +"If you get away from this place, and _I_ don't--" + +"Now, none of that, lad," interrupted the old man, earnestly. "That's +the worst thing you can get into your head at Lingmoor, if you ever want +to leave it. Never _say_ die, nor even _think_ it. I am three times your +age, and yet I mean to get out again and enjoy myself. It is but fifteen +years now, without counting remission--though I've got into disgrace +with my cursed watch-dog, and sha'n't get much of that--and you must +keep a good heart." + +"I shall keep a firm one," answered Richard, "never fear. I wish to +guard against contingencies, that's all. If I die--" + +"Damned if you shall," said Balfour, sturdily, quite innocent of any +plagiarism from Uncle Toby. + +"Very good," continued Richard, coolly. "If you get out of this before +me, let us merely say, I have something to tell you which may be of +service to you. There's a man in Breakneckshire called Carew of +Crompton--" + +"I know him: the gentleman born as put on the gloves with Bendigo at +Birmingham?" + +"Very likely; at all events, every body knows him in the Midlands. He +will go to the dogs some day, and his estate will be sold. You have +saved money, you tell me; if the chance occurs, you can't invest it +better than in the lot called Wheal Danes, a mine in Cornwall." + +"I believe you every word," said Balfour; "but a mine would be rather +over my figure, wouldn't it? I have only got eight hundred pounds." + +"That would be plenty. It's a disused mine, and supposed to be worked +out. There's only one man in England that knows it is not so, except +myself. He will come or send to the auction, expecting to get it cheap; +but do you bid two hundred pounds beforehand, and get it by private +contract. Say you want the place--it's close to the sea--for building +purposes; they'll laugh at you, and jump at your offer. The fee-simple +is not supposed to be worth five shillings an acre. It will turn out a +gold mine to whoever gets it." + +"Wheal Danes," repeated Balfour, carefully. "I'll remember that; and +what is more, lad, I'll not forget the man as told me of it. It's not +the profit that I am speaking on: that will be yours, I hope, as it +should be in all reason, and not mine; but it's the confidence." The old +man's voice grew husky with emotion. "Damme, I liked _you_ from the +first, as was natural enough; but there was no reason why you should +take a fancy to an old thief like me more than any other among this +pretty lot here. The first as speaks of secrets is of course the one as +runs the risk, but I will do what I can to show myself honorable on my +side. You have trusted me, and I'll trust you." + +"Have you any plan to get away from this?" whispered Richard, eagerly. +"All that I have shall be yours: I swear it." + +"Nay, lad; your word's enough," returned the other, reproachfully. "And +I don't covet nothing of yours; indeed I don't." + +"I was a brute to talk so to you, Balfour," answered Richard, +penitently. "But you don't mow how I crave for freedom: it makes me mad +to think of it." + +"Ay, ay; I know," sighed the old fellow. "It used to be so with me once; +but now it only comes on me when my term is nearly up. One gets patient +as one gets old, you'll find. No; I've no plan just now; though, if I +ever have, I promise you you shall be the man to know it. It's another +matter altogether that I meant to tell you about. You've given me an +address to remember: let me give you another in exchange for it--No. 91 +Earl Street East, Spitalfields. That's where mother lives, if the poor +soul is alive to whom you wrote for me from Cross Key. She'll be dead, +however, long before you or I get out of this, that's certain, or I +should not be telling you what I do; for one's mother is the best friend +of all friends, and should come first and foremost. Well, the money will +do her no good; and if any thing happens to me, I have neither chick nor +child to inherit it. I am speaking of this eight hundred pound, lad. If +I get into the world, I shall want it for myself, for I doubt my limbs +will be too stiff for work by that time; but if not, then you shall have +it--every shilling. I am digging my own grave, as it might be, with this +spade, and making my will, do you see?" said the old fellow, smiling. + +"I thank you for your kind intentions," returned Richard, absently; +"it's very good of you, I'm sure." His hopes of some scheme of present +release had been excited by the old man's manner, and this faint and +far-off prospect of a legateeship seemed but of little worth. + +"I may not have another chance to tell you about it," resumed Balfour. +"It is five years now since you and I spoke together last, and it may be +another five years before such good luck happens again; so don't forget +91 Earl Street East. It's under the middle stone of the back kitchen, +all in golden quids. You needn't mind it being 'swag;' and as for those +whose own it is by rights, I could not tell you who the half of it +belonged to, if I would. It's the savings of an industrious life, lad," +added Mr. Balfour, pathetically; "and I should be sorry to think, if any +thing happened to me, that it should lie there useless, or be found +accidental like, and perhaps fall into the hands of the bluebottles. +Your memory's good, my lad, I dare say, and you won't forget the number +nor the street." + +"My memory is very good, friend," returned Richard, slowly; "and I have +only two or three things else to keep in it. And you, on your part, you +will not forget the mine?" + +"Nay, nay; I've got it safe: Wheal Danes, Wheal Danes." + +"Silence, down there!" roared the warder; and nothing but the squeak of +the barrow-wheel and the clean slice of the spade was heard in all that +throng of involuntary toilers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +BASIL. + + +It is nineteen years since Richard Yorke stood in the dock at Cross Key +and heard the words of doom. Almost a whole generation of his +fellow-creatures has passed away from the earth. Old men have died, +young men have become old, and babes have grown to be young men. There +are but some half dozen persons in the world who, if reminded of him by +some circumstance, can recollect him dimly. There are two who still keep +him in their thoughts continually, just as he was--like a picture which +bears no longer any resemblance to its original--and even these never +breathe his name. + +Here is a young fellow walking with his mother along Oxford Street who +is not unlike him, who might be himself but for those nineteen years; +and the girl that walks upon the other side of him might also be Harry +Trevethick. Youth and beauty are not dead because Richard Yorke is dead, +or as good as dead. The name of this girl is Agnes Aird, a painter's +daughter, who is also a teacher of his art. The lad is her father's +pupil, and has learned beneath his roof a lesson not included in the +artistic course; you may know that by the way in which his eyes devour +the girl, the intonation of his voice when he addresses her, the silent +pressure of the arm on which her fingers rest. Charles Coe is in love +with Agnes, and in all his studies of perspective beholds her, a radiant +figure beckoning him on to a happy future. His pencil strays from its +object to portray her features--to inscribe her name beside his own. Mr. +Coe, his father, exceedingly disapproves of this projected alliance, and +has forbidden the young people to associate. This ukase, however, can +scarcely be obeyed while the whole party are inmates of Mr. Aird's +residence, who "lets off" the upper part of his house as furnished +apartments, which the Coes have now inhabited as lodgers for some weeks. +Solomon (now a very well-to-do personage, and a great authority on +metalliferous soils) has come to town on business, and left to his wife +the choice of a residence; and she, to please her son, had chosen the +artist's dwelling, upon whose door-plate was inscribed the fact that he +was a professor of drawing. Solomon was not displeased that his son's +tastes lay in that direction; it might be useful to himself hereafter in +the matter of plans and sections; but he is violently opposed to this +ridiculous love affair, which is to be stamped out at once. To that end +he has instructed Mrs. Coe to look for lodgings in a distant quarter, +and it is on that errand that we now behold her. It is characteristic of +the Harry whom we once knew that she permits these young people to +accompany her--and one another--on the very quest that has their final +separation for its object. She can not resist making them happy while +she can; and she can refuse her Charley nothing. Moreover, Solomon is in +the City, looking after his mining interests, and need never know. + +In appearance, however, Harry Trevethick is greatly changed. She is but +seven-and-thirty, yet has already passed into the shade of middle life. +Her hair, though still in profusion, is tinged with gray; her features +are worn and sharp; her brow is wrinkled; and in her once trustful eyes +dwells a certain eager care, not mere distress or trouble, but an +anxiety which is almost Fear. + +The three are now in one of the streets which unite Cavendish Square +with Oxford Street, as a busy babbling rill connects the unruffled lake +with the roaring river. It is composed both of shops and private houses, +the latter of which in some cases deign, notwithstanding their genteel +appearance, to accommodate visitors by the week or month. + +"This is the sort of locality your father wished for, Charley," remarked +Mrs. Coe, looking about her; "it seems central, and yet tolerably quiet. +Let us try this house." + +The name of "Basil," without prefix, was engraved upon the door-plate; +and in a corner of the dining-room window lurked an enameled card with +"Apartments" on it. + +"There is no need to drag Agnes and you in," Mrs. Coe went on, as they +stood waiting for the bell to be answered. So Charles, well pleased, was +left outside with the young girl, while his mother "went over the +house." In a few minutes, however, she reappeared, and in a somewhat +hurried and excited tone observed, "I think this place will do, my +dears; but there is a good deal to talk about and settle, which will +take me some time. Therefore I think you had better go home together, +and leave me." Then, without waiting for a reply, she retired within and +closed the door. + +"How very curious!" exclaimed Agnes, wondering. + +"Oh, not at all," said the young man, cheerfully; "my mother likes to do +things for herself, and I dare say has not a very high opinion of our +judgment in domestic matters. You don't seem over-pleased, it seems to +me, Agnes, at the notion of a _tête-à-tête_ with your humble servant;" +and Mr. Charles pouted, half in fun and half with annoyance. + +"No, no; it is not that, Charles," answered the girl, hastily. "You know +I have no pleasure equal to that of being with you; but I don't like +your mother's looks; she had such a strange air, and spoke so +differently from her usual way. I really scarcely like to leave her." + +"My dear Agnes, you don't know my mother," returned Charles, laughing. +"One would sometimes think she had all the care of the world upon her +shoulders when every thing is going as smooth as oil. You don't +appreciate the grave responsibility of taking furnished lodgings for a +week certain. Come along, you little goose." And, drawing her still +hesitating arm within his own, he marched away with her. + +Yet Agnes had reason for what she said; and Charles, somewhat selfish as +he was, would have foregone his flirtation and remained by his mother's +side had he seen her the moment after the house door had shut her in. + +With a throbbing heart, and a face as white as the handkerchief she +passed over her damp brow, she leaned against the wall of the passage, +ere, with trembling steps, she approached the open parlor door. An aged +woman stood in the centre of the room, with hair as white as snow, but +with a figure straight as a poplar, and drawn up rigidly to its full +height. + +"Why do you come back again?" cried she, in accents soft as milk, yet +bitter as gall. "Why do you cross my threshold, you false witch, when +there is nothing more to blight and blast? Did you think I should not +know you, that you dared to come? I should know you among all the +fair-faced fiends in hell." + +"Mercy, mercy, Mrs. Yorke!" cried Harry, feebly; and she fell upon her +knees, and made as though she would have clasped the other's garments +with her stretched-out arms. + +"Don't touch me, lest I strike you," answered the old woman, fiercely, +"as, nineteen years ago, I would have struck you on your cruel lips, and +spoiled the beauty that was the ruin of my boy! May _you_ have sons to +perish through false wantons, and to pine in prison! May _you_ be +desolate, and without heart or hope, as I am! Go, devil, go, and rid me +of your hateful presence!" + +"Hear me, hear me, Mrs. Yorke!" pleaded the other, with clasped hands. +"Strike me, spit upon me, if you will, but only hear me! Abject as I +look, wretched as I feel--as I knew I must needs look and feel--I have +longed for this hour to come, as my boy longs for his bridal morning!" + +"May he wake the next to find his bride a corpse; or, better still, to +find her false, like you." + +"I am not false; I never was; Heaven knows it!" cried Harry, +passionately. "I do not blame you for your bitter words. I have earned +your curses, though I meant to earn your blessing." + +"My blessing!" Contempt and hatred struggled for the mastery in her +tone. "Richard, Richard! in your chains and toil, do you hear this? This +woman meant to earn my blessing!" + +"Upon my soul--whose salvation I would have imperiled to save him--I did +my best, although it seemed my worst," cried Harry. "That I was weak and +credulous and fearful is most true; but indeed, indeed, I was faithful +to your son. My father--he is dead, madam, and past your judgment" (for +the fury in the other's eyes had blazed up afresh at the mention of +him)--"deceived me with false hopes; for fear alone--though I was timid +too--would never have caused me to break the promise I had passed to +you. He said, if I disgraced myself and him by the perjury I +contemplated, that he would thrust me from his door forever; that in the +lips of all the world my name would become another word for shame and +infamy; that even the man I loved would loathe me when I had thus served +his turn. I answered him, 'No matter, so I save my Richard.' Then he +said, 'But you will not save him; you will ruin him, rather, by this +very evidence you purpose to give. We have proof enough of this Yorke's +guilt, no matter what you swear; and we have proof, besides, of his +having committed other offenses, if we choose to adduce it. All you will +effect is to make yourself shameful.' Then I hesitated, not knowing what +to think. 'The case is this,' argued my father: 'I have no grudge +against this young scoundrel, since the money has been all recovered, +and I don't want revenge--else, as I say, I can easily get it. But I'll +have him taught a lesson; he must be punished for the wrong he has done, +but not severely. Before the judge passes sentence, I, the prosecutor, +will beg him off: such an appeal is always listened to, you know, and I +will make it. But if you dare to speak for him, as I hear you mean to +do--if you, my daughter, call yourself thief and trollop to save his +skin, then shall he rot in jail! He shall, by Heaven! His fate hangs on +my lips, not yours,'" + +"Can this be true?" mused the old woman. + +"It _is_ true, so help me Heaven!" cried Harry. "I was a fool, a poor, +weak, shuddering fool, but not a traitress. If you were in court, and +saw me look at him--the smile I gave by which I meant to assure him all +was well, however ill it seemed--You _did_ see it; I see you did. You do +believe me. Oh, thank Heaven--thank Heaven!" + +She began to sob and cry, and caught hold of the old woman's hand and +kissed it, while the other stood silent, still in doubt. + +"Oh, madam, pity me. That you have suffered torments for long years is +plain to see, and yet you have not, though he was your son, been +tortured as I have. You could not have freed him by a word as I could; +and oh, I did not utter it! I seemed to be his judge, his jailer, the +cause of all his woes, to the man I loved--and loved beyond all others! +I hated my own father for his sake. I"--she shuddered--"I was married to +Richard's rival. You at least have been alone, not companioned night and +day by one who helped to doom him. Your case is hard and bitter--but +mine! not our own Richard, in his chains and toil, has suffered what _I_ +have suffered! Look at me, madam, and tell me if I speak truth or lie." + +"Yes, yes," mused Mrs. Yorke, in tender tones, and passing her fingers +over the other's silvering hair and haggard face; "I do--I must believe +it. I should not have known you to-day had you not called me by my name. +You must have mourned for him indeed. Is this the cheek he loved to +kiss? Is this the hair a lock of which I took to comfort him in prison? +Poor soul--poor soul!" + +"How is he, madam?" whispered Harry, hoarsely. "Is he well? Is he free?" + +"Not yet, Harry. In a year hence he will be. I had a letter only +yesterday. But you must never see him; and if you really love him--I +speak it for his sake, not theirs--you must never let him set eyes on +your husband or your boy." + +"I do not wish to see him; it would be too terrible to bear," groaned +Harry. + +"But he must not see _them_," insisted the other, gravely. "You must put +the sea between yourselves and him, or there will be murder done. His +wrath is terrible, and will be the destruction of both them and him. The +hope of vengeance is the food he lives upon, and without which he would +have perished years ago. Even if you persuaded him, as you have +convinced _me_, that you yourself are innocent of his ruin, that would +only make him firmer in his purpose against your husband. He will have +his life-blood, and then his own will pay for it. If I had not seen you, +I meant to see this man, and give him warning six months before Richard +left the prison." + +"Solomon would never heed it," exclaimed Harry, "nor even believe it if +I told him." + +"He will believe _me_," said the other, composedly. "You must bring him +here that I may tell him. Your Solomon must be a fool indeed not to +hearken when a mother warns him against her own son. Mind, I do not +blame my Richard, woman!" continued Mrs. Yorke, with sudden passion; "he +has had provocation enough; it is but right to kill such vermin, and I +could stand by and smile to see him do it. But they must be kept apart, +I say--this man and Richard--lest a worse thing befall him than has +happened already." + +"Never to see him more!" moaned Harry, covering her face with her hands; +"never to tell him I was not the wretch I seemed! only to fear him as an +enemy to me and mine--" + +"Ay, and to himself," interrupted the other, gravely. "If you would not +inflict far more on him than you have done already; if you would not--as +you will, if you neglect my warning--designedly bring him to a shameful +death, as you have involuntarily doomed him to a shameful life, keep +these two men apart. If you love this son of yours, remove him from the +reach of mine." + +"Great Heaven!" cried Harry, shuddering, "would he harm my boy--my +innocent boy?" + +"Ay, as he would set his heel upon his father--the viper and his brood. +It is no idle menace he has breathed so cautiously that the whisper +might well escape even another ear than mine, in every letter for these +many years. He thirsts for liberty, not for his own sake, but for the +slow-ripening vengeance it shall bear. He will have it, unless we save +him from himself by saving them from him, as sure as yonder inky cloud +will fall in storm. The thought of it was full grown in his mind when he +wrote from Cross Key: '_They are dead to me, those three, at present_,' +and forbade me ever to mention them by name; and since then he has +thought of nothing else. The day of retribution is about to dawn. I say +again, beware of him." + +"But he must be mad to cherish--" + +"Perhaps he is," interrupted the old woman, coldly; "he will not be less +dangerous on that account to those who made him mad." + +There was a long silence. Then Harry, in submissive tones, inquired what +Mrs. Yorke would have her do. + +"Bring your husband hither," returned she. "Take the rooms up stairs, +and leave the task of telling him his peril to me: the sooner it is done +the better. There is but a year at most--not much too long to sell his +goods, and get him away across the world, erasing every footstep behind +him. If he leave one--no matter how slight the clew--Richard will track +him like a blood-hound." + +"We will come here at once--to-morrow," cried Harry, eagerly. + +"Good. My name is Basil now, remember; not that it is likely," she +added, bitterly, "that you will call me Yorke from habit; it is not a +household word with you, I reckon." + +"It is never breathed," said Harry, simply; "but, oh, madam, I _think_ +of him, indeed I do! He was my first love, and my last; and though he +should kill me for the crime, of which I have shown myself guiltless, I +should pray God bless him with my latest breath. Yet he must curse _me_ +forever! He must never know but that I was the willing agent of his +ruin!" + +"'Tis true, I dare not mention your name, Harry," said Mrs. Yorke, +sadly; "and, if I told him, all the knowledge of the deception practiced +on you would only make him the more bitter against your husband--the man +who, by connivance in your father's cruel falsehood, obtained you for +his wife, while his rival pined in prison. I do not blame you for your +marriage--I know the force of stern necessity too well. But do not +imagine that Richard could forgive you: he never, never could." + +"I know it, I know it," sighed Harry, shuddering, "and yet he would pity +me if he did but know what my life has been--almost as much as I have +pitied _him_. But you, madam, _you_ at least have forgiven me; you +believe me; you will not refuse to bless me, as his mother, before I +go." + +"I believe you, and therefore I forgive you," answered Mrs. Yorke, with +tenderness; "and if I believed in blessings, and had the power of +bestowing them, you should have your wish. From henceforth we two are +friends--though I never thought to kiss your cheek again, Harry--and +must work together for the good of him we love in common. You will be +here to-morrow for certain, then?" + +"Without fail we shall." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +THE OMEN. + + +Mrs. Coe was as good as her word, and her husband and son were Mrs. +Basil's lodgers within four-and-twenty hours. Solomon Coe was not very +particular as to furnished apartments, and left such arrangements wholly +to his wife. On the other hand, he confided to her but little respecting +his affairs, nor was she, on her part, curious to inquire into them. Man +and wife had few things in common, and affection was not one of them. +Solomon had married Harry with the full consciousness that another was +preferred before him; the disclosures at the trial, and the subsequent +gossip of his neighbors, had placed that fact beyond a doubt. But he was +not to be balked of the bride that had been promised him so long; nor, +above all, should his rival enjoy even the barren victory of Harry's +remaining unwedded for his sake. There are marriages born of pique and +spite on man's part as well as woman's; and Solomon's was one of them, +although he reaped, of course, material advantages besides. Trevethick +had survived more than ten years, during which he had largely increased +his savings; and at his death all these had reverted to his daughter and +her husband. The wealth that had thus poured in upon Solomon through +Harry's means did not purchase for her any new regard; he had never +ill-treated her, in a material sense, but he had spoken ash-sticks, +though he had used none. On the slightest quarrel, that "jail-bird +friend of yours" had been thrown in her face, and the cowardly missile +was still cast at her upon occasion. The birth of their child had not +cemented their union. As he grew up his character showed itself as +foreign to that of his father as was his personal appearance. He was +slight in figure, delicate in appearance (though not in constitution), +and fastidious in taste. His choice of an artist's calling was not so +objectionable to Solomon as might be imagined; he had not sensitiveness +enough to abhor it from association, and, as has been said, he thought +it might be made to co-operate with his own commercial schemes. But the +artist nature was in antagonism to his own, and Charles and his father +were not on affectionate terms with one another. + +The wayward, handsome lad was, on the other hand, adored by his mother. +Her intelligence, not naturally acute, was quickened to see his faults, +not indeed as such, but as possible causes of misfortune to him. His too +lively impulses, his indecision, his love of pleasure, were all sources +of apprehension to her, though scarcely ever of rebuke. She saw in Agnes +Aird, his tutor's daughter--so simple, yet so sensible and sterling, so +faithful, pure, and true--the very girl to make her son a fitting wife; +an antidote for what was amiss in him; her honest heart a sheet-anchor +to hold him fast, not in the turbid ocean of excess, for her Charley was +too good to tempt it, but through that sparkling sea of gayety in which +he was too apt to plunge. She was beautiful enough even for him to mate +with; she was better born and better trained than he; for old Jacob Aird +was none of those irregular geniuses of the pencil, addicted to +gin-punch and Shelley, and selfish to the core, but a plain honest man, +who had brought up his daughter well--in tastes a lady, but housewifely +and wisely too. As for the inequality of wealth between them, her son +would have enough for both; and it was certain that Agnes did not love +him for his expectations, for they were unknown alike to her and him. +Harry had never led him to believe that he would be a rich man; her +love, as we have said, had made her wise in all that concerned Charley; +and as for his father, he was naturally reticent in such matters. He did +not spend one fifth part of his income. His habits were as inexpensive +as they had been in the old days at Gethin; and if the village folks had +ever hinted to the young fellow of his father's wealth, he had no +conception of its real extent. The idea itself, too, would have had no +great interest for him; he liked to have money for the pleasure of +spending it, but it was never the object of his thoughts; he was too +careless, too much the creature of the hour, to forecast his future. His +mother gave him all she could, but he was aware that it was obtained +with difficulty; the cost of his very education, which he had received +at a school near Turlock, had, he knew, been grudged; his father had +often grumbled that it was money thrown away, for, "Look at me," said +he; "I taught myself." There was always, in short, a tightness in the +Coe money market that augured any thing but pecuniary prosperity. + +The very fact of their having taken lodgings at Mr. Aird's house, +situated as it was in Soho, a respectable but far from fashionable +locality, argued but moderate means, and placed the artist out of all +suspicion of setting his pretty daughter as a matrimonial snare for +Charley. She was pretty enough and good enough, the old man justly +thought, for him or for his betters; and though he regarded the +good-will which the young people evidently entertained for one another +with favor, he saw in it neither condescension nor advantage. Solomon, +much engaged in business affairs away from home, and estimating, +besides, the power of love at a low rate, was not seriously alarmed at +the growing attachment between his son and Agnes, nor would have been +had it advanced much farther. He thought he had only to say "No," to put +a stop to it at any point. Still he had determined to place the boy out +of the reach of such temptation as a pretty girl living beneath the same +roof must always offer to susceptible youth; and hence it was that Mrs. +Coe had engaged new lodgings. But even now, so lightly did his father +think of the matter, that Charley was still to be permitted to visit at +Mr. Aird's daily, and take his drawing-lessons as heretofore. + +An excuse for the change of residence had been afforded in the fact that +Soho was too far from the parks, in which alone Mrs. Coe took pleasure +in walking. She was quite unaccustomed to town life, and the roar and +tumult of the streets annoyed and even alarmed her. In some respects, +indeed, she was even a more nervous, timid creature than she had been as +a girl; the warning just received from Mrs. Yorke had not fallen upon +her altogether unexpectedly, though she could not have been said to be +prepared for it. A vague apprehension of Richard's vengeance had haunted +her whole married life; she did not fear for her own safety; something +told her that his anger would scorn to harm herself; that it would pass +over her head like a flaming sword, and smite her husband and her boy; +and as face after face passed by her in the crowded street, she would +shrink and tremble, thinking that that of Richard Yorke would come one +day, and recognize her own, and track it home. Was he not fated to work +their common ruin? Did not the spectre ship cross Turlock Sands before +she met his face for the first time? Though so mature in years, Harry +was indeed as superstitious as ever. A curious instance of this occurred +on the day that the Coes moved into their new lodgings. The mother and +son had arrived first--Solomon being engaged in the City until +evening--and Charley had strolled into the ground-floor parlor, while +the landlady (whom he had not yet seen) was engaged with his mother up +stairs in the distribution of the luggage. Above the chimney-piece hung +that striking if not attractive portrait of Joanna Southcott and her +amanuensis, with which we are already acquainted; and it tickled the +young man's fancy amazingly. He concluded it was a family group--the +likeness, perhaps, of Mrs. Basil and her late husband engaged in making +out their weekly accounts. "I will beg Agnes not to be jealous of our +charming landlady," thought he, and took out his note-book with the +intention of transferring the likeness for that young lady's amusement. +While engaged in this occupation the door opened, and in stepped Mrs. +Basil and her new tenant. In his alarm and haste he stepped back +suddenly, and overthrew a little table, on which were some ornaments, he +knew not what, which rolled to his mother's feet. She uttered a cry of +horror; and the landlady herself stood still, regarding him with a face +of astonishment, and even terror. + +"Is that--your--son?" exclaimed she, clutching his mother by the arm. + +But Mrs. Coe did not seem to hear her. + +"Look, look!" cried she; "the skull, the skull! Oh, is it not a +frightful omen!" + +"I am really very sorry," said Charley, picking up the article in +question; "it was very stupid of me, Mrs. Basil." + +"Don't mention it, young Sir," said the landlady, who had apparently +recovered from her sudden tremor; "the skull is no worse for its roll, +you see; he was fortunately a hard-headed gentleman who originally owned +it." + +"Indeed," said Charley, taking it from her hand with some curiosity, +"it seems a curious ornament for a sitting-room. May I ask whom it +belonged to when it had flesh about it?" + +"It is the skull of Swedenborg," answered Mrs. Basil. "A near relative +of mine was a disciple of his, and left it to me as a most precious +relic." + +"But how the deuce did he get possession of it?" inquired the young man. + +"Well, not very fairly, as it seems to me," smiled the landlady. "While +your mother sits down and rests herself--for I am afraid you have +frightened her a bit--I'll tell you the story." + +"Yes, yes," said Mrs. Coe, faintly; "I shall be better presently; don't +mind me." + +"Well, the tale runs thus, Sir. Swedenborg was buried in the vault +beneath the Swedish embassador's chapel in Princes Square, Ratcliffe +Highway; and a certain theologian having once affirmed that all great +philosophers took their bodies with them into the world of spirits, and +that this gentleman had done the like, leave was obtained to settle this +point by actual examination. The body was found, and the theologian +confuted, but no trouble was taken to solder on again the lid of the +coffin. A thieving Swede, attending a funeral of one of his countrymen +in the same vault, remarked this circumstance, and stole the skull, with +the intention of selling it to some disciple of the great philosopher's; +and I am ashamed to say that he found a purchaser in my respected +relative: and that's how I became possessed of Swedenborg's skull." + +"Very curious, though rather larcenous," observed the young man, +laughing. "And this good lady over the mantel-piece, who is she?" + +"That's Joanna Southcott. But, my good young gentleman, I will answer +all your questions another time. Your mother and I will have enough to +do to arrange matters before your father comes home. You will excuse my +freedom, Sir." + +"Certainly," said Charley, rather amused than otherwise with the +landlady's bluntness. "I know I'm in the way just now; so I'll step out +for half an hour or so. I am sorry I frightened you, dear mother." + +He stooped and kissed her fondly; and then, with a smile and a nod at +Mrs. Basil, stepped into the little passage and out of doors, and, +whistling, passed the window down the street. + +"Your son has a light heart," said Mrs. Basil, looking at Harry very +earnestly. "How old is he?" + +"Eighteen--or a little less." + +"He looks his age _at least_," observed the other, emphatically. + +"Yes; dark people always do." + +"And your husband is dark, like him, I remember." + +"Yes; his complexion is swarthy, though he is not slim, like Charles." + +Mrs. Coe, still in the arm-chair into which she had first sunk, here +closed her eyes; either the faintness of which she had complained was +coming on again, or she did not wish to meet the other's searching gaze. + +There was a long pause, during which Mrs. Basil went to the cellaret, +and pouring out a glass of sherry, put it to her tenant's lips. + +"Do you feel better now?" said she, when Harry had drunk it. + +"Yes, yes; much better. But that skull--oh, horrible! it rolled from him +to me. What an omen on your very threshold! Heaven guard my Charles from +evil!" + +"This is weakness, Mrs. Coe. The skull is harmless; and it rolled +because your son upset it." + +"Yes, my son," gasped the other, trembling. "It is for him I fear. It +augurs death--death--death!" + +There was a ring at the front-door, decisive, sharp, and resonant. + +"Great Heaven!" cried Harry; "if it should be he himself! Hide me away; +put me out of sight." Her terror was piteous to behold: she shook in +every limb. + +"It is the post," said Mrs. Basil, contemptuously; and she was right. +The servant brought in a letter for her mistress. + +"I don't know the hand," mused she. "Black-bordered, and black-sealed +too." She opened it without excitement, and read it through: it was but +a few lines. + +"Your omen has proved true for once, Mrs. Coe," said she, in quiet +tones. "This speaks of death." + +"Whose death?" cried Harry. + +"My husband's, Richard's father. Carew of Crompton died last night." + +There was no sorrow in the aged woman's face: a gravity, unmixed with +tenderness, possessed it. Carew was naught to her, and had been naught +for twoscore years. But the tide of memory was at its flow within her +brain; and because the Past _is_ Past it touches us. This man had loved +her once, after his own scornful manner, when he was young, and before +power and selfishness had made him stone. He had been the father of her +only son, and now he was Dead. + +"I am so sorry," said Harry, not quite knowing what to say. + +"There is no need for sorrow," replied the other, quietly. "Let us go up +stairs and finish our work." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +WITCHERY. + + +Carew of Crompton was really dead, as men said, "at last," not that he +had been long dying, or was an old man, but that he had eventually +succumbed to one of those deadly risks to which he had so often +voluntarily exposed himself. On the occasion which had been fatal to him +he had started from home one frosty morning at the gallop, with a cigar +in his mouth, the reins on his horse's neck, and both his hands in his +pockets, and had been pitched off and broken his neck within half a mile +of his own door. His chaplain, who had dispatched the news to Mrs. +Basil, had been riding by his side at the very moment. "He was a good +friend to me," was the laconic remark that poor Parson Whymper had added +to the bare intelligence. + +To judge by the regretful excitement in the Midlands, Carew might have +been a good friend to every body. The news was at once telegraphed to +town, and appeared in the evening papers. The public interest in his mad +freaks had of late years grown somewhat faint--his extravagances were, +perforce, on a less splendid scale--but his death revived it. "So that +mad Carew has killed himself, after all," was the observation frequently +overheard that evening, as acquaintance met acquaintance on their +homeward way from business. "Well, he's had his whack of most things," +was the reply of the philosophers; "He has not left much to tempt his +heirs to be extravagant, I reckon," of the cynics; "He was a deuced good +fellow at bottom, I believe," remarked those who were secretly desirous +of earning the same eulogium for themselves; "He was altogether wrong at +top," answered the charitable. + +Solomon Coe came home to his new abode in such a state of elation that +it even made him communicative to his wife. Mrs. Basil happened to be +with her in the drawing-room, but he only acknowledged her presence by a +hasty nod. "Well, what d'ye think, Carew of Crompton, that was your +father's landlord and mine"--Solomon never said "ours" with reference to +property--"has broken his neck at last!" + +Of course the very name of Carew was a sore subject between man and +wife, on account of Richard Yorke's connection with him; but it suited +Solomon's purpose on this occasion to ignore that circumstance. It would +be necessary for some time to come to allude to the Crompton property +more or less, and it was just as well to begin at once; it was also less +embarrassing to do so in the presence of a third person. + +"Yes, Solomon, I knew Mr. Carew was dead," said Harry, gravely. The next +instant she turned scarlet with the consciousness of her thoughtless +indiscretion. + +"Oh," grunted her husband, annoyed at what he deemed her sulky manner, +when he himself was so graciously inclined to be conciliatory, and also +displeased to find his news anticipated, "you've been buying an evening +paper, have you? You must have more money than you know what to do with, +it seems to me." + +Harry was thankfully accepting this imputation in silence, when Mrs. +Basil's soft voice was heard. "No, Sir; it was I who told your good +lady. I had a letter from Crompton by the afternoon's post." + +"The devil you did!" cried Solomon, turning sharply upon her. "How came +that about?" + +"I was housekeeper at Crompton, Sir, in old Mrs. Carew's time, for some +years, and one of the servants wrote to let me know of the accident." + +"Housekeeper, were you?" said Solomon, with interest. "That must have +been a good place, with deuced good pickings, eh?" + +"Solomon, Solomon," remonstrated his wife, in a low voice, "Mrs. Basil +is quite a lady. Don't you see that you offend her?" + +It is more than probable that, under ordinary circumstances, Mr. Coe +would have resented this rebuke with choleric vehemence; but he had his +reasons for being good-humored in the present instance. "You must excuse +my country manners, Mrs. Basil," said he. "As my wife will tell you, I +must always have my joke; but I mean no offense. So you were housekeeper +at Crompton, were you? Well, now, that's curious, for Mrs. Coe's father +and I myself, as you heard me saying, have had a great deal to do with +Carew. You knew him well, of course?" + +"Yes, Sir; I did." + +"And the place too, of course. It was a very fine one, was it not? +Plenty of pictures, and looking-glasses, and things?" + +"It was very richly furnished." + +It was curious to mark the difference of manner between questioner and +respondent. Solomon, usually so reticent and reserved, was grown quite +voluble. Mrs. Basil, on the other hand, naturally so apt in speech, +seemed to reply with difficulty. She was weighing every word. + +"The estate, I suppose, was out of your beat; you did not have much to +do with that?" + +"I used to walk in the park, Sir, most days." + +"Ay; but the property generally? The friend who writes you to-day don't +say any thing about _that_, I suppose--whether any of it is to be sold +or not, for instance?" + +"The report--of course, being a servant, she can only speak from +report--is that Mr. Carew's affairs are in a sad state. Every thing, I +believe, is to be sold at once. The whole estate is said to be--I don't +know if I use the right term--mortgaged." + +"Just so," replied Solomon; "yes, yes. That is so, no doubt." There was +a slight pause; Mrs. Basil courtesied, and was about to leave the room. +"Stop a bit, ma'am," said Solomon. "My wife tells me that you are a lone +woman--a widow. Perhaps you'd like to take a bit of dinner with us +to-day?" + +Harry began to think her husband was intoxicated. He did get +occasionally so when any particularly good stroke of business was in +course of progress, and on such occasions his manner was unusually +affable; but she had never seen him half so gracious as at present. +Hospitality, though he did sometimes bring a mining agent or a broker +home to dinner, was by no means his strong point. Mrs. Basil looked +doubtfully at her dress, which, though homely, was perfectly well-made +and lady-like, and murmured something about its being almost the +dinner-hour, and there being "no time." + +"Oh, never mind your gown" (which, by-the-by, Solomon pronounced +"gownd"); "we're quite plain people ourselves, as my wife will tell you. +You shall take pot-luck with us. Where's Charley? That boy's always +late." + +But at that very moment the young gentleman in question entered the +room, at the same time as did the servant with the announcement that +dinner was on the table. + +The astonishment of the domestic at seeing her mistress taken down to +the dining-room by the new lodger was only exceeded by that of Charley, +as, with his mother on his arm, he followed the strangely assorted pair. +"I knew she was a witch," he murmured, "with her human skull and her +Joanna Southcott; but this beats old Margery's doings at Gethin." + +"Hush, hush!" whispered his mother, for Charley's high spirits and +audacity always terrified her when exhibited in his father's presence: +"they have found they have a common acquaintance, and so made friends." + +"Father didn't know Swedenborg, did he?" answered the young man, slyly. +"My belief is, he has fallen in love with her. I saw a black cat on the +stairs. She can make any body do it, as I was telling Aggey" (the young +rogue had been to Soho since the morning); "I shall be the next victim, +no doubt. It's no use saying to myself, 'Thou shalt not marry thy +grandmother.' Her charms are too powerful for the rubric. You'll see +she'll not say grace." + +Mr. Charles was right in that particular of his diagnosis of their new +guest. Mrs. Basil did treat that devotional formula, which Mrs. Coe +never omitted to pronounce, in spite of her husband's contemptuous +shrugs, with considerable indifference. She sat opposite to Charley, and +more than once, when he looked up suddenly, he caught her gaze fixed +earnestly upon him. Those wondrous eyes of hers yet shone forth bright +and clear; her cheeks were still smooth; and, though her brow had many a +wrinkle, they were the footprints of thought and care, rather than of +years. + +The conversation, as was natural where the company and the guest were +strangers to each other, turned upon the topics of the day, and the +objects in the room, some of which, as we know, were sufficiently +remarkable. At Charley's request Mrs. Basil once more narrated the story +of the skull; and then epitomized, with caustic tongue, the biography of +poor Joanna. Up stairs, she said, she had one of that lady's "seals"--a +passport to eternal bliss--which she would bestow as a present upon the +young gentleman opposite. Her cynical humor delighted Charley, and won +the approbation of his father--not the less so, perhaps, since he saw it +annoyed his wife. + +Poor Harry was a simple well-meaning woman in her way, and, had the +circumstances of her life been less exceptional, would have earned the +reputation of a good creature and steadfast chapel-goer. But our lives +do not always fall in the places most suitable to our dispositions; the +restive are often compelled to run in harness; and the quiet low-action +goers, who would welcome restraint, are left without guide, and with no +course marked out for them. Thus it was with Mrs. Coe. The situation in +which Fate had placed her it was altogether beyond her powers to fill. +She knew that Mrs. Basil was rapidly ingratiating herself with her +husband, and so far was furthering their common plan; but, +notwithstanding its supreme importance, she shrank from the means that +were bidding fair to accomplish her own end. She shuddered at her +husband's vulgar ejaculations of assent and approval; at her son's +thoughtless laughter; at this woman's sparkling and audacious talk, +which seemed so purposeless, and yet was so full of design and craft. +She had feared her and shrank from her at Gethin, and she feared her +now. And yet how necessary was her assistance! Of her own self she was +well aware that she could do nothing to avert that coming peril from her +husband and her son, the shadow of which had darkened all her married +life, and was now deepening into blackest doom. It was absolutely +necessary that Mrs. Basil should obtain the confidence of Solomon, and +perhaps of Charley also, and yet this unlooked-for and swift success of +hers was far from welcome to poor Harry. It really almost seemed that +there was truth in what her son had spoken in jest--that there was +witchcraft in it. + +Solomon was now talking earnestly to Mrs. Basil in low tones, while +Charley looked toward his mother with raised eyebrows, and a comic +expression, which seemed to say, "She's got him, you see; I did see a +black cat on the stairs." + +If she could have overheard her husband's talk, it would still have been +inexplicable to her. + +"Then you think this sale at Crompton will take place directly after the +funeral?" + +"I should certainly imagine so--yes." + +"There is something--you needn't tell my wife, because I wish it to be a +surprise for her--that I should like to buy at it; something I have long +had my eye on." + +"Some piece of furniture, I suppose. Well, you must be prepared to give +a good sum, I fear. From the curiosity of the thing--the reputation, I +mean, of poor Mr. Carew--it is likely things will fetch more than their +price." + +"Perhaps so. But I should like to know, as soon as possible, when the +sale comes off. From your connection with the place, you will be able to +get news of this before the general public--I mean the exact date." + +"No doubt. I will write to-morrow, and beg that the information may be +sent me." + +"I should feel much obliged if you would, Mrs. Basil." + +"I'll write this very night. You wish to know the day on which the sale +of the furniture may be fixed?" + +"Yes; and of all the other things: of the estates as well, for instance; +there may be some land that may prove a good investment. Don't make a +fuss about it, but say you have a friend who is interested. The +catalogue of effects, with the dates appointed for the sale of each, +will, of course, be settled down there. I want to have an early copy." + +"That is very simple," said Mrs. Basil, making a memorandum in her +pocket-book: "you shall be among the very first to get one, Mr. Coe--you +may rely on that." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +OVER THE ROOF. + + +Richard Yorke is still at Lingmoor; and though but a twelvemonth +intervenes between him and freedom--or perhaps partly because of +it--prison life is growing insupportable. It is the last year of "a long +term," as all "old hands" will tell you, which is the most trying. +Impatience becomes more incontrollable as the limit of suffering is +neared; and just as, after a tedious and dangerous illness, the +convalescent will rise too soon, and risk a relapse in his feverish +desire to be well, so a prisoner will often make some wild endeavors to +escape, when, if he did but wait a little--a span of time compared with +that in which he has lain captive--his jealous doors would open of +themselves to let him pass in safety. But there are other reasons which +are pressing Richard toward flight, and goading him (as he feels) to +madness if he remain quiescent. He has quarreled with all about him, and +has suffered for it; and he is now menaced with worse things. His +sullenness, his brooding ire, have long transformed his nature; +civility, and even obedience, have become impossible for him. He kicks, +as it were, against a chevaux-de-frise of steel. He has been starved on +bread and water, and grown thin and fierce. He has been put, and not for +nothing, into the dark cell for hours, to brood, as usual, and has come +forth a more reckless devil than he went in. + +His warder and he are open foes. That cross-grained official has taken a +strong antipathy to him, which is more than reciprocated; and every, +time he enters his cell sets foot, though unconscious of the fact, on +the very threshold of the grave. He is the keeper of one who is almost a +madman; but the latter is sane on one point yet--he knows to whom his +vengeance is mainly due; and while that knowledge lasts his lesser foe +is safe from him--safe, that is, at present; but a provocation may be +given which would compel this long-suffering victim--in years scarce a +middle-aged man, in appearance gray and withered as the oldest within +those prison walls--to give his passion way, and slay him. If something +should take place, which this warder himself has prophesied would +happen, it will be so; and all Richard's hoarded hate would then be +useless, since it would have no heir. There has been flogging in the +prison--an unusual punishment, and only inflicted for great offenses, or +for continued contumacy and bad conduct. A conspiracy was discovered, +and seven of the ringleaders received three dozen lashes each, in +presence of all the inmates of the jail. It was a punishment perhaps +deserved and necessary, but sickening enough to witness. Richard's +warder stood beside him, and while the cat was descending on one +wretch's naked back, observed in a grim whisper: "Do you take warning, +my man; for if you are reported again, the governor says you are to have +a dose of the same medicine." + +Whether the man spoke truth or not, Richard believed him. It was more +than probable that he _would_ be reported, and by the very voice that +uttered the menace. In a twelvemonth's time there were three hundred and +sixty-five opportunities, ten times told, of its being fulfilled. If +such a sentence was ever passed upon him, as it was almost sure to be, +Richard was well resolved that it should not be carried out; rather +should this man die, and he himself, his slayer, be hung for it. His +desire for vengeance upon those who had blasted his young life so +cruelly was as strong as ever--nay, stronger, fiftyfold; but he knew +that he could never bear the lash. Somehow or other, therefore, at all +risks, he must escape from Lingmoor. + +Robert Balfour was to be set free in a few days, his conduct, though not +good, having earned that much of remission. Richard was not envious of +him, yet the contrast of their two positions made him perhaps more +desperate and reckless. Of late months the old man had been admitted to +certain privileges accorded to such as have almost worked out their +time, or who are otherwise recommended for them. He had been employed as +"a cleaner," then as "a special"--in which position he was permitted to +work out of doors without an attendant warder, and even (in his +particular case, for he was growing very old and feeble) to have leave +of absence for an hour or two. On some occasions it was his duty to +bring round the prisoners' meals; and then he saw Richard, and could +even exchange a word or two with him alone. This happened upon the +afternoon of the day when the public flogging had taken place. + +"Balfour," said Richard, earnestly, "will you do me a favor?" + +"Yes, lad, any thing," replied the old man, softly. The word "lad" +seemed so inapplicable to that gray-headed, care-lined face, which he +had known so young and comely, that the misuse of it touched the +speaker. "You know I will." + +"Even though you should run a risk," said Richard, "within a day or two +of your freedom?" + +"Ay; for your sake, I would do that and more." + +"God bless you, if there be a God!" answered those haggard lips. "Ask +leave to go to the village to-morrow, and get me a file." + +"Hush!--the warder." + +The conversation thus interrupted was resumed next day. + +"Here is the file," said Balfour; "hide it in your mattress. But, lad, +you will be mad to use it. I pray you be patient. It is only a +twelvemonth now." + +Richard shook his head, with a ghastly smile. "I must try," said he. + +"Nay, nay; you will be retaken and flogged, lad; think of that." + +"I shall never be retaken, Balfour, at least alive." + +It was easy enough to read in Richard's face the corroboration of his +words. + +"Have you any plan?" asked the old man, disconsolately. + +"I have. From my window here I see an open shed, with a coil of rope in +it. I shall file my bars, and get that rope to-night; climb back again +here, and over the roof. I have calculated the distance from outside. I +feel sure I can reach the parapet with my finger-tips as I stand upon +the window-ledge, then let myself down into the exercising-yard upon the +west side." + +"The walls about that yard are sixty feet high, lad." + +"There is a spout in the north corner which will help me up; and if I +reach the top without a broken neck, I make fast my rope, and slide on +to the moor. From thence, no matter how dark it is--and it will be +pitch-dark, I reckon--I can make Bergen Wood. No power on earth shall +stop me. If you told the warder yonder of my plan this moment, I should +still escape--in another and more certain fashion." To look at him and +read the resolute despair in his white face was to have no doubt of +that. + +"What must be must be," sighed the old man. "But for _my_ sake, lad--for +mine, who love you as a father loves his own son--be patient till +to-morrow. This is my last day at Lingmoor. To-morrow I shall be free. +I'll come at night to the wall of the west yard, and throw a rope over +the north corner, close by the spout you mention. It shall be made fast +on my side, and if you do but lay hold of it, the rest is easy. Your +scheme, as it now stands, is hopeless. No squirrel could climb that +spout, far less a man reduced as you are;" and he glanced significantly +at Richard's shrunken limbs. + +"You are the best of friends, Balfour--indeed, the only man that ever +_was_ my friend." He stopped, as if overcome by an emotion that was so +strange to him. "At midnight, then, to-morrow, I shall begin my work; +and in an hour from that time, if all goes well, I shall be at the spot +appointed. If I fail, you will remember Wheal Danes?" + +"Yes, yes; but you will not fail. Keep a good heart," whispered the old +man, as he hurried away at an approaching footstep. + +But, in reality, Balfour had no hope. His experience of such attempts, +and his knowledge of the difficulties to be surmounted in the present +instance, forbade any expectation of Richard's success, even in the +matter of getting outside the prison walls; and, supposing that was +done, and the wood reached, what was to be looked for further but slow +starvation or death from the sharp-tipped arrows of the wintry wind? +Still, Balfour's help was promised, and would be given; the old +cracksman had many faults and vices, but he was not one to desert a +friend at a pinch, and Richard Yorke was really dear to him. + +As for Richard, notwithstanding the seasonableness of the other's offer, +and although he was himself almost convinced that without such aid he +could never effect his object, no sooner was he left alone than he +regretted that he had passed his word to put off the attempt another +day. Suppose he should transgress some prison regulation between this +and then, or be reported by his hostile attendant without having +committed a transgression! There were thirty-six hours of such perilous +delay before him, and his impatience was already at fever-heat. By +standing on his metal wash-stand, and peering through his bars, he could +see that the coil of rope still lay in its accustomed place that +afternoon, but would it remain there till to-morrow night? The very act +of thus climbing to his window, which he could not resist, was a serious +offense; and if by any chance he should be found in possession of the +file--then all was over. He was fully determined only to part with it +with life itself. For once, the picture of Trevethick and his son-in-law +(for he had heard before he left Cross Key of Harry's marriage with his +rival), unsuspecting, complacent, and exposed to the full force of his +revenge, failed to occupy his gloating thoughts; they were fixed as ever +there, but on the means and not upon the end--his whole being was +engrossed in the coming enterprise. He feared the warder should read +that forbidden word "Escape" in his eager eyes, or on his restless lips. +A change of cell or a sudden examination of his bed-furniture--no +uncommon occurrence--would prove his ruin. He took the file out of his +mattress, and placed it in his breast: let that man beware who found it +there! + +At last the long night, which should have found him free, passed by, and +the next weary day. The appointed time had come. + +It was past midnight, and not a sound was heard in the vast prison; +there was no moon, but a few stars shone on him as he worked at the iron +bars; the noise of his file was muffled--he had rubbed it well with +soap--but every now and then he paused and listened. He half fancied he +could hear the distant tramp of the patrols, who, musket in hand, +watched the walls of Lingmoor from the roofs of its four stone towers; +but it was only fancy, and, at all events, no one else but they was +stirring. Years ago he had gauged those bars, and calculated that not +less than three must be sawn through to give his body room to pass; but +that was when he was young and plump and vigorous. He was vigorous +now--the fever within him seemed to give him the strength of ten--but he +was an old man to look at, and the flesh had left his bones. So much the +better; there were only two bars to file instead of three. Finding the +space sufficient, he twisted his blanket into a rope, fastened it to the +broken bars, and so, by its aid, slipped noiselessly into the yard. + +That portion of the prison was low, and consisted but of two stories; +another cell window was immediately beneath his own, but, as he knew, it +was not used for prisoners. Still, he trembled as he slipped past it. +Suppose a hand had been pushed through to clasp his limbs, or a voice +had given the alarm, and warned the watchful guards! But his feet +touched ground in safety. His eyes, accustomed for long years to cleave +the darkness, guided him straight to the shed and to the coil of rope. +He seized it as the shipwrecked mariner clutches that which is thrown +him from the shore to drag him through the roaring breakers, and then, +winding it about his waist, he retraced his steps. To return to his cell +window was comparatively easy; but to stand upon its narrow ledge, and, +clutching the parapet with his fingers, to draw himself up thereby, was +a task that few, without the hope of liberty to spur them, could have +accomplished. Three times he failed; without something more of purchase +for his hold, he felt the thing was beyond his powers. The question was, +how broad was the stone coping? If, by a sudden spring, he could catch +the other side of it, he might succeed; but if he missed, his hands +would slide from the smooth surface, his feet could not regain their +stand-point, and he would fall backward twenty feet or so upon the stone +courtyard. + +There was nothing for it but to run the risk. He gathered his strength +together, shut his eyes, and made a vigorous spring: one hand caught a +firm gripe, and, after a sharp struggle, the other gained it; then he +drew himself slowly up, and lay down in the gutter of the roof to gather +breath and look about him. The prison was built like the four spokes of +a wheel; and, indeed, with the high wall circling round it, did closely +resemble that image. Nearly the whole of the building could have been +seen, had it been light enough, from his present position; but, as it +was, only the west wing was dimly visible, with its guardian tower +standing blackly up against its dark back-ground of wintry night sky. He +could not make out the sentry on its top; but now and then, when his +circuit brought him nearest to his hiding-place, he could hear his +measured footfall. + +Like a creeping thing, for he scarce used hand or foot at all, Richard +slowly crawled and slid along the sloping roof, then swiftly over the +vertex, while the patrol was at the most distant portion of his round, +and then once more, motionless and almost breathless, he lay down behind +the western parapet. The exercising-yard, into which it was his object +to drop, was just below him; but it was necessary to find some object to +which to fasten his rope; and here he perceived how futile would have +been his plan of escape without assistance from without; for here, +having slid down it, he must needs leave his rope tied to a neighboring +chimney. There was not length enough to cut off, and be of any service +afterward for the descent of the external wall, nigh sixty feet in +height. If Balfour failed him, it was now, indeed, clear to him that his +whole design must fail. Yonder towering wall, higher even than his own +present elevated position, could never be scaled by foot and hand, with +only the help of a spout--nay, he doubted whether, even if he found the +promised rope in position, he could even make use of that; for, though +agile, he had none of the sailor's cunning. + +He made fast the coil which he had with him, however, and watching his +opportunity, slid off the parapet into space. Such a feat seems easy +enough to read of; but to slide without noise down a loose and swinging +rope for so great a distance is no slight task to one unused to such +gymnastics; and, besides, he had to check himself at intervals (which +took the skin off from his hands, although at the time he did not feel +it), lest he should suddenly reach the ground with a dull thud. He +accomplished this in safety, and once more paused, his back pushed hard +to the prison wall, while the warder passed, whose form he could now +even make out, it was so immediately above him; then he crossed the yard +with a swift but anxious step to its north corner, and peered about in +the gloom for the promised rope; the spout was there, smooth and +ineffectual enough as a means of exit, but no rope. + +His heart died within him, and his hands trembled with anxiety and +trepidation as they felt in vain for it along the smooth and lofty wall. +Richard's brain began to reel. He leaned his trembling brow against the +cold iron of the spout, and endeavored to think the matter out. He was +sure of Balfour; he felt certain that nothing but sudden and dangerous +illness would have prevented him from keeping his word. But perhaps he +had not been able to obtain a rope; such things were watchfully looked +after in the neighborhood of Lingmoor Prison, and might even not be +procurable. Yet had such been the case, Balfour would not have +volunteered that form of assistance. He was of opinion that the rope was +there, then, and if so, it must have been thrown over by means of a +stone, or weight of some kind. In that case, if the stone had rolled +after reaching the ground, the rope might not be hanging like a +plumb-line from the wall, but at an angle from it, and at some distance. +He began to move, then, in a parallel line from the wall, still feeling +right and left; and on the third trial he caught in his stretched-out +hand a string--a string-line such as a boy uses for his kite; and for an +instant, the sense of the inefficacy of such means to effect his purpose +froze him with despair. But presently pulling on the string, he found it +gather in his hand, and pulling softly on, more string, and then an end +of thin but wire-strong rope, and then more rope. What was best of all +was, that this rope was knotted at intervals of every foot, so as to +afford a strong, firm hold. + +After many yards of this had been hauled in he found resistance; the end +of it was evidently fast on the other side. Richard passed the rope +round the bottom of the iron spout, and beneath an iron clasp, that +prevented its slipping upward, and then made it taut. It was a perilous +bridge even then, and supposing the watcher with his musket had not +been, as he was, within easy gunshot of him; but it led from prison +walls to liberty, and Richard did not hesitate for a moment to commit +himself to it. Hand over hand, foot after foot, he dragged himself with +infinite effort slowly upward; but it was not now in his power to watch +the patrol, and secure the most favorable moment for crossing the wall +top, as he had done in the case of the roof. As ill luck would have it, +just as the sentry came to the northward portion of his beat, Richard's +form was vaguely visible against the sky, upon the very summit of the +wall. The next instant he had crossed it, and at the hoarse cry, "Who's +there?" had glided rapidly down upon the other side. The sentry's gun +was at his shoulder, and its sharp report rang through the silent night +just as the convict reached the ground. The starlight was just +sufficient, as the warder subsequently swore (and truly), to see the man +was hit; he staggered and fell, but crawled away directly, and was lost +in the surrounding gloom. + +At the same moment all the prison seemed to wake to light and life, and +the alarm-bell clashed out its hoarse notes of warning on the wintry +air. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +NEWS FROM LINGMOOR. + + +Mrs. Basil kept her word with her lodger, and (thanks to the chaplain) +gave into his hand a catalogue of the great Crompton sale some hours at +least before the details of it were made public; on the receipt of which +Solomon at once left town. His absence was felt to be a relief by all +parties. The work of ingratiating herself with his hard, coarse nature, +independently of the personal loathing with which Mrs. Basil regarded +him, on Richard's account, was very hard, and rest was grateful to her. +Mrs. Coe was always more at ease when business took her husband from his +home. Charley hailed his departure, since he could now enjoy the society +of his Agnes without stint. + +He was, as usual, at Soho one morning, when Harry, sitting alone in the +drawing-room, engaged in needle-work, was alarmed by a shrill shriek, +followed by a heavy fall on the floor beneath, in Mrs. Basil's parlor. +She had heard the front-door closed but a minute before, and the thought +that was never wholly absent from her mind now flashed upon it with +terrible distinctness--the Avenger had come at last! Her next hurried +reflection was one of thankfulness that neither Charley nor Solomon was +at home. Then, pale and trembling, she stole out on the landing of the +stairs, and listened intently. Not a sound was to be heard save the +throbs of her own fluttering breast. The cook and the waiting-maid, who +alone composed the domestic staff, had apparently not heard the noise; +for the former was singing loudly in the kitchen, as was her wont when +she had been "put out," as happened some half dozen times per diem. It +was frightful to think that in yonder parlor her once-loved Richard +might even then be closeted with his mother, deaf to her appeals for +mercy, resolute for revenge, and only demanding where his enemies might +be found: it was better to face him than to picture him thus. That his +sudden appearance had terrified Mrs. Basil into a fit she had little +doubt from that shriek and fall; and, indeed, all was now so still +within there that she might be dead. The fear for her offspring, +however, made Harry almost bold. Indeed, as has been said, she did not +entertain any apprehension of personal violence at Richard's hands; and, +perhaps, in spite of Mrs. Basil's assurance to the contrary, she had +some hope of moving him from his set purpose by her prayers and tears. +Step by step, and clinging to the hand-rail for support, for her limbs +scarcely obeyed her will, she descended the stairs, stood a moment in +the passage, listening like a frightened hare, and then opened the +parlor door. There was no one within it: yes, upon the hearth-rug lay +the motionless form of Mrs. Basil; she was lying on her face; and, +rushing forward, Harry knelt down beside her, and strove to lift her in +her arms. Some instinct seemed to forbid her to call for assistance. + +"What is it? what is it?" gasped the old woman, looking vacantly up in +the other's face. + +"You have been unwell, dear madam. I am afraid you have had a fainting +fit; but, thank Heaven, you are better now." + +Harry was truly grateful; first, that her original suspicion had proved +to be unfounded; secondly, that Mrs. Basil was alive. She had contrived +to place her in a sitting posture, with her back against the heavy +arm-chair; and now she brought a carafe of water from the side-board, +and sprinkled her face and hands. + +"Let me call Mary, and we will get you up to your own room as soon as +you feel equal to the effort." + +Mrs. Basil's eyes had closed again. Her face was white and stiff as that +of a corpse; but she shook her head with vehemence. "The door--lock the +door!" she murmured. + +Not without some hesitation, for she began to fear that her companion +was wandering in her mind, Harry obeyed her. "Get me into my chair. Oh, +why did I ever wake to weary life again!" + +"What has troubled you? Can any new misfortune have happened to us?" +inquired Harry, woefully. + +"To _you_--no," answered the old woman, with sudden fierceness; "to +me--yes. Do you see that letter?" She pointed to one lying beneath the +table. "Twenty years ago that would have been my death-warrant; but now +I am so used to suffer that, like the man who lived on poisons, nothing +kills. Read it--read it." + +The letter was an official one; the envelope immense, with "On her +Majesty's Service" stamped upon it, and out of all proportion to the +scanty contents, which ran as follows: + + "LINGMOOR PRISON, _December 22._ + + "MADAM,--I am instructed by the Governor of this Jail to acquaint + you with the sad news that your son, Richard Yorke, is no more. + Four weeks ago he escaped from prison by night, and took refuge in + an adjoining wood. His body was discovered only four days ago, and + an inquest held upon it, when a verdict was returned in accordance + with the facts. I am, Madam, yours obediently, + + "THOMAS SPARKES (_for the Governor_). + + "I am instructed to inclose a locket with miniature, which was + found upon your son on his arrival here. The rest of his property + will be forwarded by rail." + +This locket contained the little picture of Harry painted by Richard +himself, and which, though he had contrived to secrete while at Cross +Key, had been taken from him at Lingmoor. + +Harry's breast was agitated by conflicting emotions. To know that her +boy was safe--that there could be no murder done--gave her a sense of +intense relief, which could scarcely be called selfish. But that +reflection was but transient, and a passionate burst of sorrow succeeded +it. The only man she had ever loved--around whom, centred her most +precious memories--had died, then, thus miserably, after miserable years +of bondage endured on her account. She saw him with her mind's eye once +more as when he had clasped her in his arms for the first time upon the +ruined tower--as when he had rained his kisses on her lips beside the +Wishing Well--in his youth and beauty and passion. Her nineteen years of +loveless wedlock were swept away, and left her as she saw herself in the +little portrait he himself had painted, and which was now his legacy. +His menaces and vows of vengeance against her and hers were all +forgotten; her woman's heart was loyal to him whom she had owned its +lord, and once more did him fealty. + +"Oh, Richard, Richard, my dear love," cried she; "God knows I would have +died to save you!" + +"Come here, Harry--come here," whispered Mrs. Basil, "and let me kiss +you. I would that I could weep like you; but the fountain of my tears +has long been dry. I thought you would have been glad to feel that you +and yours were safe--that retribution was averted from the man, your +husband; but I now see I did you wrong. Your heart is touched--you +remember him as he was before the taint of crime was on him." + +"It never was!" cried Harry, passionately. "He never meant to wrong my +father of a shilling." + +"Well said, dear Harry; well said. He was himself a wronged--a murdered +man. Imprisoned for nineteen years, and then to perish thus! And yet men +talk of Heaven's justice! My boy! my boy!" + +The two women were silent for a while--the one gazing with dry eyes but +tender yearning face upon the other, as she rocked herself to and fro, +and shook with stifled sobs. + +"Dear Harry, you must not desert me now," pleaded the former, pitifully; +"I am very old, and this has broken me. He was my all--my only one on +earth--and he is dead. I shall not trouble you long. We two, child, were +the only ones that loved him, and we love him still. Let me cling to +you, Harry, since it is but for a little while; and let us talk of him +together, when we are alone, and think of what he was. So bright, so +gay, so--Oh, my boy! my boy!" + +The tears rushed to the mother's eyes at last. Hard Fate was softened +for a while toward it's life-long victim; and side by side sat the two +bereaved women, each striving to comfort the other, after woman's +fashion, by painting in its brightest colors that dead Past which both +deplored. Begotten of their common sorrow, Love sprang up between them, +and on one side confidence; and into Mrs. Basil's hungry ears Harry, for +the first time, poured the story of her courtship. Richard's death had +cemented between them the bond which it would seem to have destroyed. +The fatal letter lay open on Harry's lap, but the envelope had fallen on +the floor. Stooping to pick it up, she found something still within +it--some folded slips from a local newspaper, with an account of the +inquest, the details of which the governor's clerk had, perhaps +humanely, preferred to communicate in that form, to be read or not as +the mother's feelings might dictate to her. The two women read it +together, not aloud, for neither had the voice for that. With most of +the evidence there recounted we are already familiar. It was proved that +No. 421 had long been in a desponding, brooding state; but, as only a +year intervened between the expiration of his term of punishment, his +attempt to escape was almost unaccountable, and certainly unparalleled. +No punishment was impending over him. The opinion of the authorities was +expressed that the convict's reason was unhinged. The method of +obtaining his freedom showed indeed considerable cunning, but also an +audacity that was scarcely consistent with sanity. The height of the +prisoner was known, and his proportionate reach of arm; and it seemed +incredible how he could have succeeded in reaching the parapet above his +cell window; in that attempt he must have risked certain death. His +descent from the roof was explained by the presence of the rope. The +immediate means by which he surmounted the external wall were, of +course, evident enough, since the rope was there also; but the question +was, how did it come there? The prisoner must have been assisted by some +one outside the wall. The warder who fired the shot which subsequently +proved fatal had seen but one man; but the night was dark, and the whole +affair had passed very rapidly. Indeed, the convict had only fully shown +himself when at the top of the wall, and the musket had been fired +almost at a venture. On the alarm being given, pursuit was at once +attempted; but, under cover of the night, the fugitive had gained Bergen +Wood. The next morning his footsteps were traced so far, and it was +proved that he was unaccompanied. A cordon was placed round the wood, +and the place itself thoroughly searched for many days. It was deemed +certain, from the report of the scouts who were made use of on such +occasions, that the convict had not left that covert to seek shelter in +any hamlet in the neighborhood; the quest was therefore still continued. +Not, however, until three weeks afterward was No. 421 discovered. It was +supposed that the unhappy fugitive had died of his wounds upon the very +night of his escape, for the body was so decomposed that it could never +have been identified but for its convict clothes; the nights had been +wet and tempestuous, and it lay in an unsheltered part of the wood, a +mere sodden heap of what had been once humanity. The bullet that had +been the cause of death was, however, detected in the remains. + +What an end to the high-spirited, handsome lad that had been the pride +of his mother, the joy of his betrothed! What wonder that they sat over +the bald record of it with bowed-down faces, and filled up the gaps with +only too easily imagined horrors! Each kept hold of the other's hand, as +though in sign of the dread bond between them, and sat close to one +another in silence. Presently Harry started up, at the sound of a +latch-key in the house door. + +"That is Solomon," cried she. + +"Impossible," said Mrs. Basil. "He told me himself that he should stop +for the last day's sale, and to-day is but the fifth." + +"Hush! it is." + +Yes, it was certainly Solomon's voice in the passage; and apparently, by +the answering tone, he had a male companion with him. + +Harry seized the letter, with its inclosures, and thrust them into her +bosom, which, full of grief for his victim, seemed to spurn her +husband's approach. Then she heard him calling her impatiently, as was +his wont, from the foot of the stairs. + +"Harry, come down; I have brought a gentleman home with me. Let's have +something to eat at once, will you?" + +"Answer him--answer him!" gasped Harry. She could not speak; her tongue +seemed paralyzed. + +Mrs. Basil rose at once, walked with steady step to the door, and opened +it. "Your wife is here, Mr. Coe. I am glad you are come home, for she is +far from well, and I was getting quite nervous about her." + +"She _must_ be ill," grumbled Solomon, "not to be able to say 'Here,' +when I am breaking a blood-vessel with holloing to her in the attics. +Come in here, Sir." This to his companion--a man considerably his +senior, thin and spare, who stood peering curiously at the landlady. "I +am sorry to see you unwell, wife. I have brought a friend to stay with +us for a day or two. Mr. Robert Balfour--Mrs. Coe." + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +A PROJECTED PARTNERSHIP. + + +Though by no means in either the mental or physical condition in which a +lady should be who is called upon to play the part of hostess, Harry was +not displeased that Solomon had not returned alone. The presence of this +stranger, whom she greeted mechanically, and almost without a glance at +his features, was welcome to her, because it was likely to distract from +herself her husband's regards. What she would like to have done would +have been to shut herself up alone in her chamber, to weep and pray. As +it was, she had to be cheerful, to affect an interest in her husband's +late expedition, and pleasure at his unexpected return. Mrs. Basil was +here invaluable; you would never have imagined that it was the same +woman--so stricken and full of anguish but a few minutes before, and now +so self-possessed and cheerful. But she had been used to playing parts +throughout her life, and acting was easy to her. She dreaded silence, +lest with it should come observation and remark upon the agitation and +distress only too visible in Harry's countenance; and yet it was +difficult, even for her, to keep up the ball of small-talk, for Solomon +was always slow and scant of speech, and the new-comer rarely opened his +mouth, and then only to utter a monosyllable. His manner, too, was +embarrassing; he turned his white and stony face from one woman to the +other, like an automaton, but with a weird and searching gaze. + +They had never so much as heard his name before, for Richard had been +cautious never to mention Balfour in his letters, since they were, of +course, perused by the authorities, and friendships were not encouraged +at Lingmoor; but, on the other hand, it was evident that these ladies +had an interest for the visitor. Presently, while they were yet all +below stairs, arrived Charles and Agnes, which effected, indeed, +diversion enough, but also a great disturbance and alteration for the +worse in Mr. Coe's temper. No sooner, as it seemed to him, had his back +been turned, then, than the intimacy between this girl and his son, +which he had strictly forbidden, had been recommenced, and with the +connivance and encouragement of his wife too, or else how should the lad +dare thus to bring her home? For the first time Solomon was openly rude +to Agnes; and the latter, being a girl of spirit, resented it by quietly +rising to depart. Charley, rash and impetuous, rose to accompany her. +Solomon stormed displeasure; and it seemed that the presence of the +visitor would have been wholly inadequate to prevent a family scene, +when Agnes herself interposed with dignity. "No, Charles; I would rather +go alone. If your father objects to my presence here, it shall not be +intruded; and if he considers your company a condescension, I can not +accept it upon such terms." + +Charles would have taken her arm, in defiance of all consequences, and +led her off under Solomon's nose; but this opposition on her part +offended him. He was almost as angry with her for thwarting him as he +was with his father. It was a triangular duel, the combatants in which +were narrowly watched by the disregarded stranger. When Agnes got her +way and departed, "That's a girl of character," observed he, with a +cynical smile. + +"She is a girl without a penny," answered Solomon, gloomily, with a +scowl at his son, "upon whom this young fool wishes to throw himself +away." + +"What! so early?" observed Mr. Balfour, good-humoredly addressing +Charles. "When I was your age, I thought of enjoying life, and not of +marriage. I don't wonder, however, that any girl should strive to +enslave so handsome a young fellow as your son, Sir. It is quite +natural, and there is no need to blame her, and far less _him_." + +Ashamed, perhaps, of having exhibited such violence of temper before his +guest, Solomon was very willing to be mollified, and grimly smiled +approval of these sentiments; Charles, too, though fully resolved to set +himself right with Agnes on the morrow, was not displeased with the +visitor's remark; but the two women justly resented it as an impertinent +freedom. If Charles's thoughts had not been so preoccupied with his own +wrongs--the deprivation of his Agnes's society, which he had promised +himself for the rest of the day, and the snub which he conceived she had +administered to him--he would have noticed too, for he was by no means +wanting in observation, that the new-comer's manner to his hostess and +Mrs. Basil was not what it should have been. It was not absolutely rude, +but it was studiously careless of their presence. He no longer stared at +them as at first, but, on the contrary, seemed to ignore the fact of +their existence--never addressed them; and if either spoke to him, +replied as briefly as possible, and then turned at once to Solomon or +his son. Mrs. Basil concluded that he was a vulgar fellow, who, having +penetration enough to discover that the males had the upper hand in the +establishment, did not give himself the trouble to conciliate the less +important members of it; but Harry, always timid and suspicious, was +alarmed at him; his air had, in her eyes, something hostile in it as +well as contemptuous. She could not understand, and therefore +mistrusted, the influence he had evidently obtained over her husband, +and which already had superseded that of Mrs. Basil. + +That Solomon should no longer take pains to make himself agreeable to +the latter, now that he had obtained from her his object, was, to any +one who knew his character, explicable enough; but why should this +stranger have taken her place as his counselor and friend? The idea of +some personal advantage was, of course, at the bottom of it; but it was +clear, not only to sage Mrs. Basil, but even to Harry--since even a +moderately skillful looker-on sees more of the game than the best +player--that in any contest of wits Solomon would have small chance with +his new friend. The opinion of Mrs. Basil was, that some new +speculation, in some manner connected with the Crompton sale, had been +entered into by the two men, and that Mr. Balfour would in the end +secure the oyster, while Mr. Coe was left with the shell. But Harry had +darker forebodings still; she was instinctively confident that there was +enmity at work in the new-comer, as well as the readiness common to all +speculators to overreach a friend. There was a look in his pallid face, +when it glanced, as he thought unheeded, on either Charles or Solomon, +which, to her mind, boded ill. If it did so, it was certainly +unsuspected by those on whom it fell. Mr. Coe had apparently never found +a companion so agreeable to him; and, curiously enough, this idea seemed +to be shared by Charles. According to his own account, Mr. Balfour had +been abroad in Western America for many years, and had there retrieved a +fortune which, originally inherited, had been speedily dissipated in the +pleasures of the town. His long absence from such scenes had by no means +dulled his taste for them, and his conversation ran on little else. He +had a light rattling way with him--that, to Harry's view, resembled +youthful spirit no more than galvanism in a corpse resembles life, and +which was certainly not in harmony with his age and appearance--and very +graphic powers of description; he expressed himself curious about the +changes in public amusements since he left town, near twenty years ago, +and seriously placed himself under Charles's guidance on the expeditions +of pleasure for which the latter was always ready. To this, strangely +enough, Solomon made no objection, notwithstanding that his own +purse-strings had to be drawn pretty wide to supply these extravagances. +His new friend had only to suggest that he should give the lad a +five-pound note to enjoy himself with, and the thing was done at once. + +As for himself, Mr. Balfour seemed to be made of money, so freely did he +spend it; and if he did not offer the use of his purse to his young +companion, it was only, as he told him, because he feared to offend his +pride. "Besides," said he, when they were alone together on one of these +expeditions of amusement, from which Solomon, whose notions of enjoyment +were mainly confined to money-making, always excused himself upon +pretense of having business to do, "it is only right your father should +be made to fork out; he is as rich as Croesus. It is quite unreasonable +that he should stint you in enjoyment when, one day or another, you will +have all the pleasures of life to pick and choose from." + +It would have tested Solomon's new-born friendship severely if he could +have heard Mr. Balfour dilate upon this topic, which he did with such +earnestness and fervor that the lad was soon convinced of those great +expectations which the cautious reticence of his parents had so long +concealed from him. On the other hand, Charley's companion deduced an +argument from this fair prospect which was not so welcome to the lad; he +maintained that, under the circumstances, it would be madness to risk +his father's displeasure by uniting himself irretrievably to Agnes, or +to any other young woman. "My good offices will be always at your +disposal, my lad," urged he, gravely, "and I don't deny that, at +present, I have considerable influence with Mr. Coe; but it would not be +proof against so flagrant an act of disobedience as that which you +contemplate. The great bulk of his property is at his own disposal; and +his nature, if I may speak plainly to you in so important a matter, is +obstinate and implacable. At all events, there is no hurry, since you +and this charming young lady are but boy and girl at present. Life is +uncertain, and you may be your own master any day; wait till you are so, +or wait for a little, at all events, to see what may turn up; and in the +mean time, lad, enjoy yourself." The last part of Mr. Balfour's advice, +at all events, was palatable enough, and that much of it Charles +accepted; in doing which, as was anticipated, the whole intention of his +Mentor became fulfilled. Plunged in dissipation, the young man thought +less and less of his love; gave himself little trouble, though he still +avowed his unalterable attachment, to set himself right with her; grew +more and more dissatisfied with his own home, at the same time that that +of Agnes became less and less attractive; and, in short, he drifted away +daily farther and farther from the safe moorings of love and duty. + +Harry perceived all this with a dread so deep that it even drove her to +invoke her husband's aid against this man, who, inexplicable as his +hostility might be, was bent, she firmly believed, upon the ruin of her +darling boy. With Solomon, as she well knew, the fact of his son's +dissipation was not likely to move him to interfere; he saw that the +companionship of Balfour was gradually producing an estrangement between +Charles and the portionless artist's daughter, and so far he cordially +approved of it, nor cared to question by what means this new friend made +himself agreeable. She had no argument available except that of expense, +and, to her astonishment and dismay, this failed to affect her prudent +spouse. + +"Just let things be a while," was Solomon's reply, "and mind your own +business. It is quite true the lad's throwing my money in the gutter at +a fine rate; but in the end I shall get it all back again, and more with +it. This Balfour takes me for a foolish doting father, but he shall pay +for all himself before I've done with him. I throw a sprat to catch a +whale; and neither you nor any other fool shall interfere with my +fishing." + +Harry dared not say more; her husband had been in the worst of humors +ever since he had returned from Crompton, and was all the more brutal +and tyrannical to her that he had to be civil and conciliatory to his +new friend, and involuntarily indulgent, upon his account, to Charles. +The unhappy mother was powerless to check the evil the growth of which +was so patent to her loving instinct, and there was none to whom she +could look for help. Mrs. Basil had no longer any influence with +Solomon, and, besides, she was seriously ill, and had now been confined +to her own room for weeks. In her extremity, Harry had even resolved to +make a personal appeal to this man Balfour; to ask him in what her +husband had injured him, to adjure him to forgive the wrong, or at least +not to visit it upon her Charley's innocent head. But she shrank with an +inexplicable terror from putting this design into effect; she felt she +should humiliate herself to no purpose; he would deny, in his cold, +cynical way, that he entertained any thing but friendship for her astute +husband and affection for her bright and impulsive son. Besides, to say +truth, she was afraid to speak with the man; and she had a suspicion +that this weird and shadowy fear was in some degree shared by Mrs. +Basil; at times she even imagined that it was not so much indisposition +as a desire to avoid his presence that caused the landlady to absent +herself from the family circle. + +Mr. Coe, at all events, entertained no such prejudice against his guest; +day by day he grew more communicative with him, and more solicitous to +hear his opinions, with which he seldom failed to agree. The two men +were in reality, as it was easy to see, as opposite in character as the +poles. Mr. Balfour was, and apparently always had been, a man of +pleasure; but he had seen men and cities, and his remarks were shrewd, +and selfish, and worldly-wise enough. It was rarely that his talk ever +strayed to matters of business, so that Solomon was perforce a listener; +but that unambitious part he played to admiration. + +Upon one occasion, however, their after-dinner converse happened to turn +upon partnerships; Solomon urged their great convenience, how one man +brought money and the other brains, and how pleasant it must be for the +former to live at ease while the latter gathered honey for him, both for +present use and for the wintry store. He rose with the familiar subject +to quite a flight of poetry. + +Mr. Balfour, with half-shut eves and a mocking smile, dilated upon the +sentiment involved in such communities of enterprise, the sympathy +engendered by them, and the happy social effects that were produced by +them. His host either did not, or would not, perceive that these remarks +were ironical, and pursued the subject to its details, proportions of +profits, balance-sheets, etc., until Charles rose with a yawn, and left +his two elders together. + +"Well, Balfour," said Solomon, frankly, as soon as they were alone, +"this talk reminds me of the matter that first introduced us to one +another--your purchase of that outlying bit of the Crompton property, +Wheal Danes." + +[Illustration: "I WILL GIVE YOU A THOUSAND POUNDS FOR THAT CROMPTON +LOT."] + +"Ay," replied the other, carelessly lighting another cigar. It was +quite wonderful to see how many cigars Mr. Balfour got through daily; +you might have almost thought that he had been denied tobacco for years +by his physician, and had only just been permitted to resume the habit. + +"Yes; you disappointed me there immensely, I must confess. I went down +to the sale on purpose to secure it." + +"So you told me, or, at least, so I guessed from your manner; and yet I +don't know why you should have been so sweet upon it. It's only a bare +bit of ground with a round hole in it, close by the sea." + +"That's all," said Solomon, puffing at his clay pipe. "What on earth +could have made you buy it?" + +"Well, I told you once. I lost my yacht off Turlock, when coming to +England last autumn, and very nearly my life with it. When one escapes +with a whole skin from such a storm as wrecked me there, the first piece +of dry land one comes to seems very attractive. I happened to be cast +ashore beneath that very spot, and so I took a fancy to it. If I had +been a good Papist I should have built a chapel there to my patron saint +in gratitude for my preservation; as it was, I resolved to erect a villa +for myself there. It will have an excellent view, and the situation is +healthy. If you seek for any other reason for the purchase, I have none +to give you; it was a whim, if you like, but then I can afford to +indulge my whims." + +"This one cost you a good deal, however; you gave five hundred pounds +for it, did you not?" + +Balfour nodded assent. + +"A great sum for a few barren acres," said Solomon, thoughtfully. + +"Yes; and so the trustees of the estate thought, Mr. Coe. They closed +with my offer sharp enough, and withdrew the lot from public +competition; else, perhaps, I should have got it cheaper." + +"Not if I had been bidding against you," observed the host, +significantly. + +"You don't say so! You were never shipwrecked thereabouts, were you? Oh, +I remember: you were brought up in the neighborhood. You had some tender +recollection of the spot, perhaps, with relation to madame up stairs. +What creatures of sentiment you men of business sometimes are--dear me!" + +"I did live near the spot," said Solomon, slowly, "though I should +deceive you if I pretended that that had any thing to do with my wish to +possess it." + +"You would not deceive me, my good friend," answered Balfour, coolly; +"but, as you were about to say, it would not be frank. Let us be frank +and open, above all things." + +"I wish to be so, I assure you," was Solomon's meek reply. "When I +offered you a hundred pounds for your bargain, I think I showed you that +deception was no part of my nature. In all matters of business I always +go straight to the point at once." + +"As in the present instance, for example," remarked the guest, with an +imperturbable smile. + +"I am coming to the point, Mr. Balfour--once for all. I will give you a +thousand pounds down for that Crompton lot--twice the money that you +gave for it within a month; that's twelve hundred per cent, per annum." + +Balfour shook his head. "I am not a religious man, my dear Sir--far from +it. But I believe, like Miss Joanna yonder, in inspirations: all my +whims are inspirations, and therefore sacred. It was an inspiration that +made me buy Wheal Danes, and I mean to keep it. If you offered me ten +thousand pounds, I'd keep it." + +Solomon was silent for a while, his heavy brows knit in thought; then +once again he advanced to the attack. "You may keep it, and yet share +the profit, Mr. Balfour." + +"The profit?" + +"Ay, the profit. I told you I was going to be frank with you, but you +would never guess _how_ frank. I am about to put thousands a year into +your pocket, on condition that you will let me fill my own at the same +rate. We were talking of partnerships just now; let us be partners in +Wheal Danes." + +"Balfour and Coe sounds natural enough," returned the other, coolly. +"But I must hear your plan." + +"My plan is a secret--invaluable, indeed, as such--but which, once told, +will be worth nothing--that is, to _me_." + +"You may do as you like, my friend, about revealing it," yawned Mr. +Balfour. "I care nothing for your plan; only, until I hear it I stick to +my plot, my lot, my acreage. Tell me the whole story without +reservation--don't attempt to deceive me on the slightest point--and +then you shall have your way. We will divide this land of gold between +us, or, as seems to me much more likely, browse like twin donkeys on its +crop of thistles." + +"I have nothing but your bare word to trust to," said Solomon, +doubtfully; "but still, I must risk it. Come, it's a bargain. Then, +here's my hand upon it." + +"Never mind my hand, my good friend," returned the other, coolly. "In +the part of the world from which I hailed last, folks didn't shake +hands, and I've fallen out of the habit. Come, give us this story of +Wheal Danes." + +"It's a very old one, Mr. Balfour. The plot of ground you purchased gets +its strange name from an ancient tin mine that is comprised in it, once +worked by the Romans, but disused since their time. There are many such +in Cornwall." + +"So I've heard," said Balfour, while the other sipped his glass. It was +curious to contrast the grave and earnest manner of the host with the +careless and uninterested air of his guest, who presently, as the +narrative proceeded, leaned his face upon his hand and gazed into the +fire, an occasional glance sideways at his companion through his fingers +alone testifying that his attention was still preserved. He never +stirred a limb nor winked an eyelid when Solomon came out with his great +secret. + +"This mine that is said to be worked out, Mr. Balfour, and which you +have purchased by mere accident, as being in the same lot with your +proposed building-ground, will, I have reason to believe, turn out a +gold mine." + +"You don't say so! I did not know that there _was_ gold in Cornwall." + +"There is as good, or at least there are metals that bring gold--tin and +copper; and Wheal Danes is full of the latter. The old Romans worked it +for tin only, and left their prize just as it was getting to be worth +having. There's a copper vein in the lowest level of that mine that may +be worth all the old Carew estate." + +"And you have seen this vein?" + +"No; but my wife's father, John Trevethick, as good a judge as any man +on earth, or under it, saw it, and told me of its existence on his +death-bed--" + +"When did he die, and how? Was it a lingering, painful death, or was he +struck down suddenly?" interposed Balfour. "I ask," added he, hastily, +for Solomon looked up in wonder at his companion's vehemence, "because +the credibility of such a story as you tell me would depend upon the +state of the man's brain." + +"He did die a painful and a lingering death, but his wits were clear +enough," answered Solomon. "It was ten years ago, and more, but I mind +it as well as though it was but yesterday--indeed, I've thought of +little else since. 'The best legacy I have to leave you, Sol, lies in +these last words of mine,' said he; 'so do you listen, and lay them to +heart.' Then he told me how, as a boy, he had once explored Wheal Danes +in play with other boys, and found the copper lode in a certain spot. He +was not so young even then but that he knew the value of such a find, +and he had held his tongue; and though he visited the place pretty +often--for he couldn't help that--he kept the secret close from that +time until his death." + +"He had never told any other person but yourself, you think?" inquired +Balfour, curiously. + +"No one to speak of. There was one fellow who had an inkling of the +thing, it seems, but he is dead now. I read of it in the newspaper quite +lately. He died in jail, or rather in escaping from it, and had never +been in a position to profit by his suspicion. You may say, in fact, +that not a living soul besides John Trevethick ever knew this secret. +For fifty years he strove to possess himself of this mine; he even +offered for it, valueless as it was thought to be, four times the money +you did; only Carew was mad and obstinate; and now, for ten years, I +have had my own eyes fixed upon it, and got the earliest news of when it +was in the market, as I thought, when, here, without a hint to guide +you, a whiff of fortune blows it to your hand. It's a hard case _I_ call +it--devilish hard." + +"Well, it _is_ hard," said Balfour; "that is, supposing all you say is +true. But frankly, my good Sir, I don't believe you. I mean no offense; +but, since you have not seen the lode with your own eyes, you must +pardon me for doubting its existence." + +"Well, then, Sir, I _have_ seen it, and that's the long and short of it. +I would not take such a thing on trust from an angel." + +"So I suspected," observed Balfour, coolly. "But as you have told me one +lie you may tell me another. What am I to believe now?" + +"The mine is yours, Sir," answered Solomon, gruffly. "Let us go down +together and look at it. If Trevethick and I were mistaken--and I'll bet +you a thousand pounds that we were not--it is but coming back again, +and--" + +"And being made the laughing-stock of all the folks among whom I mean to +spend my days," interrupted Balfour. "No, no. If we go, I'll not have a +soul to know of it. And mind you, if this turns out to be a mare's nest, +I sha'n't be pleased, my friend." + +"It will not do that, Sir, you may take my word for it," answered +Solomon, earnestly; "and as for going _incog._, that matter's easy. I +can start for Gethin, which is my home, and but a stone's-throw from the +very place, on pretense of business; and you, a day or two after, may +come down to the inn at Turlock, just to see your purchase. We need not +be so much as seen together, if you so prefer it." + +"I would much prefer it," observed Balfour, sententiously. + +"Very good. Then here's my plan: my father-in-law used to visit Wheal +Danes at night; from his doing so, instead of its drawing dangerous +attention to the place, as one would think, the rumor arose that the old +mine was haunted; corpse-candles, with no hand to carry them, were seen +there going up and down the levels, and so the poor fools shunned it +after dark. Well, let _us_ take torch and ladder, and play at +corpse-candle. What say you?" + +"Well, I'll come," said Balfour, reluctantly, "though I don't much like +the chance of being made a fool of. What day will suit you best to +start? All's one to me." + +"I'll start to-morrow," said Solomon, with excitement. "Do you come +down, as if into Midlandshire, on Friday: that's an unlucky day with +Turlock folk, but not with you, I reckon?" + +"You're right there, man," answered Balfour, slowly. "Well?" + +"On Saturday, at midnight, I will meet you at the old pit's mouth. Come, +there's my hand upon it." + +This time Balfour took his companion's hand, and griped it firmly. + +"Then, that's a bargain, partner," cried Solomon, gayly. "Fill up your +glass. Here's luck to the old mine!" + +"Here's luck," echoed Balfour, looking steadily at his host, "and to our +next merry midnight meeting!" + +"Ay, good! Here's luck!" quoth Solomon. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +IN THE TOILS. + + +Solomon started for Gethin on the ensuing morning; but his wife did not, +as usual, find his departure a relief, since Balfour remained behind. +Her last instructions from her husband were to treat this unwelcome +guest with marked consideration, and to let him have his way in every +thing. He also hinted, though it was scarcely necessary to insure her +obedience, at certain brilliant prospects which were about to present +themselves, through Balfour's means, if he were only kept in good-humor. +Harry would have much preferred to relinquish his favor at the price of +his absence; but not so her son. Notwithstanding the disparity in their +ages, he and this new acquaintance were already fast friends. The latter +had laid himself out to please the lad, and had succeeded; partly, +perhaps, from the very novelty of companionship, for Charley knew no one +in town, and was tired of taking his pleasure therein alone, but chiefly +through his store of agreeable anecdotes, all illustrative of the +enjoyments which wealth conferred, with which Balfour tickled his ears. + +"In a few years--perhaps sooner, who knows?--all these things of which I +speak will be within your own means. You will be rich; and he who is so +can please himself in almost every thing. You can then marry your Agnes, +if you will, without fear of being disinherited; or, what is better and +more likely, you may choose from a score of Agneses, or even take them +all." + +He had a light amusing way with him, this Balfour, that hid the cynicism +which would otherwise have jarred upon his young companion; for Charles, +though selfish and fond of pleasure, was good-natured, and had not +reached that period of life when our sherry must needs not only be dry, +but have bitters in it. He was genuinely fond of his mother; yet even in +this short time Balfour, as she well knew, had taught him to disobey +her; not setting her at open defiance, indeed, but regarding her advice +and remonstrances with a sort of tender contempt. She meant all for his +good, his Mentor admitted, but women had not much knowledge of the +world; and if a young man was not to be his own master at eighteen, he +must look to be in leading-strings all his life. Harry perceived her +darling's plastic nature changing daily for the worse in the hands of +this crafty potter; and though it was an admission humiliating to her, +as a mother, to make, she made it to Mrs. Basil in her sick-room. + +"Mr. Balfour is doing my Charley harm," she said. "He is an altered boy +already, and yet my husband talks as though we are never to be rid of +the man. What money, what gain, can ever compensate for the +demoralization of our child?" + +"Nothing, indeed," said Mrs. Basil, quietly. "But have a little +patience. Is not this gentleman going on Friday?" + +"Yes; but he will come back again. It is only some business that calls +him into Midlandshire. He does not even take all his luggage away. I +have a great mind to tell him point-blank that his presence in this +house--at all events in Mr. Coe's absence--is unwelcome; but I dare not +do it; I am afraid." + +"Yes, your husband would be very angry, without doubt," said Mrs. Basil, +thoughtfully. + +"That is not it. I am afraid of the man himself. He reminds me of that +hateful creature--what is he?--in the opera, for which Mr. Aird gave us +the tickets, and which Agnes went with us to see--Mephistopheles." + +"What a strange fancy! He is only a sour, pleasure-jaded man. If I was +not so ill I would speak to him myself; but you are right not to do so; +that is your husband's place, who has brought him here. Let things be as +they are till Friday." + +Harry sighed, but perforce assented. Friday came, and Mr. Balfour went +as he had designed, but not without stating at breakfast his intention +of returning on the ensuing Monday or Tuesday at latest, and even making +an engagement with Charley to spend the latter evening with him at the +theatre. + +"Do you happen to know when my husband will be home?" inquired Harry, +timidly. + +"No, madam. He was good enough to say, however, that his absence was to +make no difference as to my remaining here as his guest." + +This reply, which might easily have been made offensive, was delivered +with the most studied courtesy: it cut the hostess's ground from under +her; for it had answered the very objection which she had intended to +imply. She felt herself not only defeated, but reproved. + +"Let us hope you will both return together," said she. + +"I do not think that very probable," answered Mr. Balfour, slowly. + +An hour later and he had departed, his hostess, under pretense of being +engaged with her sick friend up stairs, not having so much as shaken his +hand. Charles, indignant at this slight, would have accompanied him to +the railway station, but Balfour would not hear of it. For this he had +two reasons: in the first place, he was anxious to keep his route +secret; and secondly, it was a part of his system to give the young man +no sort of trouble or inconvenience on his account. He wished every +association that linked them together to be one of pleasure. + +Mrs. Basil, as we have said, had not made her appearance that morning +below stairs; she was, in fact, no better, but rather worse: that news +from Lingmoor, outwardly borne so well, had shaken her to the core. +Still, no sooner had Balfour left than she made shift to rise, and even +came down to dinner. She discussed with Charley, who had a considerable +regard for her, the character of their late guest--not with hostility, +as his mother was wont to do, but with the air of one who asks for +information, and has confidence in the verdict which she seeks. The lad, +flattered by this implied compliment to his sagacity, answered her +questions readily enough. He praised his friend, of course, and thought +he praised him even when he spoke ill of him. He repeated his pungent +sayings, and served up his anecdotes--such of them as were adapted, at +least, for the ears of the ladies--anew. By this means he hoped to bring +his hearers to a better opinion of so capital a fellow; and in Mrs. +Basil's case he apparently succeeded. His mother still reiterated her +opinion that Mr. Balfour was a dangerous personage, and not a fit +companion for any young man. Charles smiled at this, for it was the +almost literal fulfillment of a prophecy which Balfour had made to him, +and believed in that gentleman's sagacity, accordingly, more than ever. +Women were so ludicrously prejudiced; the fact of Mrs. Basil's--"the +white witch"--not being so was an exception that proved the rule. She +had been evidently interested in his anecdotes, of one of which she had +even requested to hear the particulars twice over; not that, in his own +judgment, it was the best, but, being of a weird sort, it had probably +struck her fancy. It had lost in the telling, too--for he did not +pretend to have the gift of narrative, as Mr. Balfour had--and his +mother had seen in the story in question nothing at all. + +Mrs. Basil came down stairs no more after that evening. She grew worse +and worse, and was not only confined to her room, but to her bed. Harry +was not much with her; she seized with avidity this opportunity of being +alone with Charley to undo, as far as she could, Mr. Balfour's work with +him. This was not hard, for the boy was a creature of impulse, and +swayed for good or ill with equal ease. But she discovered that it would +be useless to attempt henceforth to conceal from him the nature of his +future prospects. He was now firmly convinced that he was the heir to a +large fortune, and she regretted too late that she had left the +disclosure to a stranger. What grieved her much more, and with reason, +was that an attempt which she now made to bring the influence of Agnes +to hear upon him proved unsuccessful; the girl resolutely refused to +come to the house in the absence of its master, and contrary, as she +knew, to his express commandment. Charley himself, too, whose visits to +Mr. Aird's studio had been intermitted for some time, was received in +Soho with coldness. It was not in Harry's nature to understand this +independence of spirit, and she deeply deplored it on her son's account. +She had looked to this young girl to be his guardian angel, and had +never anticipated that she could possibly decline to watch over a charge +so precious. She would not allow, even to herself, that her son's own +conduct was as much the cause of this as her husband's ill favor; but +she saw in it, clearly enough, the mark of the cloven hoof, the work of +Balfour. + +Sick Mrs. Basil could give her small comfort, though she did not attempt +to defend their late visitor, as she had so unwarrantably appeared to do +when discussing him with Charley. + +"The man is gone, my dear," said she, wearily; "perhaps he may never +come back: let us not meet troubles half-way. Charley has a kind, good +heart"--for "the white witch" showed great favor to the lad at all +times--"and all will come right at last." + +She seemed too ill and weary to argue the matter, and Harry left her, as +she thought, to repose. No sooner was she gone, however, than the closed +lids of Mrs. Basil were opened wide, and revealed a sleepless and +unutterable woe. Her sharp, pinched face showed pain and fear. Her +parched lips muttered unceasingly words like these, which were, perhaps, +the ravings of her fevered brain: "I am sure of it now, quite sure; +those stags, those stags! There is no room for hope. His heart has +become a stone, which no power can soften. It is no use to speak, or +rather I am like one in a dream who watches murder done, and can not cry +out." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +THE MINE AT MIDNIGHT. + + +Mr. Balfour--for so we must call him now, since he is attired +respectably, travels first-class, and, moreover, even looks like a +gentleman--did not go to the Midlands, as he had given out was his +purpose, but took his ticket to Plymouth, to which place the railway had +just extended in those days. He bought neither book nor newspaper, but +sat in the corner, with his hat drawn over his eyes, for the whole nine +hours, thinking. From Plymouth he posted to Turlock, where he arrived +late at night, and without having broken fast since morning. He took no +pains either to divulge or conceal his name; he asked no questions, nor +was asked any except "whether he preferred to sleep between sheets or +blankets"--for Turlock was still an out-of-the-way region, and the +little inn about three-quarters of a century behind our modern +caravansaries, with their "daily fly-bills" and "electric bells." + +After dinner, which he scarcely touched, he wandered out--it was his +habit to do so, as he told the hostler, who was also the +night-chamberlain--and did not return till long after midnight. He +observed, as he gave the man half a crown for sitting up for him to so +late an hour, that the moon looked very fine upon the sea. + +"You must be a painter, I guess, Sir," said the hostler, with a grin of +intelligence. + +"Why?" asked Balfour, sharply. "What makes you think that?" + +"Well, Sir," returned the man, apologetically, "I mean no offense; but +it is always the gentlemen-painters--or, at least, so they say at +Gethin, and I wish more of 'em came here--as is so free with their +money, and so fond of the moon." + +"Lunatics, eh?" said the new arrival, with a loud, quick laugh. "Well, +I'm no painter, my friend." + +Then he took his candle and retired to his room, but not to bed. He +disarranged the bed-clothes and rumpled the pillow; then walked softly +to and fro in his slippers until morning. On the following day he made +no attempt to visit his newly acquired property, but strolled about the +harbor, or stood, in sheltered and, therefore, secluded places in the +rocks, watching the winter sea. His meals at the inn were sent down +almost as they were served up, yet he showed no sign of weakness or +fatigue, but in the evening sallied forth as before. The night was very +cloudy, with driving showers, and the landlady good-naturedly warned him +of the danger of venturing on the cliff-path, which was narrow, and had +been broken in places by a late storm. + +"I will take care," said he, mechanically. + +"Perhaps you would like supper--some cold meat, or something--since you +have eaten so little, placed in your sitting-room against your return?" + +"Yes, yes," said he, approvingly; "you are right; I shall doubtless be +hungry to-night." Then he went out into the bleak, black night. + +He hung about the harbor as before until near eleven, when all the +lights of the little town had faded away, save that at the inn, which +was burning for him alone; then he climbed the cliff, and pushed +southward along the very path against the dangers of which he had been +cautioned. He walked fast, too, with his gaze fixed before him, like one +who has an appointment of importance for which there is a fear of being +late. Presently he struck inland over the down, when he began to move +less quickly, and to peer cautiously before him. All was dark: the grass +on which he trod seemed to be black, until he suddenly arrived at a +large circular patch of it which _was_ black, and made the surrounding +soil less sombre by contrast. This was the mouth of a great pit; and he +sat on the brink of it, with his face to seaward, and his ear in his +hollowed hand, listening. Nothing was to be heard, however, but the +occasional scud of the rain, and the ceaseless roar of the now distant +waves. Far out to sea there was a round red light, which fell upon him +at regular intervals, its absence making the place which it had filled +more dark than elsewhere. It had a weird effect, as though some evil +spirit was keeping watch upon him, but he knew it for what it was--the +revolving lamp of a light-house. Presently, in the same direction as the +red light, he perceived a white one, which, though moving slowly, was +certainly advancing toward him; nor did it, like the other, become +obscure. + +"He is coming," said Balfour to himself, with a great sigh. He had begun +to have doubts of the other's keeping his appointment; though, indeed, +it was not yet the time that he had himself fixed for it. The light came +on, quite close to the ground, and with two motions--across as well as +along. It was that of a lantern, which guided thus the footsteps of a +tall, stout man, who bore upon his shoulders a ladder so long that it +both projected above his head and trailed behind him. Balfour rose up, +and stood motionless in the path of the new-comer till this light fell +full upon him. "Hollo!" cried the man, a little startled by the white, +worn face that so suddenly confronted him, although he had been looking +for it. "Is that you, Mr. Balfour?" + +"Yes. Hush! There is no need to mention names." + +"Quite true, Sir; but you gave me quite a turn," remonstrated the other, +"coming out of the darkness like a ghost. This Wheal Danes, at midnight, +puts queer thoughts into one's head." + +"John Trevethick was not afraid of coming here," observed Balfour. + +"Well, so he always said. He told me at the last that he only pretended +to believe in any of the foolish stories that folks talk about, and in +favor of which he used to argue. But he's dead and gone, and _that_ +don't make this place less uncanny. Nobody since his time has been +a-near it; they think he haunts the pit, it seems, so every body gives +it a wide berth, both night and day. We shall see, however, and pretty +soon, I hope, whether that notion can not be got over. Why, in six +months' time we ought to have a hundred men at work here." + +"Let us hope so. But in the mean time you say nobody comes here even in +the daytime, eh?" + +"Never. The place lies out of the way, you see: about midway between the +cliff-path and the road." + +"That's well," said Balfour, mechanically. "And you have not been +babbling to any one of our prospects, Mr. Coe--nor of me, I hope?" + +"Certainly not, Sir; that was the first article of our partnership, as I +understood. Not a soul at Gethin has heard a whisper of Wheal Danes, or +of your coming; they think I'm fast asleep at my own house, this +instant. But it's been hard work lugging this cursed ladder up here in +such a breakneck night as this, _I_ can tell you, and I am glad enough +to rest a bit." + +"Well, it's all over now, Mr. Coe." + +"Except that I have got to take it back again," grumbled Solomon. + +"True, I had forgotten that. We must not leave it here, must we?" + +"Of course not. I do not complain of the trouble, however, only you must +admit I've kept my tryst under some little difficulties, eh, partner?" +and Solomon chuckled self-approval. + +"You will be paid in full for all, my good Sir," answered Balfour, +gravely; "that is," he added, hastily, "if the mine should turn out as +you predict. How deep is it? That ladder of yours will surely never +reach the bottom." + +"No, indeed. Did I not tell you that there are three levels, each about +the same depth? The copper lode lies at the bottom of the last, in the +northeastern corner. You will find I have concealed nothing from you. +Well, I have got my breath again now. Are you ready, Mr. Balfour?" + +"Quite; but walk slowly, I beg, for your lantern is very dim." + +"Yes, yes. But wait a minute; I came here yesterday and hid something." +Solomon seated himself upon the edge of the pit, with his legs hanging +over, and began to peer and feel about him. + +"Take care what you are at," cried Balfour, eagerly; "you may slip down +and kill yourself, sliding along like that." + +Solomon laughed contemptuously. "Never fear, Sir; I have had too many +mischances with mines to fear them. I have fallen down worse places, and +been shut up in others far deeper and darker than Wheal Danes, without +food or candle, for a week, and yet lived through it. The shaft has not +yet been dug, I reckon, as will prove--Oh, here's the torch." + +He dragged from under the overhanging rim of the pit a piece of wood +like a bludgeon, one end of which was smeared with pitch; and placing +the lantern with its back to the wind, pushed the stick inside, which +came out a torch, flaming and dropping flame. + +"There's our corpse-candle!" cried Coe, triumphantly; "that would keep +us without witnesses, even if any one were so bold as, in a night like +this, to venture near Wheal Danes, to trespass on Tom Tiddler's ground, +where we shall pick up the gold and the silver." There was a wild +excitement, quite foreign to his habit, about this man, and he whirled +the torch about his head in flaring circles. + +"Keep your wits steady, if you please," observed Balfour, sternly. + +"It is over now, Sir, and I am in the counting-house again," answered +Solomon, submissively. "I felt a little exhilarated at the prospect of +plucking a fruit that has been ripening for fifty years, that's all. +This Wheal Danes is the very aloe of mines, and it is about to blossom +for us only. You had better take the torch yourself; the lantern will +serve for me; but just show a light here while I place the ladder." + +Balfour held the blazing pine aloft, and disclosed the gaping mouth of +the old pit, its margin wet with the rain, and its sheer sides slippery +with the damps of ages. + +"It would be easy enough to get down without this contrivance," observed +Solomon, grimly, as he carefully adjusted the ladder, the foot of which +was lost in gloom; "but it would take us some trouble to find our way +back again without wings." + +"In daylight, however, I dare say it looks easier," said Balfour, +carelessly. + +"It may look so, but it ain't. Nothing but a sea-gull ever goes in and +out of Wheal Danes; even the bats keep there, where indeed they are snug +and warm enough." + +"It doesn't feel very warm at present," replied the other, who did not +seem to be in a hurry to explore this unpromising territory. + +"Ay, but you wait till we get to the lower level; you might live there, +if the rats would let you, for a whole winter, and never need a fire." + +"Oh, there are rats, are there? Why, what do _they_ live upon?" + +"Well, that's _their_ look-out," laughed Solomon; "they would be very +glad to have _us_, no doubt. It would be only just in my case, for I +have lived on them before now; with rats and water a man may do very +well for a week or two." + +"What! there is water laid on in this establishment, is there?" + +"No; the low levels are quite dry. But come, let us see for ourselves. +We are losing time. I will start first, and do you follow close upon me, +but without treading on my fingers;" and Solomon placed his heavy foot +upon the first rung. + +"No, no," said Balfour, drawing back; "I will not trust myself on the +same ladder with a man of your weight. When you are at the bottom give +me a call, and then I'll join you." + +"As you like, Sir," responded Solomon, civilly; but his thick lips +curled contemptuously, and he muttered, "So this man is lily-livered +after all; so much the better: it is well to have a coward for a +partner." + +The next moment his descending form was lost in the gloom. + +Balfour waited, torch in hand, until an "All right," that sounded like a +voice from the tomb, assured him that his companion had reached terra +firma. Then he descended very carefully, and joined him. + +"Stand close to the wall, Sir, while I move the ladder," said Coe; "your +head don't seem made for these deep places. Ah, here's the spot. This is +a drop of twenty feet." + +"And what is the depth of the last level?" + +"Five-and-twenty. But don't you be afraid; the ladder will just reach +it, only you won't have so much to hold on by at the top. It's only the +getting down that's unpleasant; you'll find going back quite easy work. +And then, just think of the lode!" + +Solomon began to be anxious lest his companion's fears should induce him +to give up the expedition altogether. It had never entered into his mind +that what was so easy to himself could prove so formidable to another; +and, besides, he had somehow concluded that Balfour was a man of strong +nerves. + +"Make haste," said the latter, in the tone of one who has achieved some +mental victory: "let us go through with it." + +In the second level it was perceptibly warmer. Dark, noiseless objects +began to flit about the torch, and once something soft struck against +Balfour's foot, and then scampered away. + +He looked behind him, and not a trace of light was to be discerned, +while before him was impenetrable gloom, except for the feeble gleam of +his companion's lantern. Above him the roof was just discernible, from +which long strings of fungi, white and clammy, hung down and brushed +against his face as he moved slowly forward. + +"Come on!" said Solomon, impatiently, whose spirits seemed to rise in +this familiar scene. "We are only a few score yards from Golconda." + +Balfour stopped short. "I thought you said there was another level?" +There was a strange look of disappointment in his face, and even of +rage. + +"Yes, yes, and here it is," cried the other, putting down the ladder, +which he had carried from place to place. "It is only depth that +separates us from it. They dug well, those Romans, but left off, as you +shall see, upon the very threshold of fortune. You have only to be a +little careful, because the ladder does not quite reach." + +He descended, as before, in advance, while Balfour followed slowly and +cautiously. "How steep and smooth the rock is!" observed he, examining +its surface. + +"Yes, indeed; it is like a wall of marble. But what matters that? It +baffles the rats, but not us. Here is the land of gold, here is--What +the devil are you at?" + +Solomon, in his impatience, had stridden on to the object of his +desires; and Balfour, halting midway in his descent, suddenly retraced +his footsteps, and having reached the top, was dragging the ladder up +after him. + +Solomon heard this noise, with which his ear was familiar, and his tone +had some alarm in it as he cried out, "I say, no tricks, Mr. Balfour." + +There was no reply. He hastened back to the spot he had just left, and +from thence could dimly perceive his late companion sitting on the verge +of the steep wall, peering down upon him. + +"Come, come, a joke is a joke," remonstrated Coe. "What a fellow you are +to be at such games when an important matter is at stake! Why, here is +the lode, man." + +"It is very valuable, I dare say, Mr. Coe, but it is worth more to one +man than to two." + +"Great Heaven! what do you mean?" cried Solomon, while a sudden sweat +bedewed his forehead. "You would not murder a man to dissolve a +partnership?" + +"Certainly not. I shall leave him to die, that's all. He and the rats +will have to settle it together. Six months hence, perhaps, we may have +a picnic here, and explore the place. Then we shall find, where you are +now standing, some well-picked bones and the metal part of your lantern. +That will cause quite an excitement; and we shall search further, and in +the northeast corner there will be found a copper lode. I will take your +word for that." + +"Mr. Balfour, I am sure you will not do this," pleaded the wretched man. +"It is not in man's nature to treat a fellow-creature with such +barbarity. You are trying to frighten me, I know, and I own you have +succeeded. I know what it is to be shut up in desolate, dark places +alone, out of reach of succor; and even for eight-and-forty hours or so +it is terrible." + +"_What must it be, then, to suffer so for twenty years?_" + +It was a third voice that seemed to wake the echoes of that lonesome +cavern. Solomon looked up in terror, and beheld a third face, that of +Robert Balfour, but transfigured. He held the glowing brand above him, +so that his deep-lined features could be distinctly seen, and they were +all instinct with a deadly rage and malice. There was a fire in his eyes +that might well have been taken for that of madness, and Solomon's heart +sank within him as he looked. + +"Mr. Balfour," said he, in a coaxing voice, "come and look at your +treasure. It sparkles in the light of my lantern like gold, and you +shall have it all if you please; I do not wish to share it with you." + +"So you take me for a madman, do you? Look again; look fixedly upon me, +Solomon Coe. You do not recognize me even yet? I do not wonder. It is +not you that are dull, but I that am so changed by wrong and misery. My +own mother does not know me, nor the woman of whom you robbed me +nineteen years ago. Yes, you know me now. I am Richard Yorke!" + +"Mercy, mercy!" gasped Solomon, dropping on his knees. + +Richard laughed long and loud. The echoes of his ghastly mirth died +slowly away, and when his voice was heard again it was stern and solemn. +"It is my turn at last, man; I am the judge to-day, as you were the +witness nineteen years ago who doomed me wrongfully to shame and misery. +Night and day I have had this hour in my mind; the thought of it has +been my only joy--in chains and darkness, in toil and torment, fasting +and wakeful on my prison pillow, I have thought of nothing else. I did +not know how it would come about, but I was sure that it would come. You +swore falsely once that I was a thief; I am now about to be a murderer, +and your whitening bones will not be able to witness against me." + +"I never swore it, Mr. Yorke," pleaded Solomon, passionately. + +"Your memory is defective," answered Richard, gloomily; "you forget that +I was in court myself on that occasion. You did your very worst to +blacken me before judge and jury, and you succeeded." + +"But it was Trevethick--it was father-in-law who urged me to do it; it +was indeed." + +"I know it," replied the other, coldly; "he was a greater villain than +yourself, but unhappily an older one. Death has robbed me of him, and +made my vengeance incomplete. Still there is something left for me. +While you die slowly here--But no; I shall wait at Turlock for that to +happen. A strong man like you, who have rats to live upon, may last ten +days, perhaps. Well, when you are dead, I shall return to your London +house, and lead your son to ruin. You permitted me to begin the work in +hopes of getting half this mine; I shall finish it while you are in sole +possession of the whole of it." + +"Devil!" cried Solomon, furiously. + +"The appellation is a true one, my good Sir; but I was a man once. Evil +is now my good, thanks to your teaching. Look at me--look at me, and see +what you have brought me to at eight-and-thirty! You almost drove me +mad, and it was easy, for I had the Carew blood in my veins; but I +contrived to keep my wits for the enjoyment of this hour. I feel very +old, and have few pleasures left, you see. It is impossible, +unfortunately, to return here and see you rot; there would be danger in +it; just the least risk in the world of somebody coming here to look for +us. I must be off now, too, for there is a worthy man sitting up for me +at the inn, and I have got to take this ladder back to Gethin." + +A cry of mingled rage and despair burst forth from Richard's foe. + +"What! you had calculated upon the absence of that ladder producing +suspicion? It is curious how great wits jump together: that had also +struck me. I shall take it back, for I well know where it ought to be; I +am quite familiar with your house at Gethin, as you may remember, +perhaps. You may keep the lantern, which will not be missed; but, if you +will take my advice, you will put out the light, to preserve the +candle--as an article of food. Put it somewhere where the rats can not +eat it, and it may prolong your torments half a day. You can also eat +the horn of the lantern, but you will doubtless preserve that for a +_bonne bouche_. You are not superstitious, else I would suggest that +your father-in-law's spirit is exceedingly likely to haunt that +northeastern corner down yonder." + +Here there was a dull scrambling noise, a violent struggle as of feet +and hands against a wall, and then a heavy thud. + +"Now that is very foolish of you, Solomon, to attempt to get out of a +place which you yourself informed me could never be escaped from without +wings. I sincerely hope you have not hurt yourself much. I hear you +moving slowly about again, so I may leave you without anxiety. Good-by, +Solomon." Richard waited a moment, a frightful figure of hate and +triumph, peering down into the pit beneath, where all was now dark. "You +are too proud to speak to a convict, perhaps. Well, well, that is but +natural in so honest a man. I take my leave, then. You have no message, +I conclude, for home?" + +An inarticulate cry, like that of a wild animal caught in a snare, was +the only reply. + +"That is the worst of letting his candle go out," mused Richard, aloud; +"some rat has got hold of him already." Then, with a steady foot and +smiling face, which showed how all his previous fears had been assumed, +he retraced his steps, and mounted to the upper air. The sky was clearer +now; and, casting the torch, for which he had no further need, far into +the mine, and shouldering the ladder, he started for Gethin at good +speed. It was past two o'clock before he reached his inn at Turlock; but +before he retired to rest he sat down to the supper that had been +prepared for him, but without the appetite which he had anticipated. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +THE SMOKING-ROOM OF THE GEORGE AND VULTURE. + + +Robert Balfour did not remain at Turlock, as he had originally intended. +Perhaps the vicinity to Wheal Danes was not so attractive to him as he +had promised himself that it would be, although not for a single instant +did his purpose of revenge relax. Other considerations, had he needed +them, were powerful, now that he had taken the first step, to keep him +on that terrible path which he had so long marked out for himself. To +disclose the position of his victim now would have been not only to make +void his future plans, but to place his own fate at Solomon's mercy. Yet +he found his heart less hard than the petrifaction it had undergone, the +constant droppings of wrong and hardship for twenty years, should have +rendered it. He did not wake until late, and the first sound that broke +upon his ear was the tinkling of the bell of the little church, for it +was Sunday morning. He compared it for a moment with something that he +had been dreaming of: a man in a well chipping footsteps for himself in +the brick wall, up which he climbed a few feet, and then fell down +again. Then a pitiful, unceasing cry of "Help, help!--help, help!" rang +in his ears, instead of the voice that called people to prayers. Even +when that ceased, the wind and rain--for the weather was wild and +wet--beating against the window-pane, brought with them doleful shrieks. +Sometimes a sudden gust seemed to bear upon it confused voices and the +tramp of hurrying feet; and then he would knit his brow and clench his +hand, with the apprehension that they had found his enemy, and were +bringing him to the door. Not the slightest fear of the consequences to +himself in such a case agitated his mind; he had quite resolved what to +do, and that no prison walls should ever hem him in again; but the bare +idea that Solomon should escape his vengeance drove him to the brink of +frenzy. He would have left the place at once, but that he thought the +coincidence of his departure with the disappearance of his foe might +possibly awaken suspicion; so he staid on through the day, waiting for +the news which he knew must arrive sooner or later. At noon he thought +the landlady wore an unusually grave air, and he felt impelled to ask +her what was the matter. But then, if there was nothing--if she only +looked sour, as folks often did, just because it was Sunday--she might +think him too curious. + +From his window, a little later, he saw a knot of people in the rain +talking eagerly together, and one of them pointing with his hand toward +Gethin. But they were too far off to be overheard, and he did not dare +go down and interrogate them. It was his object to appear utterly +indifferent to local affairs, and as a total stranger. He felt half +stifled within doors, and yet, if he should go out, he knew that he +would be incontrollably impelled to take the cliff path that he had +followed the preceding night, to watch that nobody came near the place +that held his prey, and thereby, like the bird who shows her nest by +keeping guard too near, attract attention. The tidings for which he +waited came at six o'clock, just as he was sitting down to his dinner. +The parlor-maid who served him had that happy and excited look which the +possession of news, whether it be good or bad, but especially the +latter, always imparts to persons of her class. + +"There's strange news come from Gethin, Sir," said she, as she arranged +the dishes. + +"Indeed," said Balfour, carelessly, though he felt his brain spin round +and his heart stop at the same moment. "What is it?" + +"Mr. Coe, Sir, a very rich man--he as owns all Dunloppel--has +disappeared." + +"How's that?" + +"Well, Sir, he went to his room last night, they say, at his usual hour, +but never slept in his bed, and the front-door was found unlocked in the +morning, so that he must have gone away of himself. That would not be so +odd, for he is a secret sort of man, as is always coming and going; but +he has taken nothing with him; only the clothes he stood in." + +"Well, I dare say he has come back again by this time, my good girl. +What's this? Is there no fish?" + +"No, Sir; the weather was too bad yesterday for catching them, and all +last night there was a dreadful sea: that's what they fear about Mr. +Coe--that he has fell into the sea. His footsteps have been tracked to +the cliff edge, and there they stop." + +"Poor fellow! Has he any relatives?" + +"Oh yes, Sir; a wife and son--a very handsome, nice young gentleman." + +"Then his widow will be rich, I suppose?" + +"Oh, pray, don't call her a widow yet, Sir; let us hope her husband may +be found. It's a dreadful thing to be drowned like that on a Sunday +morning; and for one who knows the cliff path so well as he did, too. He +was a hard man, and no favorite, but one forgets that now, of course." + +"You have also forgotten the Harvey Sauce, my good girl; oblige me by +bringing it, will you?" said Mr. Balfour, beginning to whistle something +which did not sound like a psalm tune. "You must excuse my +hard-heartedness, but I had not the pleasure of knowing this gentleman." + +An hour afterward the solitary guest had left the inn, and was on his +road to Plymouth. His departure caused little surprise, for the weather +was such as to induce no visitor to prolong his stay. + +Whether from his long enforced abstinence from society, or from the +unwelcome nature of his thoughts, Robert Balfour was always disinclined +to be alone. His expeditions with Charley in search of pleasure had +been, though he did not find pleasure, more agreeable to him than the +being left to his own resources; and now this was more the case than +ever. He preferred even such company as that which the smoking-room of +an hotel afforded to none at all. The voices of his fellow-creatures +could not shape themselves, as every inarticulate sound did to his +straining ear, into groans and feeble cries for aid. Not twenty-four +hours had elapsed since his prisoner was placed in hold, so that such +sounds of weakness and agony must have been in every sense chimerical; +and yet he heard them. What, then, if these echoes from the tomb should +always be heard? A terrible idea indeed, but one which bred no +repentance. It was not likely that remorse should seize him in the very +place where his hated foe had clutched and consigned him to _his_ living +grave. + +The hotel at which he now put up was the same at which he had then +lodged; this public room was the same in which he had smoked his last +cigar upon his fatal visit to the Miners' Bank. He had had only one +companion then, but now it was full of people. By their talk it was +evident that they were townsfolk, and all known to one another; in fact, +it was a tradesmen's club, which met at the _George and Vulture_ on +Sunday nights through the winter months. In spite of his willingness to +be won from his thoughts, he could not fix his attention on the small +local gossip that was going on about him. Men came in and out without +his observing them; and indeed it was not easy to take note of faces +through the cloud of smoke that filled the room; he was fast relapsing +into his own reflections, wondering what Solomon was doing in the dark, +and if he slept much, when an event occurred which roused him as +thoroughly as the prick of a lance or a sudden douche of cold water. + +"Let us have no misunderstanding and no obligation--that is my motto." + +The speaker was a thin, gray man, whose entrance into the apartment +Balfour had not perceived, and who was seated in an elevated chair, +which had apparently been reserved for him as president of the assembly. +The face was unfamiliar, for twenty years had made an old man of the +astute and lively detective; but his phrase, and the manner of +delivering it, identified him at once as his old friend Mr. Dodge. + +"It was in this very room," continued the latter, "that I sat and talked +with him as sociable as could be, not a quarter of an hour before I put +the darbies on him; and it's a thing that has been upon my mind ever +since. I was only doing my duty, of course, but still it seemed hard to +take advantage of such a frank young fellow. As for stealing them notes, +it's my belief he had no more intention of doing it than I had." + +"And yet he got it hot at the 'sizes, Mr. Dodge, didn't he?" inquired +one of the company. + +"Got it hot, Sir?" replied Mr. Dodge, with dignity; "he got an infamous +and most unjustly severe sentence, if you mean that, Sir. Of course what +he did was contrary to law, but it's my opinion as the law was strained +agin him. There was some as swore hard and fast to get him punished as +knew he deserved no such treatment. Why, the girl as he loved, and whose +picture I found upon him myself when I searched him, and gave it him +back, too--ay, that I did--even she took a false oath, as Weasel himself +told me, who was his lawyer, and had built up his case with that same +hussy for its corner-stone. Ah!" said Mr. Dodge, with a gesture of +abhorrence, "if there ever was a murdered man, it was that poor young +fellow, Richard Yorke." + +"But I thought he got twenty years' penal servitude," observed the same +individual who had interposed before, and whose thankless office it +seemed to be to draw the old gentleman out for the benefit of society. + +"I say he was murdered, Sir. He was shut up for nigh twenty years, and +then shot in the back in trying to get away from Lingmoor. It was the +hardest case I ever knew in all my professional experience. Lord, if you +had seen him--the handsomest, brightest, gayest young chap! And he was +what some folks call well-born, too; he was the son--that is, though, in +a left-handed sort of way, it's true--of mad Carew of Crompton, about +whose death the papers were so full a month ago or so; and that, in my +judgment, was the secret of all his misfortune: it was the Carew blood +as did it. To take his own way in the world; to seek nobody's advice, +nor use it if 'twas given; to be spoiled and petted by all the women and +half the men as came nigh him; to own no master nor authority; to act +without thought, and to scorn consequences--well, all that was bred in +the bone with him." + +"Then he had never any one to look after him at home, I reckon, Mr. +Dodge?" + +"Well, yes; he had a mother; and though she was a queer one too, she +loved him dearly. She was the cleverest woman, Weasel used to say, as +ever he had to do with; and a perfect lady too, mind you. She worked to +get the poor lad off like a slave; and when all was over, instead of +breaking down, as most would, she swallowed her pride, and went down on +her bended knees to that old miserly devil, Trevethick, the prosecutor, +and to his son-in-law, Coe, likewise: they lived down Cross Key +way--where was it?--at Gethin--and begged and prayed him to join in +petitioning in her son's favor. She got down there the very day after +his lying daughter was married to Solomon Coe, he as has got Dunloppel, +and is a big man now. But he'll never be any thing but a scurvy lot, if +he was to be king o' Cornwall. I shall never forget the way he insulted +that poor young fellow when he was took up. Damme, I would have given a +ten-pound note to have had _him_ charged with something, and I'd ha' +seen that the handcuffs weren't none too big for his wrists neither." + +"And this Trevethick refused to help the lady, did he?" + +"Why, of course he did. He broke her heart, poor soul. I saw her when +she passed through Plymouth afterward, and she looked twenty years older +than before that trial. Even then she didn't give the matter up, but +laid it before the crown. But poor Yorke had offended government--helped +some fool or another through one of them public examinations; he had +wits enough for any thing, had that young fellow. But there--I can't +a-bear to talk about him; and yet somehow I can't help doing on it when +I get into this room. He sat just where that gentleman sits yonder. I +think I see him now, smoking the best of cigars, one of which he offered +to me--for he was free as free; but I was necessitated to restore it, +for I couldn't take a gift from one as I was just a-going to nab. 'Thank +you kindly,' says I, 'but let us have no misunderstanding and no +obligation.' Poor fellow! poor fellow!" + +No more was said about the case of Richard Yorke; but it was evidently a +standing topic with the chairman of the _George and Vulture_ club. A +yearning to behold and embrace that mother who had done and suffered so +much for his sake took possession of Richard's soul. His heart had been +steeled against her when he found harbored under her roof the objects of +his rage and loathing; but he felt now that that must have come to pass +with some intention of benefit to himself. The very truth, indeed, +flashed upon him that she entertained some plan of frustrating his +revenge against them, with the idea of protecting him from the +consequences that were likely to ensue from it; and he forgave her, +while he hated his foes the more. He would carry out his design to the +uttermost, but very cautiously, and with a prudence that he would +certainly not have used had his own safety been alone concerned; and +then, when he had avenged himself and her, he would disclose himself to +her. The statement he had just heard affected him deeply, but in +opposite ways. The justification of himself in no way moved him--he did +not need that; it was also far too late for his heart to be touched by +the expression of the old detective's good-will, though the time had +been when he would have thanked him for its utterance with honest tears; +but the revelation of his mother's toil and suffering in his behalf +reawakened all his dormant love for her, while it made his purpose +firmer than ever to be the Nemesis of her enemies and his own. + +As he went to bed that night the clock struck twelve. It was just +four-and-twenty hours since he had left his victim in the bowels of +Wheal Danes. If a free pardon could have been offered to him for the +crime, and the mine been filled with gold for him to its mouth, he would +not have stretched out his hand to save him. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +STILL HUMAN. + + +Mr. Balfour atoned for his previous indifference to the wares of the +news-boy by sending him next morning to the station for all the local +papers. In each, as he expected, there was a paragraph headed +_Mysterious Disappearance_, and as lengthened an account as professional +ingenuity could devise of the unaccountable departure of Mr. Solomon Coe +from his house at Gethin. The missing man was "much respected;" and, "as +the prosperous owner of the Dunloppel mine, which had yielded so largely +for so many years, he could certainly not have been pressed by pecuniary +embarrassments, and therefore the idea of suicide was out of the +question." Unlikely as it seemed in the case of one who knew the country +so well, the most probable explanation of the affair was that the +unfortunate gentleman, in taking a walk by night along the cliff top, +must have slipped into the sea. The weather had been very rough of late +and the wind blowing from off the land, which would have accounted--if +this supposition was correct--for the body not having been washed +ashore. "In the mean time an active search was going on." + +Balfour had resolved not to return to London for at least ten days. Mrs. +Coe and her son would, without doubt, be telegraphed for, and he could +not repair to their house in their absence. The idea of being under the +same roof alone with his mother was now repugnant to him. He felt that +he could not trust himself in such a position. It had been hard and +grievous, notwithstanding his resentment against her, to see her in +company with others, and her absence of late from table had been a great +relief to him. With his present feeling toward her it would be +impossible to maintain his incognito; and, if that was lost, his future +plans--to which he well knew she would oppose herself--would be rendered +futile. He had seen with rage and bitter jealousy that both Harry and +her boy, and especially the latter, were dear to her; and it was certain +she would interfere to protect them, for their sake as well as for his +own. He had other reasons also for not returning immediately to town. It +might hereafter be expedient to show that he _had_ really been to +Midlandshire, where he had given out he had designed to go; and, +moreover, though his purpose was relentless as respected Solomon, he did +not perhaps care to be in a house where hourly suggestions would be +dropped as to the whereabouts of his victim, or the fate that had +happened to him. Harry and her son might even not have gone to Gethin, +and in that case their apprehensions and surmises would have been +insupportable. + +Richard was more human than he would fain believe himself to be. Though +he had gone to bed so inexorable of purpose, it had been somewhat shaken +through the long hours of a night in which he had slept but little, and +waked to think on what his feverish dreams had dwelt upon--the fate of +his unhappy foe, perishing slowly beside his useless treasure. More than +once, indeed, the impulse had been strong upon him that very morning to +send word anonymously where Solomon was to be found to the police at +Plymouth. Remorse had not as yet become chronic with him, but it seized +him by fits and starts. + +There had been a time when he had looked (through his prison bars) on +all men with rage and hatred; but now he caught himself, as it were, at +attempts at self-justification with respect to the retribution he had +exacted even from his enemy. Had he not been rendered miserable, he +argued, supremely wretched, for more than half his lifetime, through +this man's agency? for it was certain that Solomon had sworn falsely, in +the spirit if not in the letter, and caused him to be convicted of a +crime which his rival was well aware he had not in intention committed. +His conduct toward him on the occasion of his arrest had also been most +brutal and insulting; while, after conviction had been obtained, this +wretch's malice, as Mr. Dodge had stated, had known no cessation. In the +arms of his young bride he had been deaf to the piteous cry of a mother +beseeching for her only son. + +But, on the other hand, had not he (Richard) deeply wronged this man in +the first instance? Had he not robbed him--for so much at least must +Solomon have known--of the love of his promised wife? If happiness from +such an ill-assorted union was not to have been anticipated, still, had +he not rendered it impossible? If their positions had been reversed, +would not he have exacted expiation from such an offender to the +uttermost? He would doubtless have scorned to twist the law as Solomon +had done, and make it, as it were, the crooked instrument of his +revenge. He would not, of course, have evoked its aid at all. But was +that to be placed to his credit? He had put himself above the law +throughout his life; he had never acknowledged any authority save that +of his own selfish will; nay, he owned to himself that his bitterness +against his unhappy victim had been caused not so much by the wrong he +had suffered at his hands as by the contempt which he (Richard) had +entertained for him. Without materials such as his father had possessed +to back his pretensions he had imagined himself a sort of irresponsible +and sovereign being. (Such infatuation is by no means rare, nor confined +to despots and brigands, and when it exists in a poor man it is always +fatal to himself.) His education, if it could be called such, had +doubtless fostered this delusion; but Mr. Dodge was right; the Carew +blood had been as poison in his veins, and had destroyed him. + +All this might be true; but such philosophy could scarcely now obtain a +hearing, while his enemy was dying of starvation in his living tomb. It +was in vain for him to repeat mechanically that he had also suffered a +sort of lingering death for twenty years. The present picture of his +rival's torments presented itself in colors so lively and terrible that +it blotted out the reminiscence of his own. The recollection of his +wrongs was no longer sufficient for his vindication. He therefore strove +to behold his victim in another light than as his private foe--as the +murderer of his friend Balfour, the history of whose end may here be +told. + +On the night that Richard escaped from Lingmoor, it was Balfour, of +course, who assisted him, and who was awaiting him in person at the foot +of the prison wall. The old man's arms had received him as he slipped +down the rope; and the object at which the sentry had fired had been two +men, though in the misty night they had seemed but one. Balfour had been +mortally wounded, and it was with the utmost difficulty that, laden +with the burden of his dying friend, Richard had contrived to reach +Bergen Wood. As his own footsteps were alone to be traced along the +moor, the idea of another having accompanied his flight--though they +knew there was complicity--had not occurred to the authorities. Balfour +had hardly reached that wretched asylum when he expired, pressing +Richard's hand, and bidding him remember Earl Street, Spitalfields. +"What you find there is all yours, lad," was his dying testament and +last words of farewell. And over his dead body Richard swore anew his +vow of vengeance against the man that had thus, though indirectly, +deprived him of his only friend. He had watched by the dead body, on its +bed of rotten leaves, through that night and the whole of the next day; +then, changing clothes with it, he had fled under cover of the ensuing +darkness, and got away eventually to town. + +He had found the house in Earl Street a wretched hovel, tenanted by a +few abjects, whom the money found on Balfour--which he had received on +leaving prison--was amply sufficient to buy out. Once alone in this +tenement, he had easily possessed himself of the spoil so long secreted, +and, furnished with it, he had hastened down to Crompton--the news of +Carew's death having reached London on the very day that he found +himself in a position to profit by it. The very plan which he had +suggested to Balfour, whose name he also assumed, he himself put into +execution. He made a private offer for the disused mine, which was +gladly accepted by those who had the disposal of the property, acting +under the advice of Parson Whymper. Trevethick, the only man that had +attached any importance to the possession of it, was dead; and it was +not likely that any one at the sale should bid one-half of the sum which +this stranger was prepared to give for the mere gratification of his +whim. The mine itself, indeed, had scarcely been mentioned in the +transaction; it merely formed a portion in the lot comprising the few +barren acres on which this capricious purchaser had expressed his fancy +to build a home. "Disposed of by private contract" was the marginal note +written in the auctioneer's catalogue which dashed Solomon's +long-cherished hopes to the ground. + +Richard staid on in the neighborhood to attend the sale. It attracted an +immense concourse; and no less than a guinea a head was the price of +admission to those who explored the splendid halls of Crompton, +discussing the character of its late owner, and retailing wild stories +of his eccentricities. Poor Parson Whymper, who had not a shilling left +to him--for Carew had died intestate, though, thanks to him, not +absolutely a beggar--was perhaps the only person present who felt a +touch of regret. He had asked for his patron's signet-ring, as a +keepsake, and this request had been refused on the part of the +creditors; he wandered among the gay and jeering crowd like a ghost, +little thinking that the one man who looked at him with a glance of pity +was he whom he had once regarded as the heir of Crompton. It was the +general opinion now that the unhappy chaplain had been Carew's evil +genius, and had "led him on." Even Richard bestowed but that single +glance upon him; he _was_ looking in vain for the face that had so +terrible an interest for himself. He had not heard that Trevethick was +dead, but he knew it was so the instant that his eyes fell upon Solomon +Coe, and all his hate was at once transferred to his younger enemy. The +business upon which this man had come was as clear to him as though it +had been written on his forehead. The first gleam of pleasure which had +visited his dark soul for twenty years was the sight of Solomon's +countenance when, on the sixth day's sale, the auctioneer gave out that +lot 970 had been withdrawn. Solomon might have received the intimation +long before but for the cautious prudence which had prevented him from +making any inquiries upon the subject. For a minute or two he stood +stunned and silent, then hurriedly made his way to the rostrum. Richard, +who was sitting at the long table with the catalogue before him, kept +his eyes fixed upon its pages while the auctioneer pointed him out as +the purchaser of the lot in question. He knew the inquiry that was being +asked, and its reply; he knew whose burly form it was that thrust itself +the next minute in between him and his neighbor; every drop of blood in +his body, every hair on his head, seemed to be cognizant that the man he +hated most on earth was seated cheek by jowl with him--that the first +step in the road of retribution had been taken voluntarily by his victim +himself. The rest is soon told. Solomon at once commenced his clumsy +efforts at conciliation; and his endeavors to recommend himself to the +stranger's friendship were suffered quickly to bear fruit. He invited +him to his house in London, which, to Richard's astonishment and +indignation, he found to be his mother's home; and, in short, fell of +his own accord into the very snare which the other, had he had the +fixing of it, would himself have laid for him. + +And now, as we have said, when all had gone exactly as Richard would +have had it go, and Solomon was being punished to the uttermost, the +executor of his doom was beginning to feel, if not compunction, at all +events remorse. No adequate retribution had indeed overtaken Harry. To +have made her a widow was, in fact, to have freed her from the yoke of a +harsh and unloved master; but the fact was, notwithstanding the perjury +of which he believed her to have been guilty, he had never hated her as +he had hated the other authors of his wrongs. She had once on the +rock-bound coast at Gethin preserved his life; she had accorded to his +passion all that woman can grant, and had reciprocated it; not even in +his fiercest hour of despair had he harbored the thought of raising his +hand against her; he had hated her, indeed, as his betrayer, and as +Solomon's wife, but never regarded her with that burning detestation +which he felt toward her husband. There was another motive also, though +he did not even admit it to himself, which, now that his chief foe was +expiating his offense, had no inconsiderable weight in the scale of +mercy as regarded the others. + +His endeavors to win Charley's favor had had a reflex action. In spite +of himself, a certain good-will had grown up in him toward this boy, +whom his mission it was to ruin. If there had been less of his mother in +the lad's appearance, or any thing of his father in his character, his +heart might have been steeled against his youth and innocence of +transgression. As a mere son of Solomon Coe's he would have beheld in +him the whelp of a wolf, and treated him accordingly; but between the +wolf and his offspring there was evidently as little of affection as +there was of likeness. The very weaknesses of Charley's character--his +love of pleasure, his credulity, his wayward impulsiveness, of all which +Balfour had made use for his own purposes--were foreign to the nature of +the elder Coe; while the lad's high spirit, demonstrativeness, and +geniality were all his own. If he had one to guide as well as love +him--a woman with sound heart and brain, such as this Agnes Aird was +represented to be, what a happy future might be before this youth! +Without such a wise counselor, how easy it would be, and how likely, for +him to drift on the tide of self-will and self-indulgence to the devil! +The decision rested in Richard's own hands, he knew. Should he blast +this young life in the bud, in revenge for acts for which he was in no +way accountable, and which were already being so bitterly expiated? The +apprehension that Solomon might even yet be found alive perhaps alone +prevented Richard from resolving finally to molest Harry and her son no +further. If his victim should have been rescued, his enmity would have +doubtless blazed forth afresh against them as inextinguishable as ever, +but in the mean time it smouldered, and was dying out for want of fuel. +If he had no penitence with respect to the terrible retribution he had +already wrought, the idea of it disturbed him. If he had no scruples, he +had pangs: when all was over--in a day or two, for even so strong a man +as Solomon could scarcely hold out longer--he would doubtless cease to +be troubled with them; when he was once dead Richard did not fear his +ghost; but the thought of this perishing wretch at present haunted him. +He was still not far from Gethin, and its neighborhood was likely to +encourage such unpleasant feelings. He had only executed a righteous +judgment, since there was no law to right him; but even a judge would +avoid the vicinity of a gallows on which hangs a man on whom he had +passed sentence. + +He would go into Midlandshire--where he was now supposed to be--until +the affair had blown over. That watching and waiting for the Thing to be +discovered would, he foresaw, be disagreeable, nervous work. And when it +happened, how full the newspapers would be of it! How Solomon got to the +place where he would be found would be as much a matter of marvel as the +object of his going there. If the copper lode--the existence of which +Richard did not doubt--were discovered, as it most likely would be when +the mine became the haunt of the curious and the morbid, it was only too +probable that public attention would be drawn to the owner. The +identification of Robert Balfour with the visitor who had visited +Turlock might then be established, whence would rise suspicion, and +perhaps discovery. Richard had no terrors upon his own account, but he +was solicitous to spare his mother this new shame. He had been hitherto +guiltless in her eyes, or, when blameworthy, the victim of +circumstances; but could her love for him survive the knowledge that he +was a murderer? But why encourage these morbid apprehensions? Was it not +just as likely that the Thing would never be discovered at all? Once set +upon a wrong scent, as folks already were, since the papers had +suggested the man was drowned, why should they ever hit upon the right +one? Wheal Danes had not been explored for half a century. Why should +not Solomon's bones lie there till the judgment-day? + +At this point in his reflections the door opened--he was taking his +breakfast in a private sitting-room--and admitted, as he thought, the +waiter. Richard stood in such profound thought that it was almost +stupor, with his arms upon the mantel-piece, and his head resting on his +hands. He did not change his posture; but when the door closed, and +there was silence in place of the expected clatter of the breakfast +things, he turned about, and beheld Harry standing before him--in deep +black, and, as it seemed to him, in widow's weeds! + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +FACE TO FACE. + + +If Solomon himself, half starved and imbecile with despair, had suddenly +presented himself from his living tomb, Richard could not have been more +astonished than at the appearance of his present visitor. He had left +her but three days ago for Midlandshire. How was it possible she had +tracked him hither? With what purpose she had done so he did not ask +himself, for he had already read it in her haggard face and hopeless +eyes. + +"Have I come too late?" moaned she in a piteous, terror-stricken voice. + +"For breakfast?--yes, madam," returned Richard, coldly; "but that can +easily be remedied;" and he feigned to touch the bell. His heart was +steel again; this woman's fear and care he felt were for his enemy, and +for him alone. It was plain she had no longer fear of himself. + +"Where is my husband?" she gasped out. "Is he still alive?" + +"I am not your husband's keeper, madam." + +"But you are his murderer!" She held out her arm, and pointed at him +with a terrible significance. There was something clasped in her +trembling fingers which he could not discern. + +"You speak in riddles, madam; and it seems to me your humor is somewhat +grim." + +"I ask you once more, is my husband dead, and have I come too late?" + +"I have not seen him for some days; I left him alive and well. What +makes you think him otherwise, or that I have harmed him?" + +"This"--she advanced toward him, keeping her eyes steadily fixed upon +his own--"this was found among your things after you left my house!" + +It was a ticket-of-leave--the one that had been given to Balfour on his +discharge from Lingmoor. It seemed impossible that Richard's colorless +face could have become still whiter, but it did so. + +"Yes, that is mine," said he. "It was an imprudence in me to leave such +a token among curious people. You took an interest in my effects, it +seems." + +"It was poor Mrs. Basil who found it, and who gave it to me." Her voice +was calm, and even cold; but the phrase "poor Mrs. Basil" alarmed him. + +"The good lady is still unwell, then, is she?" + +"She is dead." + +"Dead!" Richard staggered to a chair, and pressed his hands to his +forehead. The only creature in the world on whom his slender hopes were +built had, then, departed from it! "When did she die?" inquired he in a +hollow voice, "and how?" + +"On the evening of the day you left, and, as I believe, of a disease +which one like you will scarcely credit--of a broken heart." + +Her manner and tone were hostile; but that moved not Richard one whit; +the cold and measured tones in which she had alluded to his mother's +death angered him, on the other hand, exceedingly. If his mother had +died of a broken heart, it was this woman's falsehood that had broken +it; and yet she could speak with calmness and unconcern of the loss +which had left him utterly forlorn! He forgot all his late remorse; and +in his eyes glittered malice and cruel rage. + +"I do not fear you," cried she, in answer to this look; "for the +wretched have no fear. The hen will do battle with the fox, the rabbit +with the stoat, to save her young. If I can not save my husband, I will +save my son. I have come down here to do it. You are known to me now for +what you are--a jail-bird. If you dare to meet my Charley's honest face +again, I will tell him who and what you are." + +"Did Mrs. Basil tell you that, then?" + +"Thus far she did," cried Harry, pointing to the ticket which Richard +had taken from her hand. "Is not that enough? She warned me with her +latest breath against you. 'Beware of him,' said she; 'and yet pursue +him, if you would save your husband and your son. Where Solomon is, +there will this man also be. Pursue, pursue!' I did but stay to close +her eyes." + +"And so she knew me, did she?" + +"She knew enough, as I do. Of course she could not guess--who +could?--your shameful past, the fruit of which is there!" and again she +pointed to the ticket. + +"_My_ shameful past!" cried Richard, rising and drawing himself to his +full height. "Who are you, that dare to say so? Do you, then, need one +to rise from the dead to remind you of _your_ past! Look at me, Harry +Trevethick--look at _me_!" + +"Richard!" It was but one word; but in the tone which she pronounced it +a thousand memories seemed to mingle. An inexpressible awe pervaded her; +she stood spell-bound, staring at his white hair and withered face. + +"Yes, it _is_ Richard," answered the other, mockingly, "though it is +hard to think so. Twenty years of wretchedness have worked the change. +It is you he has to thank for it, you perjured traitress!" + +"No, no; as Heaven is my judge, Richard, I tell you No!" She threw +herself on her knees before him; and as she did so her bonnet fell, and +the rippling hair that he had once stroked so tenderly escaped from its +bands; the color came into her cheeks, and the light into her eyes, with +the passionate excitement of her appeal; and for the moment she looked +almost as he had known her in the far-back spring-tide of her youth. + +"Fair and false as ever!" cried Richard, bitterly. + +"Listen, listen!" pleaded she; "then call me what you will." + +He sat in silence while she poured forth all the story of the trial, and +of the means by which her evidence had been obtained, listening at first +with a cold, cynical smile, like one who is prepared for falsehood, and +beyond its power; but presently he drooped his head and hid his +features. She knew that she had persuaded him of her fidelity, but +feared that behind those wrinkled hands there still lay a ruthless +purpose. She had exculpated herself, but only (of necessity) by showing +in blacker colors the malice of his enemies. She knew that he had sworn +to destroy them root and branch; and there was one green bough which he +had already done his worst to bend to evil ways. "Richard, Richard!" +said she, softly. + +He withdrew his chair with a movement which she mistook for one of +loathing. + +"He hates me for their sake," thought she, "although he knows me to be +innocent. How much more must he hate those who made me seem so guilty!" +But, in truth, his withdrawal from her touch had a very different +explanation. He would have kissed her, and held out both his hands, but +for the blood which he dreaded might be even now upon them. He saw that +she loved him still, and had ever done so, even when she seemed his foe: +all the old affection that he thought had been dead within him awoke to +life, and yet he dared not give it voice. + +"You have said my husband was alive and well, Richard?" + +"I said I had left him so," answered he, hoarsely. + +"Then you have spared him thus far; spare him still, even for my sake; +and, for Heaven's sake, spare my son! Harden not your heart against one +more dear to me by far than life itself. He has done you no wrong." + +Richard shook his head; he yearned to clasp her to his breast; he could +have cried, "I forgive them all," but he could not trust himself to +speak, lest he should say, "I love you." + +"You have seen my boy, Richard, many times. The friendship you have +simulated for him must have made you know how warm-hearted and kind and +unsuspicious his nature is. You have listened to his merry laugh, and +felt the sunshine of his gayety. Oh! can you have the heart to harm +him?" + +Still he did not speak; he scarcely heard her words. The murdered man +was standing between her and him; and he would always stand there, seen +by him, though not by her. From the grave itself he had come forth to +triumph over him to the end. + +"Richard"--her voice had sunk to a tremulous whisper--"I must save my +son, and save you from yourself, no matter what it costs me. You little +know on the brink of what a crime you stand." + +He laughed a bitter laugh; for was he not already steeped in crime? She +thought him pitiless and malignant when he was only hopeless and +self-condemned. + +"Do you remember Gethin, Richard, and all that happened there? Can you +not guess why I was made to marry--within--what was it?--a month, a +week, a day--it seemed but the next hour--after I lost you? You have had +twenty years of misery for my sake; but so have I for yours. Did my +husband love me, think you? Did he love my child? He had good cause, if +he had only known, to hate us both. Can you not guess it?" + +He looked at her with eager hope--a trembling joy pervaded him. But hope +and joy had been strangers to him so long that he could scarce recognize +them for what they were. + +"My Charley is yours also, Richard--your own son." + +Richard burst into tears. There was somebody still to love him in the +world--his own flesh and blood--somebody to live for! The thought +intoxicated him with delight; a vision of happiness floated before him +for an instant; then was swallowed up in darkness, as a single star by +the gloom of night. His own flesh and blood; ay, perhaps inheriting the +same nature as his father. It was only too likely, from what he had seen +of the lad; and he had himself done his best to develop the evil in him, +and to crush the good. + +"Don't weep, dear Richard: kiss me." + +He shrank from her proffered lips with a cold shudder. "Nay, I can not +kiss you. Do not ask me why, Harry. Never ask me; but I never can." + +She looked at him with wonder, for she saw that his wrath had vanished. +His tone was tender, though woeful, and his touch as he put her aside +was as gentle as a child's. + +"As you please, Richard," said she, humbly, and with a deep blush. "I +only wished for it as a token of your forgiveness. It is not necessary; +those tears have told me we are reconciled. But you will kiss Charley." + +"Nay; he must never know," answered Richard gloomily. + +"I had forgotten," said Harry, simply. "You can guess by that the +loyalty of my heart toward you, Richard. I forgot that to reveal it +would be to tell my darling of his mother's shame. But you will be kind +and good to him; you will undo what you have done of harm; you will lead +him back to Agnes, and then he will be safe." + +"Yes, yes," muttered Richard, mechanically; "I will undo so far as I can +what I have done of harm. I will do my best, as I have done my worst." + +He rose hastily, and rang the bell. Harry eyed him like some attached +creature that sympathizes with but can not comprehend its master. + +The waiter entered. + +"I shall not go by the train," said Richard; "let a carriage and pair be +brought round instantly, without a moment's delay." + +The waiter hurried out to execute the order. + +"But you will surely return home, Richard, after what has happened?" +said Harry, thinking of his mother's funeral. + +"The dead can wait," returned he, solemnly. "Go you back to town. In +three days' time, if you do not hear from me, come down to Gethin with +Charles and Agnes." + +"But I dare not, unless my husband send for me." + +"He _will_ send for you," said Richard, solemnly; "or others will in his +behalf." + +Without one word or sign of farewell he suddenly rushed by her, and was +gone. A carriage stood at the front-door of the hotel, which had just +returned from taking a bride and bridegroom to the railway station, and +she saw him hurry into it. + +"Fast! fast!" she heard him cry, through the open window; and then he +was whirled away. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +CURTIUS. + + +Richard had many subjects for thought to beguile his lonely way to +Gethin, but one was paramount, and absorbed the rest, though he strove +to dismiss it all he could. + +He endeavored to think of his dead mother. His heart was full of her +patient love and weary, childless life; but her portrait faded from his +mind like a dissolving view, and in its place stood that of Solomon Coe, +haggard, emaciated, hideous. Still less could he think of Harry and her +son, between whom and himself this spectre of the unhappy man rose up at +once, summoned by the thought of them, as by a spell. It did not occur +to Richard even now that he had had no right to kill him; but he +shuddered to think, if he had really done so, how this late opening +flower of love which he had just discovered would blossom into fear and +loathing. In that case his heart would have been softened only to be +pierced. His mother's death, the knowledge of Harry's fidelity, and of +the existence of his son, to whom his affection had been already drawn, +unknowingly and in spite of himself, had dissolved his cruel purpose. He +was eager to spare his mother's memory the shame of the foul crime he +had contemplated, and passionately anxious that in the veins of his +new-found son there should at least run no murderer's blood. + +"Faster! faster!" was still his cry, though the horses galloped whenever +it was practicable, and the wheels cast the winter's mire into his eager +face. This haste was made, as he well knew, upon the road to his own +ruin. To find Solomon alive was to be accused of having compassed his +death. There was no hope in the magnanimity of such a foe. But yesterday +Richard had cared little or nothing for his own safety, and was only +bent upon the prosecution of his scheme against his foe; now life had +mysteriously become dear to him, and he was about to risk it in saving +the man he had hated most on earth from the doom to which he had himself +consigned him. He had calculated the possibilities which were in his own +favor, and they had resolved themselves into this single chance--that +Solomon might be induced, by the unconditional offer of Wheal Danes and +its golden treasure, to forego his revenge. His greed was great; but his +malice, as Richard had good cause to know, was also not easily +satisfied. Moreover, even if his victim should decline to be his +prosecutor, he would still stand in great peril. It was only too +probable that he would be recognized at Gethin for the stranger that had +so lately been staying at Turlock; he had not, indeed, mentioned his +assumed name at the latter place; but his lack of interest in the fate +of Solomon--whose disappearance had been narrated to him by the +waitress--and his departure from the town under such circumstances, +would (in case of his identification) be doubtless contrasted with this +post-haste journey of his to deliver this same man. He had made up his +mind, however, to neglect no precautions to avoid this contingency. It +would be dark when he got to Gethin; and his purpose once accomplished +he might easily escape recognition, unless he should be denounced by +Solomon himself. In that case Richard was fully determined that he would +glut no more the curiosity of the crowd. He would never stand in the +prisoner's dock, or be consigned again to stone walls. The gossips +should have a dead man's face to gaze at, and welcome; they might make +what sport they pleased of that, but not again of his living agony. +Then, instead of his being Solomon's murderer, he would be his victim. +To judge by his present feeling, thought Richard, bitterly, this man +would not enjoy his triumph even then. Revenge, as his mother had once +told him, was like a game of battle-door--it is never certain who gets +the last stroke. If Solomon was now dead, starved skeleton or rat-eaten +corpse as he might be, Richard felt that he would still have had the +advantage over him. + +"What is it? Why are we stopping?" cried he, frantically, as the man +pulled up on the top of a hill. + +"Let me breathe the horses for an instant," pleaded the driver; "we +shall gain time in the end." + +"How far are we still from Gethin?" inquired Richard, impatiently. + +"In time, two hours, Sir, for the road is bad, though me and the horses +will do our best; but the distance is scarce twelve miles. Do you see +that black thing out to seaward yonder? That's the castled rock. He +stands out fine against the sunset, don't he?" + +"Yes, yes; make haste;" and on they sped again at a gallop. + +Within a mile or two of this spot Richard had first caught sight of that +same object twenty years ago. The occasion flashed upon him with every +minutest circumstance, even to the fact of how hungry he had been at the +moment. The world was all before him then, and life was young. Now, +prematurely aged, his interest centred in three human beings, and one of +those was his bitter enemy. + +The dusk thickened into dark; and the tired horses--for the stage had +been a very long one--made but slow way. + +"Faster! faster!" was Richard's constant cry, till the brow of the last +hill was gained, and the scanty lights of Gethin showed themselves. Then +it suddenly struck him for the first time what unnecessary speed had +been made. Why, this man, Solomon, strong and inured to privation, had, +after all, been but eight-and-forty hours in the mine, and would surely +be alive, unless the rats had killed him. Where had he somewhere read of +a strong man overpowered in a single night by a legion of rats, and +discovered a heap of clean-picked bones by morning? + +The inn, as usual at that season, showed few signs of life; but there +were some half dozen miners drinking at the bar. + +"Keep those men," said Richard to the inn-keeper; for Solomon had long +delegated that office to another, though his own name was still over the +door, and the _Gethin Castle_ was still his home. "I shall want their +help to-night." + +"Their help, Sir?" said the astonished landlord. + +"Yes; but say nothing for the present. Bring me a bottle of brandy and +some meat--cold chicken, if you have it; then let me have a word with +you." + +Richard did not order the food for himself. While it was being brought +he sat down in the very chair that he had used so often--for he had been +ushered into his old parlor--and gazed about him. There were the same +tawdry ornaments on the mantel-piece, and the same books on the dusty +shelf. Nothing was altered except the tenant of that room; but how great +a change had taken place in _him_! What a face the dingy mirror offered +him in place of that which it had shown him last! When the inn-keeper +returned his mind involuntarily conjured up old Trevethick, as he had +received from him the key of the ruin, and doggedly taken his +compliments upon its workmanship. Truly, "there is no such thing as +forgetting;" and to recall our past to its minutest details at the +judgment-day will not be so impracticable as some of us would desire. + +Richard had made up his mind exactly as to what he would say to this +man, but a question suddenly presented itself, which had been absent +from his thoughts from the moment that he had resolved to rescue his +enemy. It was a very simple one, too, and would have occurred to any one +else, as it had done already many times to himself. + +"Has Mr. Coe been found yet?" + +He listened for the answer eagerly, for if such was the case, not only +was his journey useless, but had brought him into the very jaws of +destruction. He would have thrown away his life for nothing. + +"No, Sir, indeed--and he never will be," replied the inn-keeper. "When +the sea don't give a man up in four-and-twenty hours, it keeps him for +good--at least we always find it so at Gethin." + +"Well, listen to me. My name is Balfour. I knew Mr. Coe, and have had +dealings with him. We had arranged a partnership together in a certain +mine; and it is my opinion that he came down here upon that business." + +"Very like, Sir. He was much engaged that way, and made, they say, a +pretty penny at it." + +"I was at Plymouth, on my way to join him, when I heard this sad news. I +came to-day post-haste in consequence of it. The search for him must be +renewed to-night." + +"Lor, Sir, it is easy to see you are a stranger in these parts! I +wouldn't like to go myself where poor Mr. Coe met his end, on so dark a +night as this. It's a bad path even in daylight along Turlock cliff." + +"He did not take that way, at least I think not. Have you a ladder about +the premises?" + +"Yes, sure." + +"And a lantern?" + +"Now that's strange enough, Sir, that you should have inquired for a +lantern; for we wanted one just now to see to your horses, and, though +they're looking for it high and low, it can't be found nowhere." + +"It doesn't strike you, then, that Mr. Coe might have taken it with +him?" + +"Lor, Sir," cried the inn-keeper, with admiration, "and so he must ha' +done! Of course it strikes one when the thing has been put into one's +head. Well, 'twas a good lantern, and now 'tis lost. Dear me, dear me!" + +Golden visions of succeeding to the management of the inn, and of taking +to the furniture and fixings in the gross, had flitted across this +honest gentleman's brain, and the disappearance of the lantern affected +him with the acute sense of pecuniary damage. The general valuation +would probably be no less because of the absence of this article. + +"Send out and borrow another, as many, in fact, as you can get," said +Richard, impatiently; "and get ready a torch or two besides. Pick out +four of the strongest men yonder, and bid them come with me, and search +Wheal Danes." + +"What! that old pit. Sir? You'll not find a man to do it--no, not if +they knowed as master was at the bottom of it. You wait till morning." + +"Your master _is_ at the bottom of it. I feel sure he took the lantern +with him to search that mine. I will give them a pound apiece to start +at once. Pack up this food, and lend them a mattress to bring him home +upon. Be quick! be quick!" + +Richard's energy fairly overpowered the phlegmatic inn-keeper, whose +conscience, perhaps, also smote him with respect to his missing master; +and he set about the execution of these orders promptly. Wheal Danes, he +had truly hinted, was a very unpopular spot with its neighbors after +nightfall; but, on the other hand, sovereigns were rare in Gethin, and +greatly prized. In less than half an hour the necessaries which Richard +had indicated were procured, and a party, consisting of himself, four +stalwart miners, and the inn-keeper, started for the pit. These were +followed by half the inhabitants of the little village, attracted by the +rumor of their purpose, which had oozed out from the bar of the _Gethin +Castle_. The windy down had probably never known so strange a concourse +as that which presently streamed over it, with torch and lantern, and +stood around the mouth of the disused mine. The night was dark, and +nothing could be seen save what the flare of the lights they carried +showed them--a jagged rim of pit without a bottom. Notwithstanding their +numbers there was but little talk among them; they had a native dread of +this dismal place, and, besides, there might now be a ghastly secret +hidden within it. A muffled exclamation, half of admiration, half of +awe, broke from the circling crowd as, the ladder planted, Richard was +seen descending it torch in hand. No other man followed; none had +volunteered, and he had asked for no companion. They watched him, as the +countrymen of those who had formerly worked Wheal Danes might have +watched Curtius when he leaped into the gulf; and as in _his_ case, when +they saw the ladder removed, and the light grow dim, and finally die out +before their eyes, it seemed that the pit had closed on Richard--that he +was swallowed up alive. No one, unless the strange story about their +missing neighbor which this man had brought was true, had ventured into +Wheal Danes for these fifty years! They kept an awe-struck silence, +straining eye and ear. Some thought they could still see a far-off +glimmer, others that they could hear a stifled cry, when the less +fortunate or the less imaginative could hear or see nothing. But after a +little darkness and silence reigned supreme beneath them; they seemed +standing on the threshold of a tomb. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +WHAT WAS FOUND IN WHEAL DANES. + + +A full half hour--which to the watchers above seemed a much longer +interval--had elapsed since Richard had disappeared in the depths of +Wheal Danes, and not a sign of his return had reached the attentive +throng. + +"I thought he'd come to harm," muttered a fisherman to his neighbor; "it +was a sin and a shame to let him venture." + +"Ay, you may say that," returned the other, aloud. "I call it downright +murder in them as sent him." + +"It was not I as sent him," observed the inn-keeper, with the honest +indignation of a man that has not right habitually on his own side. +"What _I_ said to the gentleman was, 'Wait till morning.' Why should _I_ +send him?" Here he stopped, though his reasons for not wishing to hurry +matters would have been quite conclusive. + +"Why was he let to go down at all, being a stranger?" resumed the first +speaker. "Why didn't somebody show him the way?" + +"Because nobody knowed it," answered one of the four miners whose +services Richard had retained, and who justly imagined that the +fisherman's remark had been a reflection on his own profession. "I'd ha' +gone down Dunloppel with him at midnight, or any other mine as can be +called such; but this is different." + +"Ay, ay, that's so," said a second miner. "We know no more of this place +than you fishermen. There may be as much water in it as in the sea, for +aught we can tell." + +"It's my belief they're more afraid of the Dead Hand than the water," +observed a voice from the crowd, the great majority of which was +composed of fisher folk. + +No reply was given to this; perhaps because the speaker, an old cripple, +the Thersites of the village, was beneath notice, perhaps because the +remark was unanswerable. The miners were bold enough against material +enemies, but they were superstitious to a man. + +"If Solomon Coe were alive," continued the same voice, "he wouldn't ha' +feared nothin'." + +"That's the first word, old man, as ever I heard you speak in his +favor," said a miner, contemptuously; "and you've waited for that till +he's dead." + +"Still, he would ha' gone, and you durstn't," observed the old fellow, +cunningly, "and that's the p'int." + +These allusions to the Dead Hand and to the missing Solomon were not of +a nature to inspire courage in those to whom it was already lacking, and +a silence again ensued. There was less light, for a torch or two had +gone out, and the mine looked blacker than ever. + +"Well, who's a-going down?" croaked the old cripple. "The gentleman came +from your inn, Jonathan, and it's your place, I should think, to look +after him." + +"Certainly not," answered the inn-keeper, hastily. "These men here were +hired for this very service." + +"That's true," said the first miner. "But what's the use of talking when +the gentleman has got the ladder with him?" + +"There's more ladders in the world than one," observed the cripple. +"Here's my grandson, John; he and half a dozen of these young fellows +would fetch Farmer Gray's in less than no time. Come, lads--be off with +ye." + +This suggestion was highly applauded, except by the miner who had so +injudiciously compromised himself, and was carried out at once. + +When the ladder arrived the three other miners, ashamed of deserting +their comrade, volunteered to descend with him. The excitement among the +spectators was great, indeed, when these four men disappeared in the +levels of Wheal Danes, as Richard had done before them. The light of +their combined torches lingered a little in their rear; the sound of +their voices, as they halloed to one another or to the missing man, was +heard for several minutes. But darkness and silence swallowed _them_ up +also, and the watchers gazed on one another aghast. + +It is not an easy thing, even for those accustomed to underground labor, +to search an unfamiliar spot by torch-light; the fitful gleam makes the +objects on which it falls difficult of identification. It is doubtful +whether one has seen this or that before or not--whether we are not +retracing old ground. Even to practiced eyes these objects, too, are not +so salient as the tree or the stone which marks a locality above-ground; +add to this, in the present case, that the searchers were momently in +expectation of coming upon something which they sought and yet feared to +find, and it will be seen that their progress was of necessity but slow. +They kept together, too, as close as sheep, which narrowed the compass +of their researches, and caused their combined torches to distribute +only as much light as one man would have done provided with a +chandelier. They knew, however, that their predecessor had descended +into the second level, so that they did not need to explore the first at +all. The ground was hard, and gave forth echoes to their cautious but +heavy tread; their cries of "Hollo!" "Are you there?" which they +reiterated, like nervous children playing hide-and-seek, reverberated +from roof to wall. + +Presently, when they stopped to listen for these voices of the rock to +cease, there was heard a human moan. It seemed to come up from a great +depth out of the darkness before them. They listened earnestly, and the +sound was repeated--the faint cry of a man in grievous pain. + +"There must be another level," observed the miner who had volunteered +the search. "This man has fallen down it." + +They had therefore to go back for the ladder. Pushing this before them, +the end began presently to run freely, and then stopped; it had adjusted +itself by the side of the shorter ladder which Richard had brought down +with him. + +"He could not have fallen, then," observed a miner, answering his +comrade's remark--as is the custom with this class of great doers and +small talkers--at a considerable interval. + +"Yes, he could," replied the one who had first spoken. "See, his ladder +was short, and he may have pitched over." + +They stood and listened, peering down into the darkness beneath them; +but there was no repetition of the cries. The wounded man had apparently +spent his last strength, perhaps his last breath, in uttering them. + +"He must be down here somewhere. Come on." + +The situation was sufficiently appalling; but these men had lost half +their terrors, now that they knew there was a fellow-creature needing +help. They descended slowly; and he who was foremost presently cried +out, "I see him; here he is." + +The man was lying on his face quite still; and when they lifted him, +each looked at the other with a grave significance--they had carried too +many from the bowels of the earth to the pit's mouth not to know when a +man was dead. Even a senseless body is not the same to an experienced +bearer as a dead weight. The corpse was still warm, but the head fell +back with a movement not of life. + +"You were right, mate. His neck is broke; the poor gentleman pitched +over on his head." + +"Stop a bit," exclaimed the man addressed; "see here. Why, it ain't him +at all--it's Solomon Coe." + +An exclamation of astonishment burst involuntarily from the other three. + +"Then where's the other?" cried they all together. + +"I am here," answered a ghastly whisper. + +Within but a few feet of Solomon, so that they could hardly have +overlooked him had not the former monopolized their attention, lay +Richard, grievously hurt. Some ribs were broken, and one of them was +pressed in upon the lungs. Still he was alive, and the men turned their +attention first to him, since Solomon was beyond their aid. By help of +the two ladders, side by side, they bore him up the wall of rock; and so +from level to level--a tedious and painful journey to the wounded +man--to the upper air. + +He was carried to the inn upon the mattress which his own care had +provided for another; while the four miners, to the amazement of the +throng, once more descended into the pit for a still more ghastly +burden. + +Richard could speak a little, though with pain. By his orders a +messenger was dispatched that night to Plymouth to telegraph the news of +the discovery of her husband's body to Mrs. Coe. His next anxiety was to +hear the surgeon's report, not on his own condition, but on that of +Solomon. This gentleman did not arrive for some hours, and Richard was +secretly well pleased at his delay. It was his hope, for a certain +reason, that he would not arrive until the body was stiff and cold. + +He saw Richard first, of course. The case was very serious; so much so +that he thought it right to mention the fact, in order that his patient +might settle his worldly affairs if they needed settlement. + +"There is no immediate danger, my good Sir; but it is always well in +such cases to have the mind free from anxiety." + +"I understand; it is quite right," said Richard, gravely. "Moreover, +since the opportunity may not occur again, let me now state how it all +happened." + +"Nay, you must not talk. We know it all, or at least enough of it for +the present." + +"What do you know?" asked Richard, with his eyes half shut, but with +eager ears. + +"That in your benevolent attempt to seek after Mr. Coe you met with the +same accident--though I trust it will not have the same ending--as that +unfortunate gentleman himself. He pitched upon his head and broke his +neck, while you fell upon your side." + +"That is so," murmured Richard. "He and I were partners, you see--" + +"There, there; not a word more," insisted the doctor; "your deposition +can wait." + +And having done what he could for his patient, he left him, in order to +examine the unfortunate Solomon. His investigation corroborated all that +he had already heard of the circumstances of his death, with which also +Richard's evidence accorded. An observation made by one of the miners +who had found the body, to the effect that it was yet warm when they had +come upon it, excited the surgeon's ridicule. + +"It is now Tuesday morning, my friend," said he, "and this poor fellow +met with his death on Saturday night for certain. He could not, +therefore, have been much warmer when you found him than he is now." + +"Well, me and my mate here we both fancied--" + +"I dare say you did, my man," interrupted the doctor; "and fancy is a +very proper word to apply to such an impression. If you take my advice, +however, you will not repeat such a piece of evidence when put upon your +oath, for the thing is simply impossible." + +"Then I suppose we be in the wrong," said Dick to Jack; and on that +supposition they acted. + +In this way too self-reliant Science, whose mission it is to explode +fallacies, occasionally assists in the explosion or suffocation of a +fact, for Solomon Coe had not been dead half an hour when his body was +found. + +When Richard, alone on his errand of mercy, was approaching the brink of +the third level, he could hear Solomon calling lustily for help. Nay, it +was not only "Help!" but "Murder!" that he cried out; and +notwithstanding the menace that that word implied toward himself, +Richard hurried on, well pleased to hear it; the vigor of the cry +assured him that his enemy was not only living, but unhurt. As the light +he carried grew more distinct to him, indeed, these shouts redoubled; +but when it came quite near, and disclosed the features of its bearer, +there was a dead silence. The two men stood confronting one another--the +one in light, distinctly seen, looking down upon the other in shade, +just as they had parted only eight-and-forty hours ago. To one of them, +as we know, this space had been eventful; but to the other it had seemed +a lifetime--an age of hopes and fears, and latterly of cold despair, +which had now been warmed once more to hope only to freeze again. For +was not this man, to whom he had looked for aid, his cruel foe come back +to taunt him--to behold him already half-way toward death, and to make +its slow approach more bitter? But great as was his agony Solomon held +his peace, nor offered to this monarch of his fate the tribute of a +groan. + +"I am come to rescue you," said Richard, in low but distinct tones; "to +undo the evil that I have already done, although it was no less than you +deserved, nor an overpayment of the debt I owed you. In return you will +doubtless denounce me as having meant to murder you." + +No answer. If Richard had not heard his cries, it would have seemed that +this poor wretch had lost the power of speech. His huge head drooped +upon his shoulder, and he leaned against the rocky wall as though his +limbs could not have otherwise supported themselves; they shook, +indeed--but was it with weakness or with hate?--as though he had the +palsy. + +"Well, you will have reason to do so," continued Richard, calmly, "for I +did mean to murder you. In ten minutes hence you will find yourself +among your neighbors, free to act as you please. I shall make no appeal +to your mercy; it would, I know, be as fruitless as was yours to mine +the other day; but if you abstain from molesting me, this mine, with all +its hidden treasure, shall be your own. I have nothing more to say." + +Solomon answered nothing. "Perhaps," thought Richard, "he still doubts +me.--Well, here is the ladder;" and he suited the action to the word. +Solomon's great hand flew out from his side, and clutched a rung as a +dog's teeth close upon a bone; a dog's growl, too, half triumph and half +threat, came from his deep chest; then he began slowly to ascend, +keeping his eyes fixed on Richard. The latter drew back a little to give +him space, and watched him with folded arms. + +"Now," said Solomon, stepping off the ladder with the prolonged "Ha!" of +one who breathes freely after long oppression, "it is _my_ turn!" + +"What are you about to do?" asked Richard, calmly. + +"What! you think we are quits, Richard Yorke, do you? or at least that +when I had seen you hung it would seem so to me? You don't know what it +is to die here slowly in the dark; you are about to learn that." + +"Indeed." + +"Yes. You complained the other day of my having used the law against +you. Well, you shall not have to reproach me with that a second time. We +are about to change places, you and I, that's all. You shall keep sentry +down yonder till Death comes to relieve _you_. It was indiscreet in you +to venture here alone to dictate terms, my friend." + +Solomon's voice was grating and terrible; it had grown hoarse with +calling. His form was gaunt and pinched with hunger; his eyes flashed +like those of some starving beast of prey. + +"I swear to you I came here to rescue you, and with no other purpose," +said Richard, earnestly. "I was not afraid of you when you were hale and +strong, and much less now when you are weakened with privation; but I do +not wish to have your blood upon my hands. I came here to-night--" + +"Is it night?" interrupted the other, eagerly. "I did not know that it +was night; how should I, in this place, where there is no day? Well, +that was still more indiscreet of you, for I shall get away unseen, +while you lie here unsought." + +"Your scheme is futile. There are fifty men about the pit's mouth now. I +have told them--" + +"Liar!" Solomon darted forward; and Richard, throwing away the torch, as +though disdaining to use any advantage in the way of weapon, grappled +with him at once. At the touch of his foe his scruples vanished, and his +hate returned with tenfold fury. But he was in the grasp of a giant. +Privation had doubtless weakened Solomon, but he had still the strength +of a powerful man, and his rage supplied him for the time with all that +he had lost. They clung to one another like snakes, and whirled about +with frantic violence. Whichever fell undermost was a dead man for +certain. For a few moments the expiring torch still showed them each +other's hot, vindictive faces; then they battled in the dark, with +laboring breath and eager strain, swaying they knew not whither. At last +the huge weight of Solomon overbore his lesser antagonist. Richard's +limbs gave way beneath him, and he fell, but fell through space; for in +their gyrations they had, without knowing it, returned to the top of the +ladder. His foe, fast clutched, fell with him, but, pitching on his +head, was killed, as we have seen, upon the instant. + +This was the true history of what had occurred in the mine, as Richard, +on his bed of pain, recalled it step by step, and strove to shape it to +his ends. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +MAKING PEACE. + + +Whether Richard's own injuries proved fatal or not was with him a matter +of secondary importance. His anxiety was to prove that they were +received by misadventure; upon the whole, matters promised favorably for +this, and were in other respects as satisfactory as could reasonably be +expected. The blood of Solomon Coe was upon his own head. Richard had no +need even to reproach himself with having struck in self-defense the +blow that killed his enemy; and he did not reflect that he was still to +blame for having, in the first instance, placed him in the mine. He had +at least done his best to extricate him, and his conscience was (perhaps +naturally) not very tender respecting the man who had repaid his attempt +at atonement with such implacable animosity. At all events, Richard's +mind was too much engaged in calculating the consequences of what had +happened to entertain remorse. The question that now monopolized it was, +what conclusion was likely to be arrived at by the coroner's inquest +that would, of course, be held upon the body. The verdict was of the +most paramount importance to him, not because upon it depended his own +safety (for he valued his life but lightly, and, besides, his inward +pain convinced him that it was already forfeited), but all that now made +life worth having--the good regards of Harry and her son. He had no +longer any scruple on his own part with respect to accepting or +returning their affection. His fear was, lest, having been compelled to +take so active a part in the rescue of the unhappy Solomon, something +should arise to implicate him in his incarceration. + +Fortunately he was far too ill to be summoned as a witness. His +deposition alone could be taken, and that he framed with the utmost +caution, and as briefly as was possible. His wounded lung defended him +from protracted inquiries. Solomon himself had proposed the idea of a +partnership in Wheal Danes, and his interest in the mine, the knowledge +of which had suggested to Richard the place of his concealment, had +evidently proved fatal to him. That he should have broken his neck just +as Richard had broken his ribs on such a quest was by no means +extraordinary; but how he ever reached the spot where he was found at +all, without the aid of a ladder, was inexplicable. The line of evidence +was smooth enough but for this ugly knot, and it troubled Richard much, +though, as it happened, unnecessarily. Had the place of the calamity +been a gravel-pit at Highgate, it would have been guarded by +constabulary, and all things preserved as they were until after the +official investigation. But Wheal Danes, from having been a deserted +mine, had suddenly become the haunt of the curious and the morbid. There +was nothing more likely than that Solomon's ladder had been carried off, +and perhaps disposed of at a high price per foot as an interesting +relic. The presence of the half-extinguished torch that Richard had +flung away in the second level (and which should by rights have been +found in the third) was still more easily explained: there were a score +of such things now lying about the mine, which had been left there by +visitors. In short, an "active" coroner and an "intelligent" jury could +have come to no other conclusion than that of "accidental death;" and +they came to it accordingly. + +Other comforters had arrived to the wounded man, before the receipt of +that good news, in the persons of Harry and her son and Agnes. There was +a reason why all three should be now warmly attracted toward him, which, +while it effectually worked his will in that way, gave him many a +twinge. They looked upon him, as did the rest of the world, as the man +who had lost his life (for his wound was by this time pronounced to be +fatal) to save his friend. He told them that it was not so, and they did +not believe him. He had not the heart to tell them how matters really +stood; but their praise pained him more than the agony of his wound, and +he peremptorily forbade the subject to be alluded to. This command was +not difficult to obey. Solomon's death, although the awful character of +it shocked them much, was, in reality, regretted neither by wife nor +son: such must be the case with every husband and father who has been a +domestic tyrant, no matter how dutifully wife and son may strive to +mourn: his loss was a release, and his memory a burden that they very +willingly put aside; and, in particular, his name was never mentioned +before Agnes without strong necessity. + +Mrs. Coe, always at her best and wisest in matters wherein her son was +concerned, had never told this girl of the part which Robert Balfour had +taken against her. It would have wounded her self-love to have learned +that the influence of a comparative stranger had been used, and with +some effect, to estrange her Charley. She would scarcely have made +sufficient allowance for a man of the world's insidious arts, +notwithstanding the circumstances that had so favored them. Thus Harry +had justly reasoned, and kept silence concerning him. Agnes had +therefore set down the gradual cessation of her lover's visits to Soho, +and his growing coldness, solely to the hostility of Solomon. They had +pained her deeply, though she had been too proud to evince aught but +indignation; still she strove to persuade herself it was but natural +that this lad, entirely dependent upon his father for the means of +livelihood, and daily exposed to his menaces or arguments, should +endeavor to steel himself against her; that he really loved her less she +did not in her own faithful heart believe. It was, however, with no +thought of regaining his affection that she had obeyed the widow's hasty +summons on the news of the catastrophe at Wheal Danes, but solely from +sympathy and affection. She had always loved and pitied her, for Harry +had shown her kindness and great good-will; and, notwithstanding the +girl's high spirit, she did not now forget, as many would have done, all +other debts in that obligation so easy of discharge, namely, "what she +owed to herself." + +Her presence, notwithstanding the sad occasion of it, at once reawakened +Charley's slumbering passion, and the coldness with which she received +its advances only made it burn more brightly, like fire in frost. He +felt that he had not even deserved the friendship she now offered him in +place of her former love, and was patient and submissive under his just +punishment. He hoped in time to re-establish himself in her affections; +but at present, somewhat to Mrs. Coe's indignation, she had showed no +sign of yielding. He did in reality occupy the same position in her +heart as of old; but now that he was rich, and his own master (for his +mother was his slave), she was not inclined to confess it. Had he been +poor and dependent, she would have forgiven him readily enough; nor are +such natures unparalleled in her sex, notwithstanding the pictures which +are nowadays presented to us as types of girlhood. + +Such, then, was the mutual relation in which these two young people +stood, who ministered by turns (for Harry was always with him) to the +wants of the dying Balfour. The feelings with which he was regarded by +all three were in curious contrast with their former ones. What those of +Harry were now toward him we can easily guess; her hate and fear had +vanished to make room for love--not the love of old times, indeed, but a +deeper and a purer passion; it could never bear fruit, she knew--it was +but a prolonged farewell. To-morrow, or the next day, Death would +interpose between them; but in the mean time they were together, and she +clung to him. + +Charley, on the other hand, with whom Balfour had once been such a +favorite, felt, though attentive to his needs, by no means cordially +toward him. Gratitude for the fancied service he had done to his late +father compelled him to give Richard his company; but it was not +accorded willingly, as heretofore. He could not but set down to the +account of his companionship the present frigidity of Agnes, and at +first he had even seen him a material obstacle to his hopes. This +audacious man of the world, who had at one time so excited his +admiration, had suddenly become in his eyes an impudent _roué_, who even +on his sick-bed was only too likely to make their past adventures +together the subject of his talk. True, his mother had told him that Mr. +Balfour was now an altered man; but the young gentleman had entertained +some reasonable doubts of this conversion. His manner to the sick man +was so reserved and cool, indeed, that it seemed to all but Richard (who +guessed the cause of it, and yet felt its effect more bitterly than all) +unkind. This behavior on the part of his former ally did not injure +Balfour in the regards of Agnes; she resented Charley's conduct, and did +her best to redress it by manifesting her own good-will; she had herself +had experience of his shifting moods and causeless changes of demeanor, +and perhaps she was willing to show what small importance she attached +to his capricious humors. Thus it happened that Richard and herself "got +on" together much better (as well, of course, as much more speedily) +than the former could have hoped for; for indeed he had, with reason, +expected to find a bitter enemy in Agnes. He improved this advantage to +the utmost by taking occasion, in Charley's absence, to praise the lad, +under whose displeasure he manifestly lay. She answered that he had not, +at least from Mr. Balfour's lips, deserved such praise. + +"Nay, nay," said Richard, gently; "it is I who have not deserved the +lad's good-will; and you, my dear young lady, ought to be the last to +pity me, as I see you do." + +"How so?" asked she, in surprise. + +"Because," answered he, gravely, "I once strove to keep him from you." + +She looked annoyed, and cast a hurried glance toward the place where +Mrs. Coe had been sitting; but there was now only an empty chair there. +The widow had purposely withdrawn herself, in accordance with Richard's +wish. Agnes could scarcely leave the sick man without attendance. + +"When I say, 'keep him from you,'" continued Richard, "I mean that, +being lonely and friendless (as you see I am but for you three), the +society of this bright boy was very dear to me, and I selfishly strove +to secure it when he would fain have been elsewhere. I needed, as you +may well imagine, authority to back me in such efforts, but, unhappily +for him, I possessed its aid. He now resents, and very naturally, the +restraint which my companionship once imposed upon him, and sets down to +my account the estrangement which he so bitterly rues. An old man's +friendship is of no great worth at any time; but weighed in the balance +against a woman's love--" + +"Sir!" interrupted Agnes, with indignation. + +"Pardon me," continued Richard, gently; "I see you do not love him. I am +deeply grieved, for the sake of this poor lad, who is as devoted to you +as ever, to find it so, and to feel that it was in part my fault. I will +ask him to forgive me if he can." + +"Nay, Mr. Balfour, I beseech you, don't do that," cried Agnes, with +crimson cheeks. + +"As you please," murmured he, gravely. "But, remember, a few days hence, +or perhaps a few hours, and I may be beyond his forgiveness. It will +then rest with you, young lady, to clear my memory. You are not angry +with me--you can not be vexed with a dying man." + +"No, no." She was sobbing violently; her heart was touched, not only by +his own condition, as she would have had him believe, but by these +confidences respecting Charley. There is nothing more dear to a young +girl than the testimony of another man to her lover's fealty; the +witness himself is even guerdoned with some payment of the rich store he +bears; and from that moment Balfour was not only forgiven by Agnes, but +even beloved by her. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +REST AT LAST. + + +That the termination of Richard's malady would be fatal did not from the +first admit of doubt, but he lingered on beyond all expectation. The +spring came on and found him yet alive at Gethin. He was never moved +from the room to which he had been carried after his mischance--the same +which had been his bedroom in the old times, when he was full of +strength and vigor--wherein he had so often lain awake, revolving +schemes to win his Harry, or slept and dreamed of her. The comparison of +his "now" and "then" was melancholy enough, but it was not bitter. His +pain was great, but not out of proportion to his comfort. He had still +Harry's love, and he had even that of two other hearts besides, which he +had reconciled and drawn together. In him Charles had had an unwearying +advocate with Agnes, and at last he had won his cause. She had been +driven to take refuge in her last intrenchment--her poverty--and +Richard had made that untenable. + +"You will not be an heiress, perhaps, my dear," he had said to her, +"though you deserve to be one; but neither will you be undowered. I have +left you all I have. Nay, it is not much--a few score acres by the +sea--but they will soon be yours." + +She had accepted them unwillingly, and under protest; but a day came +when it became necessary for her to remonstrate with the sick man once +again concerning this matter, sorry as she was to thwart or vex him; she +therefore requested, to have a few minutes' talk alone with him. + +"Dear Mr. Balfour," said she, gently, "I am going to disobey you in once +more reopening the matter of your kind bequest. Something has happened +which has given the affair a wholly different aspect. Among the visitors +yesterday to that dreadful mine, to which people still flock, there was +a Mr. Stratum--a young engineer, it seems, of some reputation; and in +his researches in Wheal Danes they say he has hit upon a great treasure, +or what may turn out to be such." + +"Ay," said Richard, with a smile; "what's that?" + +"A copper lode. It is curious that so many folks should have come and +gone there and never found it before; but there it is, for certain. Mr. +Stratum has seen Charles, and tells him that he can hardly trust himself +to speak of its probable value." + +"Well, I congratulate you, my dear, on being an heiress." + +"Nay, my dear Mr. Balfour, but this must not be. Overborne by your kind +pressure I consented to receive this bequest--a considerable one in +itself, indeed--for what it was. I could not now take advantage of your +ignorance of its real value; it distresses me deeply to give you trouble +in your present sad condition, but you must see yourself that +circumstances compel me." + +"Give me the will, my dear; it is in yonder drawer. Here is a letter +folded in it in my handwriting. What does the superscription say?" + +"_To Agnes Aird_." + +"Just so. You were to have opened it after my death, but you may read it +now. Please to do so aloud." + + + +"MY DEAR YOUNG LADY,--When I am gone, it is my earnest desire that your +marriage with Charles Coe shall take place as early as may be found +convenient. He will make a good husband to you, I think; I am sure you +will make him a good wife. He loves you for your own sake, which is the +only love worth having. But, as it happens, you are very rich. In the +mine which I have left you--in the northeastern corner of the bottom +level--there is a copper lode, the existence of which is known to me, +and to me only. I have every reason to believe that it will be found in +the highest degree productive, and for your dear sake I trust it may be +so. True, you will have money enough and to spare for your own needs, +but wealth will not spoil you--in your hands it will be a great good. To +the two injunctions which here follow I have no means to give effect, +and must trust solely to your loyal heart to carry them out. I do so +with the most perfect confidence. (1.) I wish that this bequest of mine, +be the value of it ever so great, be strictly settled, upon your +marriage, on yourself and your children, so that it can not be alienated +by any act of your husband; and this I do not from any preference to +yourself over him, or from any prejudice against him, God knows. (2.) In +case the estate of Crompton, of which Wheal Danes formed a fragment, +should again be in the market, and the mine turn out so valuable that +its proceeds should enable you to purchase such estate (without +inconvenience or damage to your interests), I do enjoin that you do so +purchase it, and make Crompton your future home. This is a 'sick man's +fancy,' some will tell you; and yet you will not neglect it." + + * * * * * + +"And you _will_ not, Agnes dear?" whispered Richard, eagerly, when she +had thus finished. "This is the last favor I shall ever ask of you. +Promise me! promise me!" + +"Oh, Sir, I promise you," cried Agnes, earnestly, and scared by his +anxious feebleness; "your wishes shall be obeyed in all points." + +"Good girl, good girl," sighed he; and though the effort pained him +sharply, his face exhibited a great content. "Send Charley to me," said +he, presently, in a faint voice. + +"But you are tired already," remonstrated Agnes. "You have talked enough +for to-day; see him to-morrow." + +"To-morrow!" repeated Richard, with a smile that chilled her heart. +"There will be no to-morrow, dear, for me. Reflect hereafter that you +made my last day a happy one. Kiss me, daughter." This term, which was +uttered very fondly, did not surprise her, for she little guessed its +full significance. She bent down, and kissed his forehead. "Send me +Charley." + +Those were the last words she ever heard him speak. + +Agnes had told the young fellow how much feebler Mr. Balfour seemed that +day, and warned him to make his interview as brief as possible; but +Charley was of a sanguine temperament, and to his view the sick man +looked better. The recent excitement had heightened his color, and, +besides, he always strove to look his best and cheerfulest with Charley. + +Balfour told him all that he had already said to Agnes respecting the +provision he had made for her; he thought it better to relieve her from +that task. But, to do Charley justice, he was neither grasping nor +jealous. Nothing seemed more natural to him, or even more reasonable, +than that Agnes should be made sole heiress. + +"As for me, I should only make a mess of so much money," said he, +laughing. "_She_ understands how to manage"--meaning that she had a +talent for administration of affairs--"five thousand times better than I +do. Her father has taught her all sorts of good things, and that among +them. You see the poor governor and I--we never pulled together. Perhaps +if I had had a father a little less unlike myself, I might have been a +better son, and a wiser one. It was unfortunate, as Mrs. Basil used to +say. You remember her, of course?" + +"Yes, indeed." + +The sick man's tone was so full of interest that Charley, with great +cheerfulness, proceeded to pursue this subject. + +"She was an excellent old soul; and, for her age, how sprightly and +appreciative! I remember--the very last time she came down to +dinner--telling her that story of yours about the stags in harness, and +it so interested her that she made me repeat it. It seemed to remind her +of something that she had heard before; and yet the incident was +original, and happened within your own experience, did it not?" + +"It did," said Balfour, hoarsely. + +"I am tiring you, my dear Sir," said Charley, anxiously. "What a fool I +have been to chatter on so, when Agnes particularly told me to be brief! +I shall leave you now, Sir; I shall indeed. Is there any thing I can do +for you before I leave?" + +"Nothing, nothing. If I strove to take Agnes from you, lad, I did my +best to make her yours again. You don't dislike me now, dear boy, do +you?" + +"Dislike you, Sir!" cried the young man. "That would indeed be base +ingratitude; you were always most kind to me, and you have loaded my +Agnes with benefits. I can not say, Sir, how unhappy it makes me to see +you lying here in pain, and--" + +"And dying, Charley. Yes, you are sorry for me, good lad." + +"Indeed, indeed I am, Sir." + +"When your Agnes left me last she kissed me on the forehead--here. I +would not ask it else--but--kiss me, Charley." + +The sick man's voice was very weak and faint, but its tones were full of +pathos. In some surprise, but without the least hesitation, the young +man stooped down and kissed him. "I shall leave you now, dear Mr. +Balfour, and only hope my thoughtless chatter may not have done you +mischief. I will send my mother to you, who is so quiet, and so good a +nurse, as an antidote. Good-by for the present, Sir." + +"Good-by, dear lad--good-by." + +Richard well knew it was good-by, not for the present, but forever. + +When Mrs. Coe came into the sick man's room she perceived in him a +change for the worse, so marked that it alarmed her greatly, and she was +about to softly pull the bell, when Richard stopped her with a look. + +"Don't ring," whispered he, faintly. "Sit down by me, Harry; put your +little hand in mine. I am quite happy. Our boy has kissed me." + +"You did not tell him? He does not know?" inquired Harry, anxiously. + +"Nay, dear, nay; I am not quite so selfish as that," answered he, +gently. + +There was a long pause. + +"Do you think my mother knew about him?" asked Richard, presently. + +"Oh yes--though I strove to deceive her--from the first moment she saw +him, Richard, she knew it well. We never spoke of it, but it was a +secret we had in common. She loved him as though he had been your very +self; I am sure of that." + +"And she knew _me_ too, Harry." + +"Impossible! She could never have concealed that knowledge--with you +before her; for you were her idol, Richard." + +"It was afterward," murmured the dying man. "When I had left the house +Charley told her something I had related to him, which convinced her of +my identity. I see it all now. She felt that I was bent on vengeance, +and sent you after me to use that weapon of which she knew you were +possessed. If we once came face to face, and you reproached me, my +secret was certain to come out--just as it did, Harry--and then you had +but to say, 'Charley is your son.'" + +"But why did she not tell me who you were?" + +"Because, if you were too late--if the mischief had been done on which +she deemed me bent--if your--if Solomon had come to harm, she would not +have had you know that Richard Yorke--the father of your child--had +blood upon his hands. Oh, mother, mother, your last thought was to keep +my memory free from stain!" + +He spoke no more for full a minute; no sound was heard except the +distant murmur of the sea, for the day was fine and windless. The April +sun shone brightly in upon the pair, as if to bless their parting. + +"Where is Charley?" murmured he. + +"He is gone with Agnes for a walk; they will not be long; they talked of +going to the Watch Tower. You remember the old Watch Tower, Richard?" + +"Well, ah, well!" answered he, smiling. "It is just twenty years ago. +How often have I thought of it!" + +For a moment--before they separated forever--these two seemed to +themselves to relive the youth to which another generation had +succeeded. + +"Agnes is a far better girl than I was, Richard; but she can not love +our boy more than _I_ loved _you_." + +Richard answered with a smile that glorified each ghastly feature, and +brought out in them a likeness to himself of old. + +"She will be his good angel, Harry," whispered Richard, gravely, "and +will guard him from himself. He will need her aid, but it will be +sufficient. I trust, I believe, that evil is not Bred in the Bone with +him, as it was with me." + +There was a long, long silence, broken by a silvery laugh, which came +through the half-opened window like a strain of cheerful music, then was +suddenly cut short. + +"Hush, Charley; you forget," said the soft voice of Agnes; "he may be +sleeping." + +Through the calm spring air the reproof was borne into the sick man's +room as clearly as the sound which had called it forth. + +"He is so happy," whispered Harry, gently; "you must forgive him; +remember he does not know." + +"Yes, yes; it is better so. Dear Charley--happy, happy Charley!" + +And a smile once more came over the sick man's face, which did not pass +away, for Death had frozen it there. + + + + +L'ENVOI. + + +Years have passed since Richard Yorke was laid in the church-yard on the +hill at Gethin, close beside his mother, whose bones Harry's pious care +had caused to be transported thither. + + If aught of things that here befall + Touch a spirit among things divine-- + If love has force to move us there at all, + +her ghost was glad. "In time," thought Harry, "I too shall lie by his +side, at last, once more." + +Old Trevethick's prophecy was accomplished in the almost fabulous +success that attended the working of Wheal Danes. If its shares are not +quoted in the market, that is because the family have retained it in +their own hands, in spite of the most dazzling offers. + +Mr. Dodge has a codicil to his story at _The George and Vulture_ now, +and expresses his infinite satisfaction at the fact that "that 'ere Coe" +came to grief in the end, as he had so richly deserved to do. "I don't +doubt," says he, "that while he was underground with the bats and rats +he thought of that poor lad as he had treated so spiteful. Things mostly +does work round all right" (he would add) "under Providence, whose motto +(if I may say so without disrespect) is summat like mine: 'Let us have +no misunderstandings and no obligation.'" On the other hand, what +"sticks in Mr. Dodge's throat," as he expresses it, and is "a'most +enough to make a man an infidel," is, that "the widow of that 'ere +Coe--she as was young Yorke's ruin--is living at Crompton (in the very +house his father had) with all her brood." + +Mr. Dodge is right in his facts, if not in his deductions. Out of the +proceeds of the mine the whole home-estate of Crompton has been +purchased by Charles Coe, or rather by his wife; and they both dwell +there quite unconscious that he is the lineal descendant of the mad +Carew, with whose wild exploits the country side still teems. If the old +blood shows itself, it is but in quick starts of temper, and occasional +"cursory remarks," which sound quite harmless in halls that have echoed +to the Squire's thunderous tones; and even at such times Agnes can calm +him with a word. If the open hand which is Bred in the Bone with him +scatters its _largesse_ somewhat broadcast, the revenues of Crompton, +thanks to her, are in the main directed to good ends. In that stately +mansion, whose hospitality is as proverbial though less promiscuous than +of old, not only is there room for Mrs. Coe the elder to dwell with her +young folks, without jar, but in a certain ground-floor chamber, the +same he used to inhabit in old times, there dwells an ancient divine, +once Carew's chaplain. He is still hale and stout, and has a quiet air +that becomes his age and calling. Life's fitful fever is past, and he +lives on in calm. The children--for there is small chance of Crompton +being heirless in time to come--are very fond of him; and grandmamma +spends so much time in the old gentleman's apartments, that Charley +declares it is quite scandalous. What _can_ Parson Whymper and she have +to talk about in common? In spite of the attractions of her beautiful +home, and the infirmities of advancing years, not a summer passes +without Mrs. Coe the elder revisiting Gethin. The castled rock, up which +she used to run so lightly, is beyond her powers; she is content to gaze +on that with dewy eyes; but she never fails to seek the church-yard on +the hill. + +"He was what one would call a hardish husband to her, was old Solomon," +say the neighbors; "and yet you see, when a man is dead, how a wife will +keep his memory green!" + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bred in the Bone, by James Payn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRED IN THE BONE *** + +***** This file should be named 12024-8.txt or 12024-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/0/2/12024/ + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Graeme Mackreth and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bred in the Bone + +Author: James Payn + +Release Date: July 15, 2004 [EBook #12024] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRED IN THE BONE *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Graeme Mackreth and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + +[Illustration] + +BRED IN THE BONE; OR, LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON + + +A Novel. + + + +BY THE AUTHOR OF + +"A BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK," "GWENDOLINE'S HARVEST," "CARLYON'S YEAR," "ONE +OF THE FAMILY," "WON--NOT WOOED," &c. + + +_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_. + + +NEW YORK: 1872. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +CAREW OF CROMPTON. + + +Had you lived in Breakneckshire twenty years ago, or even any where in +the Midlands, it would be superfluous to tell you of Carew of Crompton. +Every body thereabout was acquainted with him either personally or by +hearsay. You must almost certainly have known somebody who had had an +adventure with that eccentric personage--one who had been ridden down by +him, for that mighty hunter never turned to the right hand nor to the +left for any man, nor paid attention to any rule of road; or one who, +more fortunate, had been "cleared" by him on his famous black horse +_Trebizond_, an animal only second to his master in the popular esteem. +There are as many highly colored pictures of his performance of this +flying feat in existence as there are of "Dick Turpin clearing the +Turnpikegate." Sometimes it is a small tradesman cowering down in his +cart among the calves, while the gallant Squire hurtles over him with a +"Stoop your head, butcher." Sometimes it is a wagoner, reminding one of +Commodore Trunnion's involuntary deed of "derring-do," who, between two +high banks, perceives with marked astonishment this portent flying over +himself and convoy. But, at all events, the thing was done; perhaps on +more than one occasion, and was allowed on all hands not only as a fact, +but as characteristic of their sporting idol. It was "Carew all over," +or "Just like Carew." + +This phrase was also applied to many other heroic actions. The idea of +"keel-hauling," for instance, adapted from the nautical code, was said +to be practically enforced in the case of duns, attorneys, and other +objectionable persons, in the lake at Crompton; while the administration +of pommelings to poachers and agriculturists generally, by the athletic +Squire, was the theme of every tongue. These punishments, though severe, +were much sought after by a certain class, the same to which the +purchased free and independent voter belongs, for the clenched fist +invariably became an open hand after it had done its work--a golden +ointment, that is, was always applied after these inflictions, such as +healed all wounds. + +Carew of Crompton might at one time have been member for the county, if +he had pleased; but he desired no seat except in the saddle, or on the +driving-box. He showed such skill in riding, and with "the ribbons," +that some persons supposed that his talents must be very considerable in +other matters, and affected to regret their misuse; there were reports +that he knew Latin better than his own chaplain; and was, or had been, +so diligent a student of Holy Writ, that he could give you chapter and +verse for every thing. But it must be allowed that others were not +wanting to whisper that these traits of scholarship were greatly +exaggerated, and that all the wonder lay in the fact that the Squire +knew any thing of such matters at all; nay, a few even ventured to +express their opinion that, but for his recklessness and his money, +there was nothing more remarkable in Carew than in other spendthrifts; +but this idea was never mooted within twenty miles of Crompton. The real +truth is, that the time was unsuitable to the display of the Squire's +particular traits. He would have been an eminent personage had he been a +Norman, and lived in the reign of King John. Even now, if he could have +removed his establishment to Poland, and assumed the character of a +Russian proprietor, he would doubtless have been a great prince. There +was a savage magnificence about him, and also certain degrading traits, +which suggested the Hetman Platoff. Unfortunately, he was a Squire in +the Midlands. The contrast, however, of his splendid vagaries with the +quiet time and industrious locality in which he lived, while it +diminished his influence, did, on the other hand, no doubt enhance his +reputation. He was looked upon (as Waterford and Mytton used to be) as a +_lusus naturae_, an eccentric, an altogether exceptional personage, to +whom license was permitted; and the charitable divided the human race, +for his sake, into Men, Women, and Carew. + +The same philosophic few, however, who denied him talent, averred that +he was half mad; and indeed Fortune had so lavishly showered her favors +on him from his birth, that it might well be that they had turned his +head. His father had died while Carew was but an infant, so that the +surplus income from his vast estates had accumulated to an enormous sum +when he attained his majority. In the mean time, his doting mother had +supplied him with funds out of all proportion to his tender years. At +ten years old, he had a pack of harriers of his own, and hunted the +county regularly twice a week. At the public school, where he was with +difficulty persuaded to remain for a short period, he had an allowance +the amount of which would have sufficed for the needs of a professional +man with a wife and family, and yet it is recorded of him that he had +the audacity--"the boy is father to the man," and it was "so like +Carew," they said--to complain to his guardian, a great lawyer, that his +means were insufficient. He also demanded a lump sum down, on the ground +that (being at the ripe age of fourteen) he contemplated marriage. The +reply of the legal dignitary is preserved, as well as the young +gentleman's application: "If you can't live upon your allowance, you may +starve, Sir; and if you marry, you shall not have your allowance." + +You had only--having authority to do so--to advise Carew, and he was +positively certain to go counter to your opinion; and did you attempt to +oppose him in any purpose, you would infallibly insure its +accomplishment. He did not marry at fourteen, indeed, but he did so +clandestinely in less than three years afterward, and had issue; but at +the age of five-and-thirty, when our stage opens, he had neither wife +nor child, but lived as a bachelor at Crompton, which was sometimes +called "the open house," by reason of its profuse hospitalities; and +sometimes "Liberty Hall," on account of its license; otherwise it was +never, called any thing but Crompton; never Crompton Hall, or Crompton +Park--but simply Crompton, just like Stowe or Blenheim. And yet the park +at Crompton was as splendid an appanage of glade and avenue, of copse +and dell, as could be desired. It was all laid out upon a certain +plan--somewhere in the old house was the very parchment on which the +chase was ordered like a garden; a dozen drives here radiated from one +another like the spokes of a wheel, and here four mighty avenues made a +St. Andrew's cross in the very centre--but the area was so immense, and +the stature of the trees so great, that nothing of this formality could +be observed in the park itself. Not only were the oaks and beeches of +large, and often of giant proportions, but the very ferns grew so tall +that whole herds of fallow deer were hidden in it, and could only be +traced by their sounds. There were red deer also, almost as numerous, +with branching antlers, curiously mossed, as though they had acquired +that vegetation by rubbing, as they often did, against the high wooden +pale--itself made picturesque by age--which hedged them in their sylvan +prison for miles. Moreover, there were wild-cattle, as at Chartley +(though not of the same breed), the repute of whose fierceness kept the +few public paths that intersected this wild domain very unfrequented. +These animals, imported half a century ago, were of no use nor of +particular beauty, and would have dwindled away, from the unfitness of +the locality for their support, but that they were recruited +periodically, and at a vast expense. It was enough to cause their +present owner to strain every nerve to retain them, because they were so +universally objected to. They had gored one man to death, and +occasionally maimed others, but, as Carew, to do him justice, was by no +means afraid of them himself, and ran the same risk, and far oftener +than other people, he held he had a right to retain them. Nobody was +obliged to come into his park unless they liked, he said, and if they +did, they must "chance a tossing." The same detractors, whose opinion we +have already quoted, affirmed that the Squire kept these cattle for the +very reason that was urged against their existence; the fear of these +horned police kept the park free from strangers, and thereby saved him +half a dozen keepers. + +That his determination in the matter was pig-headed and brutal, there is +no doubt; but the Squire's nature was far from exclusive, and the idea +of saving in any thing, it is certain, never entered into his head. The +time, indeed, was slowly but surely coming when the park should know no +more not only its wild-cattle, but many a rich copse and shadowy glade. +Not a stately oak nor far-spreading beech but was doomed, sooner or +later, to be cut down, to prop for a moment the falling fortunes of +their spendthrift owner; but at the time of which we speak there was no +visible sign of the coming ruin. It is recorded of a brother prodigal, +that after enormous losses and expenses, his steward informed him that +if he would but consent to live upon seven thousand a year for the next +ten years, the estate would recover itself. "Sir," returned he in anger, +"I would rather die than live on seven thousand a year." Our Carew would +have given the same reply had twice that income been suggested to him, +and been applauded for the gallant answer. The hint of any necessity for +curtailment would probably have caused him to double his expenditure +forthwith, though, indeed, that would have been difficult to effect. He +had already two packs of hounds, with which he hunted on alternate days, +and he had even endeavored to do so on the Sunday; but the obsequious +"county" had declined to go with him to that extent, and this anomaly of +the nineteenth century had been compelled to confine himself on the +seventh day to cock-fighting in the library. He kept a bear to bait (as +well as a chaplain to bully), and ferrets ran loose about Crompton as +mice do in other houses. He had a hunter for every week in the year, yet +he often rode his horses to death. He had a stud of racers, and it was +this, or rather his belief in their powers, which eventually drained his +vast resources. Not one of them ever won a great race. This was not +their fault, nor that of their trainer, but his own; he interfered in +their management, and would have things his own way; he would command +every thing, except success, which was beyond his power, and in missing +that he lost all. Otherwise, he was lucky as a mere gambler. His +audacity, and the funds he always had at his disposal, carried him +triumphantly, where many a more prudent but less wealthy player withdrew +from the contest. Games of skill had no attraction for him, but at an +earlier date in his career he had been a terror to the club-keepers in +St. James's, where his luck and obstinacy had broken a dozen banks. It +was said--and very likely with truth--that he had once cut double or +quits for ten thousand pounds. + +His moral character, as respected the softer sex, was such as you might +expect from these traits. No modest woman had been seen at Crompton for +many a year; although not a few such--if at least good birth and high +position include modesty--had, since his majority, striven to give a +lawful mistress to the place. His eccentricities had not alarmed them, +and his shamelessness had not abashed them. Though his constitution was +said to be breaking up through unparalleled excesses, his heart, it was +currently reported in domestic circles, was sound: and what a noble feat +would it be to reclaim him! It was also reckoned impossible that any +amount of extravagance could have seriously embarrassed such a property +as he had inherited, indeed long since, but of which he had had the sole +control only a few years. At the time of which we speak Carew was but +thirty-five, though he looked much older. His muscles were still firm, +his limbs yet active, and his hand and eye as steady with the gun or +bridle as ever. But his bronzed face showed signs of habitual +intemperance; his head was growing prematurely bald; and once or twice, +though the fact was known to himself only, his iron nerve had of late +failed him. The secret consciousness of this last fact made him more +venturesome and reckless than ever. "Time," he swore, "should never play +_him_ tricks. He was as good a man as ever he was. There was a quarter +of a million, more or less, to be got through yet, and, by Jove, he +would see it out!" Of course he did not swear by Jove; for, as we have +said, he kept a chaplain, and was therefore no heathen. + +One of the arguments that the mothers of those young ladies who sought +his hand were wont to make use of, to their great comfort, was that Mr. +Carew was a churchman. There was a private chapel at Crompton, the +existence of which, of course, explained why his presence did not grace +the parish church. Then his genealogy was of the most satisfactory +description. Carews had dwelt at Crompton in direct succession for many +a century. Charles I., it is almost unnecessary to state, had slept +there--that most locomotive of monarchs seems to have honored all old +English mansions with a night's visit--and had hunted in the chase next +morning. Queen Elizabeth had also been most graciously pleased to visit +her subject, John Carew, on which occasion a wooden tower had been +erected for her in the park, from which to see "ten buckes, all having +fayre lawe, pulled down with grey-houndes;" she shot deer, too, with her +own virgin hands, for which purpose "a cross-bowe was delivered to her +by a nymph with a sweet song." These things, however, were in no way +commemorated. Carew was all in all: his devouring egotism swallowed up +historical association. His favorite female bull-dog, with her pups, +slept in the royal martyr's apartment. The places in Crompton Chase held +remarkable were those where its present owner had made an +unprecedentedly long shot, or had beaten off one of the wild cattle +without a weapon, or had run down a stag on foot. There was no relic of +ancient times preserved whatever, except that at midsummer, as in Lyme, +that very curious custom was kept of driving the red deer round the +park, and then swimming them through the lake before the house--a very +difficult feat, by-the-by, to any save those who have been accustomed to +"drive deer." One peculiar virtue of Carew--he was addressed, +by-the-way, by all his inferiors, and some of his equals, as "Squire" +only--was, we had almost forgotten to say, his regard for truth, which +may truly be said to have been "passionate," if we consider the effect +produced in him when he discovered that any one had told him a +falsehood. He would fall upon them tooth and nail, if they were menials; +and if guests, he would forbid them his house. This was surely one +excellent trait. Yet it was maintained by those carpers already alluded +to, that to tell truth was comparatively easy in one who was as careless +of all opinion as he was independent in means; moreover, that a love of +truth is sometimes found to exist in very bad company, as in the case of +the Spartan boy who stole the fox, and if the veracious Squire did not +steal foxes (which he did, by-the-by, indirectly, for a bagged one was +his delight), he was guilty of much worse things. However, this is +certain, that Carew of Crompton never told a lie. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WAITING FOR AN INTRODUCTION. + + +We have said that Carew was not exclusive; so long as he had his own way +in every thing he was good-tempered, and so very good-natured that he +permitted not only his friends but his dependents to do pretty much as +they would. He was a tyrant only by fits and starts, and in the mean +time there was anarchy at Crompton. Every soul in the place, from the +young lords, its master's guests, down to the earth-stopper's assistant, +who came for his quantum of ale to the back-door, did pretty much as +seemed right in his own eyes. There were times when every thing had to +be done in a moment under the master's eye, no matter at what loss, or +even risk to limb or life; but usually there was no particular time for +any thing--except dinner. The guests arose in the morning, or lay in bed +all day, exactly as they pleased, and had their meals in public or in +their own rooms; but when the great dinner-gong sounded for the second +time it was expected that every man should be ready for the feast, and +wearing (with the single exception of the chaplain) a red coat. The +dinner-parties at Crompton--and there was a party of the most +heterogeneous description daily--were literally, therefore, very gay +affairs; the banquet was sumptuous, and the great cellars were laid +under heavy contribution. Only, if a guest did happen to be unpunctual, +from whatever cause, even if it were illness, the host would send for +his bear, or his half-dozen bull-dogs, and proceed to the sick man's +room, with the avowed intention (and he always kept his word) of +"drawing the badger." In spite of his four-legged auxiliaries, this was +not always an easy task. His recklessness, though not often, did +sometimes meet with its match in that of the badger; and in one chamber +door at Crompton we have ourselves seen a couple of bullet-holes, which +showed that assault on one side had met with battery upon the other. +With such rough manners as Carew had, it may seem strange that he was +never called to account for them at twelve paces; but, in the first +place, it was thoroughly understood that he would have "gone out" (a +fact which has doubtless given pause to many a challenge), and would +have shot as straight as though he were partridge-shooting; and +secondly, as we have said, he had a special license for practical jokes; +the subjects of them, too, were not men of delicate susceptibilities, +for none such, by any accident, could have been his guests. In +consideration of good fare, good wine, a good mount in the +hunting-field, excellent shooting, and of a loan from the host whenever +they were without funds, men even of good position were found to "put +up" very good-naturedly with the eccentricities of the master of +Crompton, and he had his house full half the year. It is not to be +wondered at, therefore, that his servants were found willing to compound +for some occasional ill usage, in return for general laxity of rule, and +many unconsidered trifles in the way of perquisites. His huntsmen and +whips got now and then a severe beating; his grooms found it very +inconvenient when "Squire" took it into his mad head to sally forth on +horseback across country by moonlight; and still worse, when he would +have the whole stud out, and set every servant in his employ, not +excepting his fat French cook, in the saddle, to see how they would +comport themselves under the unaccustomed excitement of a steeple-chase. +But upon the whole, the retainers at Crompton had an easy berth of it, +and seldom voluntarily took their discharge. + +Perhaps the best situations, as being less liable to the _per contras_ +in the shape of the master's passionate outbursts, were those of the +park-keepers, of whom old Walter Grange was one. He was a bachelor, as +almost all of them were. It was not good for any one with wife or +daughter (if these were young, at least) to take service with Carew at +all; and living in a pleasant cottage, far too large for him, in the +very heart of the chase, Grange thought it no harm to take a lodger. The +same old woman who cooked his victuals and kept his rooms tidy would do +the same office for another who was not very particular in his food, and +could rough it a little in other respects; and such a one had Walter +lately found in the person of a young landscape-painter, Richard Yorke. +This gentleman was a stranger to Crompton and its neighborhood; but +having (as he said) happened to see a certain guarded advertisement in +the _Times_ headed, "To Artists and Others," that lodgings in the midst +of forest scenery could be procured for what seemed next to nothing, he +had come down from London in the autumn on the chance, and found them +suitable. + +To poet or painter's eye, indeed, the lodge was charming; it was small, +of course, but very picturesquely built, and afforded the new tenant a +bow-windowed sitting-room, with an outlook such as few dwellings in +England, and probably none elsewhere, could offer. In the fore-ground +was an open lawn, on which scores of fine-plumaged pheasants strutted +briskly, and myriads of rabbits came forth at eve to play and +nibble--bordered by crops of fern, above which moved statelily the +antlered deer. A sentry oak or two of mighty girth guarded this open +space; but on both sides vast glades shut in the prospect with a wall of +checkered light and shadow that deepened into sylvan gloom. But right in +front the expanding view seemed without limit, and exhibited all +varieties of forest scenery; coppices with "Autumn's fiery finger" on +their tender leaves; still, shining pools, where water-fowl bred and +dwelt; broad pathways, across which the fallow deer could bound at +leisure; or one would leap in haste, and half a hundred follow in +groundless panic. The wealth of animal life in that green solitude, +where the voice of man was hardly ever heard, was prodigious; the rarest +birds were common there; even those who had their habitations by the sea +were sometimes lured to this as silent spot, and skimmed above its +undulating dells as o'er the billow. The eagle and the osprey had been +caught there; and, indeed, a specimen of each was caged in a sort of +aviary, which Grange had had constructed at the back of the lodge; while +Yorke's sitting-room was literally stuffed full of these strange +feathered visitants, which had fallen victims to the keeper's gun. The +horse-hair sofa had a noble cover of deer-skin; the foot-stool and the +fire-rug were made of furs, or skins that would have fetched their price +elsewhere, and been held rare, although once worn by British beast or +"varmint." The walls were stuck with antlers, and the very handle of the +bell-rope was the fore-foot of a stag. Each of these had its story; and +nothing pleased the old man better than to have a listener to his +long-winded tales of how and where and when the thing was slain. All +persons whose lives are passed in the open air, and in comparative +solitude, seem in this respect to be descendants of Dame Quickly; their +wearisome digressions and unnecessary preciseness as to date and place +try the patience of all other kinds of men, and this was the chief cross +which Grange's lodger had to bear as an offset to the excellence of his +quarters. It must be confessed that he did not bear it meekly. To stop +old Walter in mid-talk--without an open quarrel--was an absolute +impossibility; but his young companion would turn the stream of his +discourse, without much ceremony, from the records of slaughter into +another channel (almost as natural to it)--the characteristics and +peculiarities of his master Carew. Of this subject, notwithstanding that +that other made him fret and fume so, Yorke never seemed to tire. + +"I should like to know your master," he had said, half musingly, after +listening to one of these strange recitals, soon after his arrival; to +which Grange had answered, laughing: "Well, Squire's a very easy one to +know. He picks up friends by every road-side, without much troubling +himself as to who they are, I promise you." + +The young man's face grew dark with anger; but the idea of self-respect, +far less of pride, was necessarily strange to a servant of Carew's. So +Grange went on, unconscious of offense: "Now, if you were a young +woman," he chuckled, "and as good-looking as you are as a lad, there +would be none more welcome than yourself up at the big house. Pretty +gals, bless ye, need no introduction yonder; and yet one would have +thought that Squire would know better than to meddle with the +mischievous hussies--he took his lesson early enough, at all events. +Why, he married before he was your age, and not half so much of a man to +look at, neither. You have heard talk of that, I dare say, however, in +London?" + +Richard Yorke, as the keeper had hinted, was a very handsome +lad--brown-cheeked, blue eyed, and with rich clustering hair as black as +a sloe; but at this moment he did not look prepossessing. He frowned and +flashed a furious glance upon the speaker; but old Grange, who had an +eye like a hawk, for the objects that a hawk desires, was as blind as a +mole to any evidence of human emotion short of a punch on the head, and +went on unheeding: + +"Well, I thought you must ha' heard o' that too. We folk down here heard +o' nothing else for all that year. She got hold o' Squire, this ere +woman did, though he was but a school-boy, and she old enough to be his +mother, bless ye, and was married to him. And they kep' it secret for +six months; and that's what bangs me most about it all. For Carew, he +can keep nothing secret--nothing: he blurts all out; and that's why he +seems so much worse than he is to some people. Oh, she must have been a +deep one, she must!" + +"You never saw her, then?" asked Yorke, carelessly shading his eyes, as +though from the westering sun, which Midas-like, was turning every thing +it touched in that broad landscape into gold. + +"Oh yes, I see her; she was here with Squire near half a year. Mrs. +Carew--the old lady, I mean--was at Crompton then; and the young +one--though she was no chicken neither--she tried to get her turned out; +but she wasn't clever enough, clever as she was, for that job. Carew +loved his mother, as indeed he ought, for she had never denied him any +thing since he was born; and so, in that pitched battle between the +women, he took his mother's side. And in the end the old lady took his, +and with a vengeance. I do think that if it had not been for her, young +madam would have held on--Why, what's the matter, young gentleman? That +was an oath fit for the mouth of Squire hisself." + +"It's this cursed toothache," exclaimed Yorke, passionately. "It has +worried me so ever since you began to speak that I should have gone mad +if I had not let out at it a bit. Never mind me; I'm better now." + +"Well, that's like the Squire again," returned the keeper, admiringly. +"He seems allus to find hisself better for letting out at things, and at +people too, for the matter of that. To hear him sometimes, one would +almost think the ground must open; not that he means any harm, but it's +a way he's got; but it does frighten them as is not used to him, surely. +I mind that day when he first took the fox-hounds out, and Mr. Howard +the sheriff as was that year--he's dead and gone long since, and his +grandson is sheriff now again, which is cur'ous--well, he happened to +ride a bit too forward with the dogs, and our young master--Oh dear, +dear," and the old man began to chuckle like a hen that has laid two +eggs at a time, "how he did swear at the old man!" + +"You were talking about Mrs. Carew the elder," observed the artist, +coolly. + +"Was I? True, so I was. Well, she and the young Squire was for all the +world like a deer with her fawn--all tenderness and timidity, so long as +he was let alone; but when this 'ere woman came, as she considered his +enemy, she was as bold as a red stag--nay, as one of our wild-cattle. It +was through her, I say, that the bride got the sack at last; and when +that was done the old lady seemed to have done her work, and was content +enough when her son portioned her off, and persuaded her to live at the +dower-house at Morden; and indeed she could hardly have staid at +Crompton, with such goings on as there are now--feastings and fightings +and flirtings--" + +"Just so," interrupted the young painter; "she got her way, I know. But +with respect to the younger lady, Mrs. Charles Carew, what was _she_ +like, and what did people say of her?" + +"Well, not much good, I reckon. What could they say of a school-mistress +who marries her pupil?" + +"A school-mistress, was she?" said Yorke, in a strange husky voice. "We +never heard that in London." + +"Well, she was summut of that sort, Sir, though I don't know exactly +what. Young as he was, Carew was not quite child enough to be at a +dame's school, that's true. But she was not a mere servant-girl, as some +said, any way, for she could play and sing--ay, songs that pleased him +too--and she had book-learning, I've heard, such as would have +astonished you; so that some folks said she was a witch, and had the +devil's help to catch Carew. But a woman don't want magic, bless you, to +come over a lad of seventeen--not she. What nonsense people talk! If +any pretty girl about Crompton was to take a fancy to _you_ now, as is +like enough, do you suppose--" + +"But I thought you said that Mrs. Charles Carew was not a girl?" + +"Nor more she was: she was five-and-thirty if she was a day; and +yet--_there_ was the wonder of it--she did not look much over twenty! +I've heard our gentlemen, when out shooting, liken her to some fine +Frenchwoman as never grew old, and was fell in love with unbeknown by +her grandson. Now, what was her name? I got it written down somewhere in +my old pocket-book; it was summut like Longclothes." + +"_Ninon de l'Enclos?_" suggested Yorke, without a smile. + +"Ay, that's the name. Well, Mrs. Charles Carew, as you call her, was +just like her, and a regular everlasting! She was not what you would +call pretty, but very "taking" looking, and with a bloom and freshness +on her as would have deceived any man. Her voice was like music itself, +and she moved like a stag o' ten; and the Squire being always manly +looking and swarthy, like yourself, there was really little difference +between them to look at. I dare say she's gone all to pieces now, as +women will do, while the Squire looks much the same as he did then." + +"I have never even seen him," said the landscape-painter, moodily. + +"Well, don't you stare at him, young master, when you do get that +chance, that's all. Some comes down here merely to look at him, as if he +was a show, and that puts him in a pretty rage, I promise you; though to +get to know him, as I say, is easy enough, if you go the right way about +it. If you were a good rider, for instance, and could lead the field one +day when the hunting begins, he'd ask you to dinner to a certainty; or +if you could drive stags--why, he would have given you a hundred pounds +last midsummer, when we couldn't get the beasts to swim the lake. +There's a pretty mess come o' that, by-the-by; for, out of the talk +there was among the gentlemen about that difficulty, the Squire laid a +bet as _he_ would drive stags; not as _we_ do, mind you, but in harness, +like carriage-horses; and, cuss me, if he hasn't had the break out half +a dozen times with four red deer in it, and you may see him tearing +through the park, with mounted grooms and keepers on the right and left +of him, all galloping their hardest, and the Squire with the ribbons, +a-holloaing like mad! For my part, I don't like such pranks, and would +much sooner not be there to see 'em. There will be mischief some day +with it yet, for all that old Lord Orford, down at Newmarket some fifty +years ago, used to do the same thing, they say. It ain't in nature that +stags should be druv four-in-hand, even by Carew. However, the Squire +won his wager; and we haven't seen none o' _that_ wild work o' late +weeks, though we may see it again any day." + +"I have heard of that strange exploit," observed Yorke; "but as driving +deer, even in the ordinary way, is not my calling, and as I am no great +rider, even if I had a horse, I don't see how I am to introduce myself +to your mad Squire, and yet I have a great fancy for his acquaintance. +Do you think he'd buy any of these drawings, taken in his own park, from +his own timber?" The young man touched a portfolio, already well stocked +with studies of oak and beech. "Here is a sketch of the Decoy Pond, for +instance, with the oldest tree in the chase beside it; would not that +interest him, think you? You think not?" + +"Well, young gentleman," said the keeper, frankly, "if I say no, it +ain't that I mean any slight to your drawing. It's like the tree enough, +for certain, with the very hoop of iron as I put round it with my own +hands twenty years ago--and, by the same token, it will want another +before this winter's out; but I don't think the Squire cares much for +such matters. He might, maybe, just give a look at it, or he might bid +you go to the devil for a paper-staining son of a--well--what you will. +He does not care a farthing, bless 'ee, for all the great pictures in +his own gallery, though they cost his grandfather a mint of money, and +are certainly a fine sight--so far as the frames go. And, on the other +hand, if he happens to be cross-grained that day, he might tear it up +before you could say 'Hold,' and kick you down the Hall steps into the +bargain, as he has done to many a one. That's where it is, you see, the +Squire is so chancy." + +"I don't think he would kick _me_ down his Hall steps," said Yorke, +grimly. + +The keeper grinned. "Well, you see, nobody can tell that till it's +tried. The Squire is a regular bruiser, I promise you, though I grant +you are a strapping young fellow, and you have told me that you know how +to use your fists. That's a great thing, mind you, for a man to ha' +learnt; a deal better than Latin or such-like, in my opinion. Folks talk +of life-preservers and pistols, but there's nothing like a good pair of +well-handled fists when one has to tackle a poacher. I've been at +Crompton, man and boy, these fifty years, and had a good many +rough-and-tumbles with that sort, and I have never had the worst of it +yet. It prevents bloodshed on both sides; for if you haven't no +shooting-iron, there's few Englishmen, poachers or not, who will draw +trigger on you; and as for a bludgeon, it's as likely to be in my hand +as another's after the first half minute." + +"Is there much poaching now at Crompton?" inquired Yorke, mechanically. +It would have been plain to any less obtuse observer than his companion +that he no longer gave him his attention. + +"Well, no; nothing to be called serious has happened lately; though I +dare say we shall have some scrimmages as the winter comes on; there's +allus a good deal of what I calls hanky-panky work in the fawn season. +Women and children--especially children--will come into the park, under +pretense o' picking up sticks; and they'll put away a new dropped fawn +in their bundles, if they get the chance; and then they take it home, to +be reared until it grows up, and can be sold for venison." + +"I should have thought there would have been no market for such a +commodity--that is, in the case of people such as you describe," +observed Yorke, yawning. + +"Market!" echoed the keeper, contemptuously; "there'd be a market +to-morrow morning for the whole herd o' our wild-cattle, if they were +stolen to-night; there'd be a market for a rhinoceros or a halligator, +if we happened to keep 'em, bless 'ee, as easy as for a sucking pig! But +I don't call that poaching--I mean the fawn-stealing. It's the +professionals from the Midland towns as come by tens and twenties at a +time as is our trouble. We generally gets wind of 'em beforehand, and +then out we all goes, and Squire with us--for he dearly loves a +fight--and then there's broken crowns and bloody noses; but, thank God, +there's been no murder done, at least, not in my time, at Crompton. And +that reminds me, Sir, that it's time for me to start on my evening +rounds." + +"Well, when you next have any news of such an incursion, Grange, I hope +you will let me make one of your party," said Yorke, good-humoredly. "I +can hit out straight from the shoulder; and perhaps I might get to know +the Squire _that_ way." + +"And as likely a road to lead you into his good graces, Sir," said the +keeper, rising, "as any I know. Are you for a walk round the park this +fine evening, Sir?" + +"No; not to-night, thank you, Grange. I have got to fill in this sketch +a bit that I took this morning." + +"Then, good-night, Sir, for I sha'n't return before daylight." + +But it was not till long after the keeper had taken his departure that +Richard Yorke turned hand or eye to his unfinished drawing. He sat +staring straight before him with steadfast eyes and thoughtful face, for +hours, murmuring to himself disjointed sentences; and ever and anon he +started up and paced the little room with rapid strides. "He shall see +me, and know me, too," muttered he, at last, between his clenched teeth, +"though it should cost one of us our lives. She shall not say I came +down to this wilderness, like some hunted beast to covert, for nothing." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE NIGHT-WATCH. + + +It was an easy thing enough, as Walter Grange had said, to make +acquaintance with Carew of Crompton, and possible even to become his +bosom friend at a short notice, for his friendships, all made in wine, +at play, or in the hunting-field, were soon cemented; but then, if the +introduction was effected in an unpropitious time or manner, it was like +enough to end in affront or downright insult. A gulf might be fixed just +where you wanted a causeway, and of this--though he had feigned to +inquire about it so innocently of the honest park-keeper--Richard Yorke +was well aware. He had, as has been hinted, come down to Crompton with +the express view of throwing himself in the way of its eccentric master, +and to do so opportunely, and he was content to bide his time. Thus, +though the autumn had far advanced, and the time had come for men of his +craft to hasten from the dropping, dripping woods, no longer fair, to +hive at home their sweet memorials of the summer time, Richard remained +at Crompton, not willingly, indeed, nor even patiently, but with that +sort of dogged resolve which is engendered, even in a restless spirit, +by long watching. He had stopped so long that he would not now give up +his watch; the fortress, indeed, showed no more sign of breach than when +he first sat down before it; but still he would not raise the siege. +This persistency excited no surprise in his house companion; Walter +Grange was no gossip, nor curious about other men's affairs; it was +easy, even for him, to see that his tenant had a proud stomach, and he +had set down his talk about desiring an introduction to Carew as merely +another phrase for wishing for a good chance of disposing of his wares +to best advantage in that market to which so many of such various +callings thronged. He did not think, as he had honestly confessed, that +there was much chance of the Squire becoming a patron of the fine arts, +but he wished the young fellow luck, and was glad, for more than one +reason, that he staid on. + +It was at least three months after his young lodger's arrival that +Walter burst into his sitting-room one afternoon, without his usual +knock at the door, with the great news that he had just had word, by a +safe hand, that a gang of poachers would be in the Home Park that very +night, and that all the staff of keepers would be out in waiting for +them. + +"You know," said he, quite indignant that the young man did not show his +enthusiasm, "you told me I was to be sure and let you know, Mr. Yorke; +but, of course, you needn't make one of us unless you like." + +"Oh yes, I'll come," laughed the young fellow--"that is, provided it is +fine. I can't fight in the rain, even for the game laws." + +"It'll be a lovely night, Sir, with just enough of moonlight to know +friends from foes," went on the keeper, rubbing his hands, and +unconsciously moistening them in his excitement. "I knew you'd come. I +said to myself: 'Mr. Yorke'll never turn tail;' and we shall be really +glad of your help, for the fact is we are short-handed. Napes is down +with the rheumatics, and two of our men are away from home, and there +ain't time to send to the out-beaters. So we shall be only +nine--including yourself--in all. Let's see," continued the old man, +counting on his fingers: "there'll be Bill Nokes, and Robert Sloane, +and--" + +"Spare me the roll-call, Grange," interrupted the painter; "and tell me +where I am to be, and when, and I'll be there." + +"Very good, Sir," said the keeper, musing. "I'll put you at the Squire's +oak--the one as you drawed so nicely--that'll be at the Decoy down +yonder, and close to home. You have only to use this whistle, and you'll +get help enough if you chance to be set upon; there will be a fight, no +doubt. They must be a daring lot to poach the near park, within sound of +the house: they ain't a done that these ten year; for the last time they +brought Squire and his bull-dogs out, which was a lesson to one or two +of 'em. However, he's for town, they say, to-day." + +"All right, Grange; we must do without him, then," returned the young +man, cheerfully. "What time am I to be on guard?" + +"You should be there at ten at latest, Sir. There'll be plenty of us +within whistle-call, you understand. But nobody will come aneist you as +has any business there; so whoever you see you must go in at." + +Yorke nodded, smiling, and doubling his white fists, hit out +scientifically with his right. + +"You're one after the Squire's own heart," exclaimed the keeper, +admiringly; "and I do wish you could foregather with him. What a reach +of arm you've got, and what a play of muscle! The fist is the weapon for +a poacher--that is, I mean _agin_ him--if you only know how to use it. I +can depend on the Decoy being guarded by ten, Sir, can I? for I must be +off to the head-keeper's with the rest." + +"Yes, you can." + +"Then, good-by, Sir, for the present." + +"Now what a poor fool is that!" soliloquized the young painter, +contemptuously, as the door closed upon his late companion. "To think +that I should risk my life against a poacher's on even terms! Of course, +if they suffice, I shall only treat him to my knuckles; but if not--if +he be a giant, or there be more than one of them--then here is a better +ally than mere bone and sinew." Yorke took out of a drawer a +life-preserver, made of lead and whalebone, struck with it once, to test +its weight and elasticity, then slipped it into his shooting-jacket +pocket. "That will enlarge their organs of locality," said he, grimly; +"they will not forget the Decoy Pond in a hurry whose heads knock +against this." + +He made a better supper than was usual with him that night; filled his +pocket-flask with brandy, and his pouch with tobacco; and then making +sure that the whistle Grange had given him, and which he had hung round +his neck, was within easy reach of his fingers, sallied out, well +wrapped up as to his throat, and with his hands in his pockets. If +Richard Yorke was doomed not to have life made easy for him, he made it +as easy as he could. He never omitted a precaution, unless it gave him +trouble to take it out of proportion to the advantage it conferred; he +was never imprudent, unless the passion of the moment was too strong for +him; but sometimes, unfortunately, his mere whims were in their +intensity passions, and his passions, while they lasted, fits of +madness. He was a landscape-painter, partly because he had some taste +that way, but chiefly because he hated regular work of any sort. He had +no real love for his art, and not the least touch of poetic feeling. He +knew an oak from a beech-tree, and the sort of touch that should be used +in delineating the foliage of each; a yellow primrose was to him a +yellow primrose, and he could mix the colors deftly enough which made up +its hue. His education had been by no means neglected, but it had been +of a strange sort; every thing he had learned was, as it were, for +immediate use, and of a superficial but attractive character. The +advocates of a classical curriculum would have shaken their heads at +what Richard Yorke did know, almost as severely as at his lack of +knowledge. He had read a good deal of all kinds of literature, including +much garbage; he could play a little on the piano, and speak French +with an excellent accent. In a word, he had learned every thing that had +pleased him, as well as a little Latin and some mathematics, which had +not. He knew English history far better than most young Englishmen; but +the sight of tomb or ruin had never made his heart pulse faster with an +evoked idea by a single beat. Historical associations had no charm for +him. This mighty oak, for example, under the shadow of which he now +stands sentry, and which he had transferred so deftly to his portfolio, +has no longer any interest for him. He has "done it," and its use and +pleasure are therefore departed in his eyes. He knows quite well that +though it is called the Squire's, in token, probably, of some wholesale +slaughter of wild-ducks effected by Carew from its convenient cover, +that this tree is hundreds of years old--the oldest in all the chase. He +has read the "Talking Oak," for indeed he can quote Tennyson by the +yard, and in dulcet voice; and it would have been natural enough, one +would think, in such a time and place, that some thoughts of what this +venerable monarch of the forest must have witnessed would perforce come +into his mind. The same moonlight that now shines down between its +knotted naked branches must have doubtless lit on many a pair of lovers, +for it was ever a favorite place for tryst in by-gone years. The young +monk, perhaps, may here (when Crompton was an abbey) have given double +absolution, to himself and to the girl who confessed to him her love. +Roundhead maiden and Cavalier gallant must many a time have forgotten +their political differences beneath this oak, as yet a tree not sacred +to royalty; nay, perhaps even those of. York and Lancaster may here have +been compounded for, in one red rose of a blush. Bluff Harry had haply +hunted beneath its once wide-spreading arms, and certainly the martyr +king had done so, with a score of generations of men of all sorts, dead +and gone, God alone knows whither. Though no more the bugle sounded, nor +the twanging bow was heard, there was surely an echo of their far-away +music in the young painter's ear! No, there was none. + + Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter, + +was a line Richard Yorke had read, perhaps, but certainly had not +understood. He heard the bare branch creak and sway above his head as +the wind slowly took it; he heard the night-jar croak, as it flew by on +silent wing; and now and then he heard, or thought he heard, the sound +of the voices of his fellow-watchers a great way off, which was his only +touch of fancy. They were all silent, and in close hiding. + +It is not to be supposed, however, that his mind was fixed upon the +matter in which he was engaged, so that other subjects were thereby +excluded from it. The repression of night-poaching was not a matter that +interested him either in principle or practice. He would just as soon +that the keeper had not reminded him of his offer to share his +watch--the whim that had once seized him to do so had died away; but +having once promised his company, he was not one to break his word. So +here he was. + +The young man's thoughts were busy, then, neither with the past nor the +present, but with the future--that is, _his own_ future. The path of +life did not lie straight before Richard Yorke, as it does before most +men of his age, and in fact it came, so to speak, abruptly to a +termination exactly where he stood. + +In such a case, the choice of the wayfarer becomes boundless, and is +only limited by the horizon and circumstances. As matters were, he had +scarcely enough to live on--not nearly enough to do so as his tastes and +habits suggested; and yet, by one bold stroke, with luck to back it, he +might, not "one day" (_that_ would have had small charm for him), but at +once, and for his life-long, be rich and prosperous. He could not be +said to have expectations, but his position was not without certain +contingencies, the extreme brilliancy of which might almost atone for +their vagueness. It was from a dream of future greatness, or what seemed +to him as such, wherein he saw himself wealthy and powerful, surrounded +with luxury and with the ministers of every pleasure, that he was +suddenly and sharply awakened by a trifling incident--the snapping of a +dead twig in the copse hard by. In an instant the glittering gossamer of +thought was swept aside, and the young fellow was all ear and eye. The +wind had dropped for some time, and the silence was intense; that solemn +hush seemed to pervade the forest which some poet has attributed to the +cessation of spiritual life, as though the haunters of the glade were +_waiting_ for the resumption of their occupations until the interloping +mortal should pass by. Nothing stirred, or, if so, it was motion without +sound, as when the full-feathered owl slid softly through the midnight +air above him. Not a dead leaf fell; and where the leaves had fallen +there they lay. How was it, then, that a twig broke? The deer were +couched; the pheasants sat at roost, their heads beneath that splendid +coverlet, their wing; and though there were creeping things which even +midnight did not woo to rest in that vast wilderness, Yorke had imbibed +enough of forest lore to know that the noise which he had heard was +produced by none of these. A rat in the water-rushes, or a stoat pushing +through the undergrowth, would have announced itself in a different +fashion. Again the sound was heard, and this time it was no longer the +crackling of a twig, but the breaking of a branch; then cautious +footsteps fell upon the frosty leaves, and, with a light leap on the +bank that fringed the copse, the poacher stood in the open. + +That such he was, Yorke had no doubt whatever; the moonlight streamed +full upon him, and showed him to be none of the Crompton keepers, +unless, indeed, he was disguised. For an instant, it passed across his +mind that this might be Walter Grange himself--he was about the same +height and build--come to play a trick upon him to test his courage, for +the man's face was blackened like a burglar's; but this idea was +dismissed as soon as entertained. The keeper, he reflected, thought far +too seriously of the night's doings to make jest of them, and besides, +he could never have sprung upon the bank as yonder fellow did, his +limbs, though sturdy, being stiff with age and occasional rheumatism. +The intruder seemed quite alone, and it was probable, while his +confederates paid attention to the pheasants in the Home Park, that he +was bent upon making a private raid upon the sleeping water-fowl. He +had no gun, however, nor, as far as Yorke could make out, any other +weapon; and as soon as he had got near enough to the pond to admit of +it the watcher sprang out from beneath the shadow of the oak, and +placed himself between the stranger and the copse from which he +had emerged. Yorke was the taller by full six inches, and believing +himself to be more than a match for his antagonist, had not so +much as laid finger on his concealed weapon; but if he had now +any thought of doing so, it was too late; for, with a cry +of eager rage, the man turned at once, and sprang at him like a tiger. +It needed all his skill and coolness to parry the fierce blows which +fell upon him like hail, and which he had scarcely time to return. Yorke +was an adept at boxing, and in the chance encounters into which a +somewhat dissipated and reckless youth had led him, he had been an easy +victor; but it now took all he knew to "keep himself." An instant's +carelessness, or the absence of a hand in search of that which he would +now have gladly seized, and his guard, would have been broken through, +and himself placed at his foe's mercy. Nothing but his long reach +preserved him from those sledge-hammer blows, which seemed as though +each must break the arm they fell upon. As for using his whistle, the +opportunity, of course, was not afforded him; and, moreover, he had no +breath to spare for such a purpose. Breath, however, was also a +desideratum with the poacher, and the more so inasmuch as he accompanied +every blow--as Brian de Bois-Guilbert was wont to hammer home his +mace-strokes with "Ha! Beauseant, Beauseant!"--with some amazing oath. +It is recorded of an American gentleman, much given to blasphemy, that +he could entertain "an intelligent companion" for half a day with the +mere force and ingenuity of his expletives; and this singular talent +seemed to be shared by Richard Yorke's antagonist. That one of the most +accomplished roughs of the Midlands had fallen to the young painter's +lot in that night's _melee_, he could not for a moment doubt; but this +reflection did not go far to soothe him. He did not care for fighting +for its own sake, while his pride revolted against thus being kept at +bay by a brutal clown. If he could but get the chance, he made up his +mind to end this matter once for all, and at last the opportunity seemed +to be afforded. The poacher suddenly stepped back to the very margin of +the pond, a long oval piece of water, and not very deep, and quick as +thought, Yorke drew his deadly weapon. But at the same moment there was +a sound of racing feet, and down the drive there came two men at +headlong speed. Yorke did not doubt that they were poachers; but his +blood was up, and he was armed--he felt like an iron-clad against whom +three wooden ships were about to pit themselves. "Where I hit now I make +a hole," he muttered, savagely, and stood firm; nor did he even put his +lips to the whistle that hung round his neck. + +[Illustration: "THE MAN TURNED AT ONCE, AND SPRANG AT HIM LIKE A +TIGER."] + +But as the men came nearer, in the foremost he recognized Walter Grange, +and at the same moment saw his late antagonist plunge wildly into the +ice-cold pond, and begin to wade and swim across it. + +"Cuss him! I durst not do it," gasped Walter, just too late, and +mindful, even in his passionate disappointment, of rheumatic pains. +"Dash after him, Bob, while Mr. Yorke and I run round." + +But Bob had had the rheumatism too, or had seen the unpleasant effects +of it in others, and shook his shaggy head. + +A mocking laugh burst from the poacher, already nearing the opposite +bank. + +"Dang him! If I'd got a gun, I'd shoot him. Run, man!" cried Walter, +excitedly--"run, man, run! He can never get along in his wet clothes." +And off the two men started in hot pursuit. + +Yorke watched them toiling round the pond, while the poacher landed, +shook himself like any water-dog, and leisurely trotted off. + +"It was lucky for him," murmured he, as he replaced his weapon in his +pocket, "that the help came on _my_ side;" then lit his pipe, and +leisurely walked home. + +Three hours later returned the keeper (for whose arrival he had been +sitting up), with twinkling eye and a look of triumph. + +"Well, you caught the beggar, did you, Grange?" + +"Oh yes, we caught him fast enough," responded the other, grinning; "we +caught the whole lot of them. And who d'ye think they were? Why, it was +the whole party from the house, as had come out to play at poachers! Who +ever heard of such a game? Some on 'em got it hot, I reckon, in the new +spinney yonder. But _that_ was no matter. We've all had our skins full +of rum punch, and a sov. apiece, because Squire says we proved ourselves +good watch-dogs. And here," continued the old man, exultingly, "are a +couple of sovs. for yourself. 'Give them to that tall young fellow,' +says Squire, 'as you posted by the Decoy Pond, for he knows how to use +his fists.' Why, that 'ere chap as you had the tussle with was Carew +hisself!" + +A deadly paleness overspread the young man's cheeks. + +"Was that Carew?" he said. + +"Yes, indeed, it was; though none of us know'd it. You needn't look so +skeared. He ain't annoyed with you; he's pleased, bless 'ee, and here's +the proof of it." + +"You may keep the guineas, Grange," said Yorke, gravely; "only keep my +secret too. If he thinks I was a night-watcher, let him continue in that +belief." + +"Why, it's the best introduction to Carew as you could have!" insisted +the astonished keeper. "You have only to go up to the great house +to-morrow, and say: 'Here's the man as proved your match last night,' +and--" + +"You must allow me to be the best judge of my own affairs," interrupted +the young fellow, haughtily; "so you will be so good as to say nothing +more about the matter." + +"Just as you please, Sir; and I am sure you are very kind," answered the +keeper, slipping the coins into his pocket. "Squire hisself could not be +more liberal, that's certain. You are tired, I see; and I wish you +good-night, Sir, or rather good-morning." + +"Good-night, Grange." + +"Now, that's what I call pride," said Walter, grimly, as he closed the +door upon his lodger; "and I am sure I hope, for his sake, it may never +have a fall." + +When Richard Yorke was thus left to himself he did a curious thing; he +took out the life-preserver from its receptacle, and having made up the +fire, placed it in the centre of the burning mass, so that in the +morning there was nothing left of it save a dull lump of lead. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ACROSS THE THRESHOLD. + + +A day or two passed by, and nothing more was heard of Carew's combat +with the young watcher; some other mad frolic had doubtless entered into +the Squire's head and driven that one out. The hot punch imbibed after +his swim in the Decoy Pond seemed to have averted all evil consequences, +or perhaps he was case-hardened to such things. It was not uncommon with +him to spend whole winter nights on a neighboring "broad," in pursuit of +the mere-fowl that haunted it, in water or ice or swamp. He treated his +body as an enemy, and strove to subdue it--though not for the good +reasons of the Apostle--by every sort of harshness and imprudence; or +rather he behaved toward it as a wayward father toward his child--at one +time with cruel severity, at another with the utmost luxury and +indulgence. No rich man, probably, ever gave his heir so many chances of +inheritance, or excited in him so many false hopes, as did the Squire of +Crompton, who had no heir. + +The hunting season had begun with him after its usual fashion; he seldom +troubled himself to find a fox, but turned one out of a bag to insure +sport, or ran a drag over the most difficult and dangerous country that +could be selected. + +Yorke had almost made up his mind to take the keeper's advice, and +distinguish himself by putting his neck to the same risks as Carew, on +horseback, in order to recommend himself to his notice, when an event +occurred by which he attained his end in another way. + +Tired of the park, wherein he had dwelled so long, and which every day +the approach of winter made more bare and desolate, he had taken a +solitary walk along the highway which led to the market-town. He was +returning, and had reached the top of the long hill where the park fence +began, and a high solid gate--so that no dogs could enter--gave access +to that wild domain, when a confused murmur in the keen blue air caused +him to look back. For a mile or more the road was straight, and the +leafless trees and hedges left the prospect open to him in all +directions; at the extremity of the road was some huge moving object, +which, advancing at great speed, disclosed the Squire's mail phaeton, +drawn by four antlered stags, and followed at some distance by three or +four mounted grooms, apparently unable to keep up with him. Carew +himself was standing up like some charioteer of old, and, although he +already outstripped the very wind, was laying about him frantically with +his whip, as up the hill the frightened creatures tore as if the ground +were level. The reason of this headlong speed was at the same time made +evident by the appearance of a pack of hounds, which, followed by a +numerous field in scarlet, was coming across the grass-land in full cry. +The spectacle, though weird and strange, was by no means without a +certain grandeur--like some barbarous pageant. Yorke understood the +situation at a glance. He had heard the keeper say that, not content +with his wild progresses through the park, the Squire had sworn to drive +his stags one day into the market-town, and this he had doubtless +actually accomplished; but, on his return, he had had the misfortune to +be caught sight of by one of his own packs of hounds, which were now in +full pursuit of him, like another Actaeon. The terrified stags, with +that deep-mouthed menace of their natural enemies ringing in their ears, +at once threw off all control, and had left their grooms behind them in +half a dozen bounds. If only the harness held, they would be at the +lodge gate in a very few minutes; but, on the other hand, the hounds +were nearer to that point, which they were approaching diagonally. They +were running, of course, by sight, like greyhounds, and with greyhounds' +speed. Above their eager mellow notes, and the mad shouting of the +excited sportsmen, and the ceaseless winding of the disregarded horn, +above the thunder of his own wheels, and of the hoofs of his strange +steeds upon the wintry road, rang out Carew's hoarse tones: "The gate, +the gate!" If only that wooden wall could be interposed between his +stags and their pursuers, all might yet be well. But, though the +lodge-keeper had been drawn by the tumult to his door, he stood there +like one amazed and fascinated by the spectacle before him, and +paralyzed with the catastrophe that seemed impending. + +"Gate, gate, you gaping idiot!" roared the Squire, with a frightful +curse; but the poor shaking wretch had not the power to stir; it was +Yorke himself who dashed at the latch, and threw the long gate wide to +let the madman pass, and then slammed it back upon the very jaws of the +hounds. They rushed against the solid wood like a living battering-ram, +and howled with baffled rage; and some leaped up and got their fore-paws +over it, and would have got in yet, but that Richard beat them back with +his bare hands. + +In the mean time Carew and his stags swept up the park like a whirlwind, +and presently, coming to a coppice, the frightened creatures dashed into +it, doubtless for covert, where wheel and rein and antler, tangling with +trunk and branch, soon brought them to a full stop. + +"Good lad!" exclaimed Carew, as Yorke hurried up to help him; "you are a +good plucked one, you are; you shall keep the lodge, if you will, +instead of that lily-livered scoundrel who was too frightened to move. +Oh, I ask pardon; you are a gentleman, are you?" + +"Sir, I hope so," answered the young man, stiffly, his anger only half +subdued by the necessity for conciliation. + +"Then, come up to the house and dine, whoever you are; I'll lend you a +red coat. Curse those grooms! what keeps them? One can't sit upon a +stag's head to quiet him as though he were a horse." (Two of the stags +were down, and butting, at one another with their horns.) "What a pace +we came up White Hill! I tried to time them, but I could not get my +watch out. You moved yourself like a flash of lightning, else I thought +we must have pinned you against the gate. It was well done, my lad, well +done; and I'm your debtor." + +The Squire held out his hand, for the first time, for Yorke to shake. + +"Why, what's this?" said he, peering into the other's eyes. "I have +seen your face before, my friend." + +"Yes, Sir; a week or two ago I played the part of night-watcher in your +preserves--it was a mad prank; but"--and here the young fellow smiled +roguishly--"it was better than poaching, you must admit." + +"What!" cried the Squire, delighted, "are you the fellow that had that +bout with me in the Decoy Pond? Why, I thought you were one of my own +men, and sent you something; but, of course, my scoundrels drank it. I'm +glad to see you, Sir, by daylight. It was the uncertain moonshine that +hampered me, else, by Jove, I'd have given you 'one, two!' We must have +it out another day, for a drawn battle is just the thing I hate. What's +your name, young gentleman, and where do you live?" + +"I live close by, Sir; I am in lodgings for the present." + +"Ay, ay, for the hunting, I suppose," said the impetuous Squire. "Hark +to those devils of dogs; they are howling yet; they would have had my +stags by this time but for you. Well, well; send for your portmanteau, +and take up your quarters at Crompton; you shall have a hearty welcome; +only don't be late for dinner--seven, Sir, sharp. Here are my knavish +grooms at last." + +And, under cover of the fire of imprecations which the Squire poured +upon his approaching retainers, the young landscape-painter withdrew. He +had obtained his end at last, and he wished to retire before Carew +should put that question to him for a second time--what is your +name?--which, at such a moment, it would, for certain reasons, have been +embarrassing to answer. + +He betook himself at once to the keeper's lodge, and packing up his +wardrobe, which, though of modest dimensions, comprised all that was +requisite for a gentleman's costume, dispatched it to the great house. +He followed it himself shortly afterward, only waiting to dash off a +note by the afternoon's post for town. It was literally a "hurried +line," and would have better suited these later telegraphic days, when +thoughts, though wire-drawn, are compressed, and brevity is the soul of +cheapness, as of wit. "_I have got my foot in, and however it may be +pinched, will keep the door open. Direct to me at Crompton_." + +It was not a nice trait in the young man, if it was a characteristic +one, that he did not take the trouble even to leave so much word as that +for the old keeper, who was engaged in his outdoor duties, but simply +inclosed the few shillings in which he was indebted to him inside an +envelope, addressed to Walter Grange. The old man liked him, as he well +knew, and would have prized a few words of farewell; but Yorke was in a +hurry to change his quarters for the better; he had climbed from low to +high, and gave no further thought to the ladder which had so far served +him. But yet he had some prudence too. Though he had dwelled so long in +the Carew domains, so careful had he been not to intrude his presence +inopportunely on its master, that he had never so much as seen, except +at a distance, the mansion to which he was now an invited guest. How +grand it showed, as his elastic step drew near it, with tower and turret +standing up against the gloomy November sky, and all its broad-winged +front alive with light! How good it would be to call so fine a place his +home! How excellent to be made heir to the childless man who ruled it, +and who could leave it to whomsoever his whim might choose! + +It was unusual for a guest to approach Crompton for the first time on +foot. The Squire's jovial friends used for the most part strange +conveyances, such as tandems and randoms, and the great flower-beds in +the lawn in front gave sign that some such equipage had been lately +driven up not altogether with dexterity. It is difficult at all times to +drive "unicorn," and more so if the horses are not used to that method +of progression, and still more so if the charioteer is somewhat +inebriated; and all these conditions had been fulfilled a few minutes +previously in the case of Mr. Frederick Chandos, a young gentleman of +twenty-one years of age, but of varied experience, who had just arrived +that day on his first visit. But when Yorke appeared at the front-door, +there was no less attention paid to him than if he had driven up with +four-in-hand. Obsequious footmen assisted him to take off his wrappers +in the great hall, whose vastness dwarfed the billiard-table in its +centre to bagatelle proportions. A profusion of wax-lights--and no +others were permitted at Crompton, save in the servants' offices--showed +eight shining pillars of rare marble, and a grand staircase broad enough +for a coach-and-four, and up which, indeed, Carew _had_ ridden horses +for a wager; while all the walls were hung with huge-figured +tapestry--"The Tent of Darius" and "The Entry of Alexander into +Babylon," both miracles of patient art. The grandeur of the stately +place was marred, however, by signs of revel and rough usage. The +Persian monarch, spared by his Grecian conqueror, had been deprived, by +some more modern barbarian, of his eyes; while the face of his royal +consort had been cut out of the threaded picture, to judge by the ragged +end of the canvas, by a penknife. The very pillars were notched in +places, as though some mad revelers had striven to climb to the pictured +ceiling, from which gods and men looked down upon them with amaze; the +thick-piled carpet of the stairs was cut and torn, doubtless by horses' +hoofs; and here and there a gap in the gilt balusters showed where they +had been torn away in brutal frolic. A groom of the chambers preceded +the new guest up stairs, and introduced him to a bachelor's apartment, +small, but well furnished in the modern style, whither his portmanteau +had been already taken. "Squire has given orders, Sir," said he, +respectfully, "that he should be informed as soon as you arrived. What +name shall I say, Sir? But here he is himself." + +As the groom withdrew, Carew made his appearance at the open door. He +was smoking a cigar, although it was within an hour of dinner-time; and +at his heels slouched a huge bull-dog, who immediately began to growl +and sniff at the new guest. "Quiet, you brute!" exclaimed the Squire, +with his customary garnish of strong expletive. "Welcome to Crompton, +Mr.--I forget your name; or rather you forgot, I think, to favor me with +it." + +"My name is Richard Yorke, Sir." + +"Yorke, Yorke--that sounds easterly. You are of the Cambridgeshire +stock, I reckon, are you not?" + +"No, Sir," returned the other, with a slight tremor in his voice, which +he could not control; "I come from nearer home. Your wife's first +husband was called Yorke, if you remember, and I bear his name, +although I am her lawful son, by you, Sir." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AT CROMPTON. + + +After the bold avowal made at the conclusion of the last chapter, +Richard Yorke and his father (for such indeed he was) stood confronting +one another, for near a minute, without a word. A tempest of evil +passions swept over Carew's swarthy face, and his eyes flashed with a +fire that seemed to threaten personal violence. The bull-dog, too, as +though perceiving his master's irritation with the stranger, began to +growl again; and this, perhaps, was fortunate for the young man, as +affording a channel for the Squire's pent-up wrath. With a great oath, +leveled alike at man and brute, he raised his foot, and kicked the +latter to the other side of the room. + +"Impudent bastard!" cried he; "how dare you show your face beneath my +roof?" + +"How _dare_ I?" responded the young man, excitedly, and with his +handsome face aglow. "Because there was naught to fear; and if there +were, I should not have feared it." + +"Tut, tut! so bold a game could never have entered into your young head. +Your mother must have set you on to do it--come, Sir, the truth, the +truth." + +"She did not set me on, father," insisted the other, earnestly. "I came +here of my own will. I have been dwelling within a stone's-throw of your +house these six months, in hopes to see you face to face. She told me +_not_ to come--I swear she did." + +"So much the better for her," ejaculated the Squire, grimly. "If I +thought that she had any hand in this, not another shilling of my money +should she ever touch. It was agreed between us," he continued, +passionately--"and I, for my part, am a man who keeps his word--that she +and hers should never meddle more with me and mine; and now she has +broken faith." + +"Nay, Sir, but she has not," returned the young man, firmly. "I tell you +it was against her will that I came hither." + +"The devil it was!" exclaimed the Squire, suddenly bursting into a wild +laugh. "If you get your way with _her_, when she says 'no,' you must be +a rare one. You are my son for certain, however, or you would never dare +to stand here. It was a rash step, young Sir, and might have ended in +the horse-pond. I had half a mind to set my bull-dog at you. Since you +_are_ here, however, you can stay. But let us understand one another. I +am your father, in a sense, as I am father, for aught I know, to half +the parish; but as to being lawfully so, the law has happened to have +decided otherwise. I know what you would say about 'the rights of it;' +but that's beside the question; the law, I say, for once, is on my side, +and I stand by it. Egad, I have good reason to do so; and if your mother +had been _your_ wife, as she was mine, you would be with me so far. Now, +look you," and here again the speaker's manner changed with his shifting +mood, "if ever again you venture to address me as your father, or to +boast of me as such, I will have you turned out neck and crop; but as +Mr. Richard Yorke, my guest, you will be welcome at Crompton, so long as +we two suit each other; only beware, young Sir, that you tell me no +lies. I shall soon get rid of you on these terms," continued the Squire, +with a chuckle; "for to speak truth must be as difficult to you, +considering the stock you come of, as dancing on the tight-rope. Your +mother, indeed, was a first-rate rope-dancer in that way, and I rarely +caught her tripping; but you--" + +"Sir," interrupted the young man, passionately, "is this your +hospitality?" + +"True, lad, true," answered the Squire, good-humoredly; "I had intended +to have forgotten Madam Yorke's existence. Well, Sir, what _are_ +you?--what do you do, I mean, for a livelihood--beside 'night-watching?'" + +"I am a landscape-painter, Sir." + +"Umph!" grunted Carew, contemptuously; "you don't get fat on that +pasture, I reckon. Have you never done any thing else?" + +For a single instant the young man hesitated to reply; then answered, +"Never." + +"You are quite sure of that?" inquired the other, suspiciously. + +"Quite sure." + +"Good! Here, come with me." + +His host led the way along an ample corridor, hung with tall pictures of +their common ancestors, and opened the door of another bedroom. It was +of a vast size; and even when the Squire had lit the candles upon the +mantle-piece, and those which clustered on either side of the great +pier-glass, the darkness did but give place to a sort of shining gloom: +the cause of this strange effect was the peculiarity of the furniture; +the walls were of bog-oak, relieved, like those of a ball-room, by +silver sconces; the chairs were of the same material. The curiosity of +the room was, however, the bedstead; this was of an immense size, and +adorned above with ostrich feathers, which gave it the appearance of a +funeral car; the pillars were of solid ebony, as were also the carved +head and foot boards; it was hung with crimson damask curtains, trimmed +with gold braid; and upon its coverlet of purple silk lay a quilt of +Brussels point lace of exquisite design. + +"I will have your traps brought in here," said Carew, throwing away the +end of his cigar, and drawing from his pocket a heap of filberts; "it +will be more convenient. You will find a room through yonder door, where +you can sit and paint to your heart's content." + +"You lodge me so splendidly, Sir, that I shall feel like Christopher +Sly," observed the young fellow, gratefully. + +"Ay, sly enough, I'll warrant," returned the Squire, who had just +cracked a nut and found it a bad one. "That's Bred in the Bone with you, +I reckon. Look yonder!" As he spoke, a porcelain vase clock upon the +chimney-piece struck the half hour, and a gilt serpent sprang from the +pedestal, showing its fang, which was set in brilliants. "That's my +serpent clock, which always reminds me of Madam, your mother, and the +more so, because it goes for a twelvemonth, which was just the time she +and I went in double harness. But here are your clothes, and you must be +quick in getting into them, for we dine sharp at Crompton.--Watson, go +to my man, and bid him fetch a red coat for this gentleman.--You'll +hear the gong, Mr. Yorke, five minutes before dinner is served." And +with a careless nod to his guest, and a whistle to his four-footed +companion, Carew sauntered off. + +The young man would have given much to have had half an hour at his +disposal to think over the events of the last few minutes, and to +reflect upon his present position; but there was no time to lose, if he +would avoid giving umbrage to his host by being late. He therefore +dressed in haste, and before the first note of the gong was heard was +fully equipped. If the Squire, in introducing him to this splendid +lodging, had had it in his mind to overcome him by a mere exhibition of +magnificence, the design had failed; it was only Yorke's artistic sense +that had been impressed; the fact was that the young fellow was of that +character on whom superiority of any sort has small effect; while in the +present case the signs of wealth about him gave him self-confidence, +rather than any feeling of inferiority; insomuch as he considered +himself "by rights," as the Squire had said, the heir of all he saw, and +by no means despaired of becoming so, not only _de jure_, but _de +facto_. Certainly, as he now regarded himself in the pier-glass in his +scarlet coat, it was not to be wondered at that he reflected +complacently that, so far as personal appearance went, he was not likely +to find a superior in any of the company he was about to meet. A +handsomer young fellow had indeed never answered the importunate summons +of the Crompton gong. + +He had no difficulty about finding his way to the drawing-room, for a +stream of red-coated guests was already setting thither from their +respective chambers, and he entered it with them unannounced. This was +the only apartment in the house which did not bear traces of mischievous +damage, because, as on the present occasion, it was used for exactly +five minutes every evening, and at no other time whatever. After dinner +the Squire's guests invariably adjourned to the billiard-table or the +library, and the yellow drawing-room was left alone in its magnificence. +This neglected apartment had probably excited more envy in the female +mind than any at Crompton, although there were drawing-rooms galore +there, as well as one or two such exquisite boudoirs as might have +tempted a nun from her convent. It was a burning shame, said the matrons +of Breakneckshire, that the finest room in the county should not have a +lawful mistress to grace it; and it was not their fault (as has been +hinted) that that deficiency had not been supplied. It was really a +splendid room, not divided in any way, as is usual with rooms of such +vast extent, but comprehending every description of architectural +vagary--bay-windows, in each of which half a dozen persons might sit and +move, and recesses where as many could ensconce themselves, without +their presence being dreamed of by the occupants of the central space. + +At present, however, the flood of light that poured from chandelier and +bracket, and flashed upon the gorgeous furniture and on the red coats of +the guests, seemed to forbid concealment, and certainly afforded a +splendid spectacle--a diplomatic reception, or a fancy-ball, could for +brilliancy scarcely have exceeded it, though the parallel went no +farther; for, with all this pomp and circumstance, there was not the +slightest trace of ceremony. New guests, like Yorke himself, flocked in, +and stood and stared, or paraded the room; while the less recent +arrivals laughed and chatted together noisily, with their backs to the +fires--of which there were no less than three alight--or lolled at full +length upon the damask sofas. These persons were not, upon the whole, of +an aristocratic type; many of them, indeed, were of good birth, and all +had taken the usual pains with their costume, but a life of dissipation +had set its vulgarizing mark on them: on the seniors the pallid and +exhausted look of the _roue_ was indeed rarely seen--country air and +rough exercise had forbidden that--but drink and hard living had written +their autographs upon them in another and worse handwriting. Blotches +and pimples had indeed so erased their original likeness to gentlemen +that it was even whispered by the scandalous that it was to prevent the +confusion with his menials, that must needs have otherwise arisen, that +the Squire of Crompton compelled his guests to wear red coats. The +_habitues_ of the place, who were the contemporaries of the Squire, had, +as it were, gone to seed. But there was a sprinkling of a better class, +or, at all events, of a class that had not as yet sunk so low as they in +the mire of debauchery: a young lord or two in their minority, whom +their parents or guardians could not coerce into keeping better company; +and other young gentlemen of fashion, in whose eyes Carew was "A +devilish good fellow at bottom;" "Quite a character, by Jove!" and "A +sort of man to know." Among these last was Mr. Frederick Chandos, who +had so lately got among the chrysanthemums with his gig-wheels, and Mr. +Theodore Fane, his bosom friend, who always sat beside him on his +driving-seat, and in return for sharing his perils, was reported to have +the whip-hand of him. Nor was old age itself without its representative +in the person of Mr. Byam Byll, once a master of fox-hounds, now a +pauperized gourmand, who, in consideration of his coarse wit and +"gentlemen's stories," was permitted to have the run of his teeth at +Crompton. This Falstaff to the Squire's Prince Hal was a rotund and +portly man, like his great prototype, but singularly handsome. His smile +was winning yet, and, in spite of his load of years and fat, he still +considered himself agreeable to the fair sex. + +For this information and much more, respecting the character of his +fellow-guests, Yorke was indebted to a very singular personage, who had +introduced himself to him as "Parson Whymper," and whom he now knew to +be the Squire's chaplain. The reverend divine was as proud of that +office (and infinitely more comfortable in it) as though he had been +chaplain to an archbishop. He was the only man present who wore a black +coat, and he had a grave voice and insinuating manner, which really did +smack something of the pulpit. + +"Mr. Yorke," said he, blandly, "I make no apology for introducing myself +to you; Carew and I have been just having a talk about you, and he has +no secrets from his ghostly adviser. I take your hand with pleasure. I +seem to feel it is the flesh and blood of my best friend. Sooner or +later, mark me, he will own as much, and, be sure, no effort of mine +shall be wanting to insure so desirable a consummation." + +Yorke flushed with pleasure, not at the honeyed terms, nor the good-will +they evidenced, but at the news itself--the fact of his father having +revealed their relationship to him seemed so full of promise--and yet he +resented the man's professions, the audacity of which seemed certainly +to imply that he was taken for a fool. + +"I am sure, Mr. Whymper," said he, stiffly, "I ought to be greatly +obliged to you." + +"Hush! Not Mr. Whymper, if you please, for that's a fine here. Every +body at Crompton calls me 'Parson.' Obliged, Sir! Not at all. It is only +natural that, being what I am, I should wish you well. The law, it is +true, has decided against your legitimacy, but the Church is bound to +think otherwise. In my eyes you are the Squire's only son"--here he made +a whispering-trumpet of his brawny hands, and added with great +significance--"and heir." + +"I see," said Yorke, smiling in spite of himself. + +"Of course you do; did you think I was trifling with your intelligence? +I tell you that it is quite on the cards that you may recover your lost +position, and regain what is morally your own again. Carew is delighted +with you, not so much because you saved his stags as because you fought +such a good battle with him by the Decoy Pond. He has been consulting me +professionally as to whether it would be contrary to the tables of +affinity to have another set-to with you. I am sorry my reply was in the +negative, for, now I look at you, I do believe you would have thrashed +him; but I was so afraid of his getting the better of you, which might +have ruined your fortunes." + +Richard could only repeat his thanks for the good clergyman's kindness. +"You know nobody here, I suppose," observed the latter, "and, with a few +exceptions, which I will name to you, that is not of much consequence. +It is a shifting lot: they are here to-day and gone to-morrow, as says +the Scripture, and I wish they were all going to-morrow except Byam +Ryll. That's old Byam yonder, with the paunch and his hands behind him; +he has nowhere else to put them, poor fellow." And here Parson Whymper +launched into biography as aforesaid. + +The clock on the chimney-piece, on which the two were leaning, broke in +upon the divine's scarcely less dulcet accents with its silver quarter. + +"This is the first time," said Whymper, "that I have ever known your +father late; and to you belongs the honor of having caused him to +transgress his own immutable rule." + +While he was yet speaking a hunting-horn was blown in the hall beneath, +and the whole company turned _en masse_, like a field of poppies before +a sudden wind, to the door where Carew was standing. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FEAST OF LAPITHAE + + +The host himself led the way down stairs; while the rear of the party +was brought up by Mr. Whymper, to whom Yorke attached himself. + +When they reached the dining-room, and before they took their seats at +the ample table, the chaplain, with sonorous voice, gave a view holloa! +which was the Crompton grace. + +"It is very distressing to me to have to act in this way," whispered he +to his young friend, whose countenance betrayed considerable +astonishment; but it is the custom of the house; and, after all, there +is no great harm in it. _De minimis non curat lex_, you know." + +"That does not hold good with respect to the law of affiliation, +parson," observed Mr. Byam Ryll, who sat on the other side of him, "if, +at least, I have not forgotten my _Burns_." + +"I always understood that Burns had very loose views upon such matters," +returned the chaplain, demurely. + +"My dear parson, your remark is like that excellent condiment which I +wish I could see at this otherwise well-provided table--caviare to the +multitude. Why is it not furnished? You have only to say the word." Here +he addressed himself to Yorke: "This worthy divine who sits at the +bottom of the table, young gentleman, and who has neglected his duty in +not having introduced us, is all-powerful here; and we all endeavor to +make friends of him; nor is that circumstance, it is whispered, the only +respect in which he resembles the mammon of unrighteousness." + +A shadow of annoyance crossed the parson's smiling face. + +"Mr. Richard Yorke," said he, "this is Mr. Byam Ryll, our unlicensed +jester." + +"The parson, on the contrary," retorted the other, with twinkling eyes, +"is our Vice, and gives himself every license. What is the matter with +Carew to-night? He looks glum. I dare say he has been eating greens and +bacon at some farm-house, and is now regretting the circumstance. He has +no moral courage, poor fellow, and knows not how to deny his appetite." + +"You never did such a wasteful thing in your life, Byam, I'll warrant," +said the parson, smiling; "and yet some say that you have been a +profligate." + +"I know it," replied the gourmand, shaking his head; "and I forgive +them. They call me a slave to my stomach; if it be so, I at least serve +a master of some capacity, which is not the case with every body." + +"You are saying something about _me_, you big fat man," cried Carew, +from the other end of the table, and his voice had a very unpleasant +grasp in it. "Come, out with it!" + +"If our venerable friend does not stoop to deception," whispered the +parson into Yorke's ear, "he will now find himself in an ugly hole." + +"I was observing that you did not eat your lamperns, Squire," said the +stout gentleman, "and remarked that you were in no want of a feeder." + +"What's a feeder?" returned the host, ill-temperedly. "If it's a bib, +you'll soon want one yourself, for, egad, you're getting near your +second childhood!" + +"It must have been my plumpness and innocence which suggested that +idea," responded the other, smiling. "But if you have never known a +feeder, you have missed a great advantage, Squire. When you dine with my +Lord Mayor the question is always asked, will you have a feeder, or will +you not? If you say 'Yes,' you pay your half-guinea, and get him. He is +generally a grave old gentleman like myself, and much resembles a +beneficed clergyman. He stands behind your chair throughout the feast, +and delicately suggests what it is best for you to eat, to drink, and to +avoid. 'No; _no_ salmon,' he murmurs, if you have had turbot already; +and, '_Now_, a glass of Burgundy, _if_ you please, Sir;' +or, '_Now_, a glass of sherry.' If an indigestible or ill-compounded +_entree_ is handed, he will whisper 'No, Sir: neither now nor never,' +with quite an outburst of honest indignation; nor will he suffer you to +take Gruyere cheese, nor port with your Stilton. The consequence is, +that the next morning you feel as lively as though you had not feasted +on the previous evening, and convinced that you made a good investment +of your half-guinea in securing his services. If there was a feeder at +Crompton," concluded the old gourmand, sighing, and with a hypocritical +look, "it would be a boon to some of you young fellows, and might +produce a healthy and devout old age." + +"That's a good one!" "Well done, Byam!" "You won't beat that!" resounded +from all sides, for such were the terms in which the gallery at Crompton +expressed their approbation, whether of man or beast; but Mr. Frederick +Chandos and a few others, inclusive of Mr. Theodore Fane, kept a +dignified silence, as over a joke that was beyond their capacities--they +reserved their high approval for "gentlemen's stories" only. As for the +grim Squire, for whom alone the narrative had been served and garnished, +at so very short a notice, he observed upon it, that "when he had used +up old Byam's brains he should now have the less scruple in turning him +out-of-doors, inasmuch as it seemed there was a profession in town that +was just suited to him." + +How wondrous is the power of naked wealth--of the mere money! Simply +because he had a large rent-roll, this mad Carew could find not only +companions of his own calibre--reckless good-for-naughts, or dull +debauchees--but could command gray beard experience, wit, the art of +pleasing, in one man; and in another (what he was not less destitute of, +and needed more), politic management and common-sense. We do not say, as +the Squire himself sometimes did, when in a good-humor with his two +satellites, that Parson Whymper and Byam Ryll had more brains in their +little fingers than all his other friends had in their whole bodies, but +it was certain that, even when drunk, they were wiser than the others +when sober; the one had astuteness enough for a great statesman (or what +has passed for such in England) to hold the most discordant elements +together, and to make what is rotten seem almost sound; and, indeed, +without his chaplain's dextrous skidding, Carew would long ago have +irretrievably lost social caste, and dissipated his vast means to the +last shilling. On the other hand, Byam Ryll was gifted with even rarer +qualities; he was essentially a man of mark and character, and might +have made his fortune in any pursuit by his own wits; but his fortune +had been ready-made when he came of age, and he had occupied himself +very agreeably instead in getting through it, in which he had quite +succeeded. Parson Whymper, who had never known what it was to have a +ten-pound note to call his own, was now no worse off than he. They would +both have frankly owned, had they been asked, that they detested work of +any kind. Yet the chaplain had almost as much business on his hands as +the bursar of a great college, in the administration of Carew's affairs, +besides filling an office which was by no means a sinecure, in that of +his master of the ceremonies. Many a rudeness in that house would have +been bitterly avenged, and many a quarrel would have had a serious +termination, but for the good offices of Parson Whymper. Nor would Mr. +Byam Ryll have been considered by every body to earn an easy livelihood +in making jests out of every occasion, to tickle the fancy of a +dull-witted audience and of a patron, as often as not, morose; yet the +flesh-pots of Egypt had attracted both these men to the Squire's +service, their poverty as well as their will consenting; and in exchange +for meat and drink, and lodging of the best, they had sold themselves +into slavery. Upon the whole, they were well disposed to one another; +the bond of intelligence united them against the rich "roughs" with whom +they had to deal; they tilted together, side by side, against the +_canaille_; yet each, from the bitter consciousness of his own +degradation, took pleasure in the humiliation or discomfiture of the +other, at the rude hands of their common master. + +"Profession," said Chandos, in reply to Carew's last remark; "gad, your +ancient friend is lucky to have found one in these days. They tell me +that no young gentleman can now get his living without answering +questions, writing down things, drawing maps, and passing--What the +deuce do they call them?" + +"Hanged if _I_ know," said the Squire. "Ask Byam; he knows every thing." + +"I say, Mr. Byam," drawled the young man, somewhat insolently, but +without being aware that he was addressing a stranger by his Christian +name, "Carew says you know every thing. What is it that a gentleman is +now obliged to go through before he can get any of these snug things one +used to get for the asking? What is the confounded thing one has to +pass?" + +"Muster," answered Ryll, derisively, as though it was a riddle. + +Carew laughed aloud. The nearer a retort approached to a practical joke, +provided it was not at his own expense, the better he liked it. + +"What did the old beggar say?" inquired Mr. Frederick Chandos, his fair +face crimson with anger. + +"He asked for the mustard; he didn't hear you," answered the Squire, +mischievously; "he never does hear a fellow who lisps." + +"I asked you, Mr. Byam," repeated the young man with tipsy gravity, +"what is the name of those examinations?" + +"The name of the gentleman on my left, Mr. Chandos, is Ryll, and not +Byam--except to his intimate friends," interposed the chaplain; "and the +name you are in want of is competitive." + +"That's it," said the young man, slapping the table, and forgetting both +his mistake and his anger in the unaccustomed acquisition of an idea. +"Competitive examination is what they call it Well, you know, there was +my young brother--confound him!--looking to me to pay his bills; and, in +fact, having nothing to live upon, poor devil, except what I gave him. +So, of course, I was anxious to get him off my hands." + +"Very natural," assented Carew. "For my part, I could never see what +younger brothers were born for." + +"You'd see it less if you had one to keep," continued Chandos. "In old +times, now, I could have got Jack something warm and snug under +government, or in the colonies; and so I should now, but for one +thing--that he had to pass one of these cursed examinations first. +However, as it had to be done, and as Jack, according to his own +account, was as much out of form for one as another of them, I +recommended him to try his luck for something in India; for as long as +you can keep a fellow on the other side of the world he can't dun +you--not to hurt; it ain't like coming and calling _himself_; and you +needn't read his letters unless you like. Well, 'India be it,' says +Jack; 'that's as good a place as another;' though, in my opinion, he +never expected to go there. He thought he had no chance whatever of +pulling through, and so did I, for the fact is, Jack is a born fool." + +"Did you say he was your brother, or only your half-brother?" inquired +Mr. Byam Ryll, with an appearance of great interest. + +"My very own brother, Sir," replied the unconscious Chandos, flattered +to find such attention paid to him; "and as like to me as one thimble, I +mean as one pea, is to another. Well, the strange thing is, the deuce +alone knows how it happened, but _Jack got through_." Here he took a +bumper of port, as though in honor of that occasion. "It's a perfect +marvel, but the best thing for _him_ (as well as for me) in the world. +Nobody ever went out under better auspices, for the governor of Bengal +is our cousin, and Jack was to school with his private sec.: it's a +first-rate connection. Our family has been connected with India for ever +so long. I'll tell you how." + +"It is a most admirable connection," observed Mr. Byam Ryll; "and the +whole circumstances of the case will, I have no doubt, be interesting in +the highest degree to the natives of Bengal. Your brother should embody +them in a neat speech, and deliver it from the deck of the steamer +before he lands." + +It is probable that Mr. Frederick Chandos would have so far +misunderstood the nature of this observation as to have accepted it as a +compliment had not Carew burst into a series of wild laughs, which +betokened high approval, and was one of his few tokens of enjoyment. He +had evinced unmistakable signs of discontent and boredom before his +intellectual henchman had thus struck in on his behalf; and he was +really gratified for the rescue. Chandos was muttering some drunken +words of insolence and anger; but Carew bore him down. + +"Pooh, pooh! Old Byam was right!" cried he, with boisterous mirth. "I +dare say all that long story of yours _may_ interest those black +fellows; but for me, I care nothing about it. It's all rubbish. Be +quiet, you young fool, I say; it's too early yet for buffets. Here, +bring the beaker." + +This was a magnificent tankard, the pride of Crompton, which, at the +conclusion of dinner, was always filled with port-wine, and passed round +the table. It was lined with silver gilt, but made of ivory, and had a +cover of the same, both finely carved. On the bowl was portrayed a +Forest Scene, with Satyrs pursuing Nymphs; on the lid was the Battle of +the Centaurs; while the stem was formed by a sculptured figure of +Hercules. If the artist, Magnus Berg, who had fashioned it long ago in +his own Rhine Land, had had foresight of the sort of company into whose +hands his work was in these days to pass he could not have hit upon more +apt devices. His Satyrs and his Centaurs had here their representatives +in the flesh; while the thews and sinews of the son of Alcmene had their +counterpart in those of the man who now stood up at the head of that +splendid table, and drank such a draught as though the port were porter. +It was a feat to hold it with one hand, and therefore Carew did so; but +to empty it at a draught was, even for him, an impossibility, for it +held three bottles of wine. Though the Squire could be acquitted of +entertaining reverence for any thing human or divine, he had a sort of +superstitious regard for his beaker, and believed that so long as he had +it in his possession--like the "Luck of Eden Hall"--no great harm could +happen to him. He attached all the importance of a religious +ceremony--and, indeed, it was the only one he practiced--to the using of +this goblet, and resented any levity during the process as though it +were sacrilege. But to stand up after dinner, and much less to support +this elaborate drinking-vessel, was not always an easy matter with the +Squire's guests, and so it happened on the present occasion. The usage +was, that one held the cover while his neighbor drank from the cup, +after a ceremonious bow to him; and it fell to the lot of Mr. Frederick +Chandos to perform this latter duty immediately after his host, and +while there was still much wine in the goblet. Uncertain as to his +footing, and trembling with irritation, as well as with the weight of +his burden, he hesitated to drink. Perhaps, in his already wine-muddled +brain, he had some vague idea of passing the vessel on, and thereby +showing his displeasure; but, at all events, the hesitation was +unfortunate for him, for, with a fierce ejaculation of impatience, Carew +crammed the great cover on the young man's head, which, like the helmet +of Otranto, came down over nose and chin. Maddened with the insult, +Chandos dashed the contents of the goblet into what he thought was the +Squire's face, but which was indeed the white cravat and waistcoat of +his opposite neighbor; and then began a scene that Smollett alone could +have described or Hogarth painted. It was as though a concerted signal +had been given for a free fight among all the Squire's guests. The one +art that was practiced among them was that of boxing, and almost every +man present had a neat way of hitting out with one hand or the other, +which he believed to be unique, and the effect of which he was most +curious to observe. The less skillful with their fists used any other +weapons that came handy. The dessert service of Dresden porcelain, +elaborately enameled with views of the chief towns of Germany, had once +been the marriage portion of a princess, and was justly held to be one +of the rarest treasures of Crompton; but it was no more respected now +than if it had furnished forth the table of Pirithous. The plates +skimmed about like quoits, and all the board became a wreck of glass and +china. Above the clamor and the fighting could be heard Carew's strident +voice demanding his beaker, pouring unimaginable anathemas against any +one who should do it damage, and threatening to unmuzzle and bring in +his bear. The servants, not unused to such mad tumults, gathered in a +mass at the doorway, and awaited with equanimity the subsidence of the +storm among their betters. It came at last, and found the scene of +contest not unlike a ship after storm--the decks all but clean swept, +and the crew (who had broken into the spirit-room) exhausted. + +Richard Yorke, who, with his two neighbors, had taken no part in the +affray beyond defending himself from blows or missiles, was even more +astonished at the general good-humor that now succeeded than at the +fracas itself. If there had been any bad blood among the combatants, it +seemed to have been spilled, for there was now nothing but laughter and +applausive drumming of fists upon the table. The company were as pleased +with their own performance as the holiday faces that greet with such +exuberant joy the havoc upon the stage at pantomime time. The _habitues_ +of Crompton, indeed, were not unlike wild school-boys, with a Lord of +Misrule for their master, and "give and take" for their one good +precept. Nay, the rude outbreak had even a beneficial effect, for it cut +short the orgie, which might, and probably would, have otherwise been +prolonged for hours. There was no dissentient voice when Mr. Byam Ryll +arose and observed, in demure accents: "Suppose, my dear friends, that +we join the ladies." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +YORKE REPORTS PROGRESS. + + +I trust it will not be imagined, and far less hoped for, by any reader +of this sober narrative, that the phrase which concluded the last +chapter implies that he or she is about to be introduced to bad company. +The fair sex will not be without their representatives in our story, and +that soon; but they will not be such as blushed unseen (if they blushed +at all) in the bowers at Crompton. Mr. Ryll's suggestion, "Let us join +the ladies," was only an elegant way he had, and which was well +understood by his audience, of proposing an adjournment to the +billiard-room. If that worthy old gentleman could be said to have had +any source of income whatever, it was the billiard-table; and hence it +was that he was always ready to proceed thither. Nor had he boasted +without reason, a while ago, of his powers of self-denial, for he would +often forego a glass of generous wine (when he felt that he had had +enough), in order to keep his hand steady for the game at pool, which +invariably took place at Crompton after dinner. His extreme obesity, +though it deprived him of some advantages in the way of "reach," was, +upon the whole, a benefit to him. His antagonists lost the sense of his +superiority of skill in their enjoyment of the ridiculous and +constrained postures in which he was compelled to place himself, and he +was well content to see them laugh and lose. None but a first-rate +player could have held his own among that company, whose intelligence +had been directed to this particular pursuit for most of their natural +lives; and even "Tub Ryll," as they called him, had to supplement his +dexterity by other means to make success secure. His liveliest sallies, +his bitterest jests, were all reserved for these occasions, so that +mirth or anger was forever unstringing the nerves of his competitors, +and diminishing their chance of gain. It was difficult to unstring the +nerves of Parson Whymper, who ran him very close in skill, and sometimes +divided the spoil with him; but on the present occasion he had a wordy +weapon to baffle even that foe. This consisted in constant allusion to +the latter's supposed reversionary interest in the living at Crompton, +the incumbent whereof was ancient and infirm, and which was in the +Squire's gift. This piece of preferment was the object of the chaplain's +dearest hopes, and the last subject he would have chosen to jest upon, +especially in the presence of its patron. + +"Is he to have it, Squire, or is he not?" would be Tub Ryll's serious +inquiry, just as it was the parson's turn to play on him, or, "Who backs +the vicar elect?"--observations which seldom failed to cost that +expectant divine a sovereign, for the play at the Hall table, although +not so high as was going on in the Library with those who patronized +cards, was for considerable stakes. Carew, who enjoyed, above all +things, this embarrassing pleasantry, would return an ambiguous reply, +so that the problem remained without a solution. But when the disgusted +chaplain at last threw up his cue, in a most unusual fit of dudgeon, the +Squire put the question to the company, as a case of church preferment +of which he was unwilling to take the sole responsibility. "The sum," he +said, "which had been offered to him for the next presentation would +exactly defray the cost of his second pack of hounds, which his chaplain +himself had advised him to put down; so the point to be considered--" + +"The hounds, the hounds!" broke in this impatient audience, amidst roars +of laughter. And nobody knew better than poor Parson Whymper that this +verdict would be more final than that of most other ecclesiastical +synods, and that he had lost his preferment. It was Carew's humor to +take jest for earnest (as it was to turn into ridicule what was +serious), and to pretend that his word was pledged to decisions to which +nobody else would have attached the slightest weight; it pleased him to +feel that his lightest word was law, or perhaps it was a part of the +savage adoration which he professed to pay to truth. + +Byam Ryll felt a genuine regret that he had pushed matters so far, +though Whymper himself was to blame for having shown temper, and thereby +precipitated the catastrophe. But he did not play the less skillfully on +that account; and, moreover, had no rival to divide the pool with him. + +"I would give five pounds if somebody would beat him," muttered the +discontented parson within Yorke's hearing, who was standing aloof with +his cigar watching the game. + +"I think I _could_," said the young man, quietly, "if I _had_ five +pounds." + +As the pool was two pounds, and the lives were one, this was exactly the +amount of pecuniary risk to be run, and which want of the necessary +funds had alone prevented the young man from incurring. + +"Here is a fiver," replied the parson, softly. + +"But I really have no money," remonstrated Yorke, though his fine face +lit up for a moment with delight (for he was a gambler to the core), +"nor any expectation of--" + +"Yes, yes; you have expectations enough," answered the other, hurriedly. +"You may give me that living yet yourself--who knows? Take a ball, +man--take a ball." + +So, when another game commenced, the young landscape-painter, who had +spent at least as much of his short life at those boards of green cloth +called "public tables" as in studying the verdant hues of nature, made +one of the combatants, and not a little astonished them by his +performance. He had the eye of a hawk, with the litheness of a young +panther; and his prudence during the late debauch had preserved his +steadiness of hand. Mr. Theodore Fane had the misfortune to be his +immediate predecessor, and was "potted" at long distances. + +"By Jove!" exclaimed he, sulkily, upon losing his last life by a double, +"you must have lived by your wits, young gentleman, to have learned to +play pool like that." + +"I have," returned Yorke, without moving a muscle, and preparing to +strike again. "You will come to do the same, if you play much at this +game--but your sad end will not be protracted. You will starve to death +with considerable rapidity." + +"My dear Mr. Yorke," said Byam Ryll, approvingly, "you have won my +heart, though I can't afford to let you win my sovereigns; I like you, +but I must kill you off, I see." + +"Unless--" said Yorke. + +"Unless what?" inquired Ryll, as he made his stroke at Yorke's ball, +which was quite safe, and grazed it with his own, which, gliding off +another ball, found its way into a pocket. For once, he had really +allowed himself to be "put off" his aim. + +"Unless you commit suicide," replied the young fellow, smiling. "I was +about to warn you of the danger of that kiss." + +"You are worse than a highway robber, young Sir," said the annoyed old +gentleman. + +"That's true," returned Yorke, "for I take your money and your 'life.'" + +The young fellow repaid his loan that night, besides putting half a +dozen sovereigns into his own pocket; and there was other fruit from +that investment. + +Carew was delighted with his son's skill, though his wit was somewhat +wasted on him. "Why the deuce did you not play in the first game?" said +he, when the party broke up to adjourn to the hazard-table. "I suppose +it was your confounded cunning" (and here his face grew dark, as though +with some recollection of the past); "you wanted to see how they played +before you pitted yourself against them--did you? How like, how like!" + +"I had no money, Sir, until Parson Whymper lent me some." + +"Oh, that was it--was it?" said the Squire. "Well, well, that was not +your fault, lad, nor shall it be mine--here, catch," and out of his +breeches-pocket he took a roll of crumpled notes and flung them at him; +then suddenly turned upon his heels, with what sounded like a muttered +execration at his own folly. + +Yorke did not risk this unexpected treasure on the chances of the dice, +but retired to his own room. It was a dainty chamber, as we have said, +and offered in its appointments a curious contrast to his late +sleeping-room in the keeper's lodge. He opened the door of communication +to which the Squire had referred, and found himself in a sort of +boudoir, in which, as in his own room, a good fire was burning. By the +lover of art-furniture, this latter apartment would have been pronounced +a perfect gem. Here also every article was of ebony, and flashed back +the blaze from the red coals like dusky mirrors. Yorke lit the +candles--huge waxen ones, such as the pious soul in peril sees in his +mind's eye, and promises to his saint--and looked around him with +curiosity. Like the little Marchioness of Mr. Richard Swiveller, he had +never seen such things, "except in shops;" or rather, he had seen single +specimens of such exposed in windows of great furniture warehouses, +rather as a wonder and a show than with any hope to tempt a purchaser. +On one hand stood an ebony cabinet, elaborately carved with fruit and +flowers; it was divided into three parts, and their shut doors faced +with plate-glass gave it the appearance of a tripartite altar with its +sacred fire kindled. A casket almost as large glowed close beside it, +enriched with figures and landscapes, and with shining locks and hinges, +as he afterward discovered, of solid gold. A book-case of the same +precious wood was filled with volumes bound in scarlet--all French +novels, superbly if not very decorously illustrated. But the article +which astonished the new tenant of this chamber most was the ebony +escritoire that occupied its centre, with every thing set out for +ornament or use that is seen on a lady's writing-table. It was +impossible that such nick-nacks as he there beheld could be intended for +male use, and still less for such men as were the Squire's guests. Did +this chamber and its neighbor apartment usually own a female +proprietress? and if so, why was _he_ placed there? This idea by no +means alarmed the young landscape-painter, who had no more _mauvaise +honte_, nor dislike to adventures of gallantry, than Gil Blas de +Santillane. He sat down at the escritoire, and, taking up a gilt pen +with a ridiculous silk tassel, began a letter to the same person to whom +that day he had already dispatched a missive; but this time it was not +so brief: the day of brilliant dies and illuminated addresses had not as +yet set in, so he wrote at the top of the little scented sheet, in a +bold free hand, the word Crompton! and put a note of admiration after +it. Had you seen his face as he did so, you would have said it was a +note of triumph. + +"My DEAR MOTHER,--_Veni, vidi, vici_--I have come, I have seen him, and +I am at all events tolerated. The perilous moment was when I told him +who I was. He said he was half disposed to set his bull-dog at me, but +he didn't; on the contrary, he at once bid me exchange my bachelor's +quarters for the two chambers I at present occupy, and which remind me +of the _Arabian Nights_. I have never seen any thing like them; the +furniture of both is of ebony; but the most curious part of the affair +is, that they are evidently designed for a lady. Imagine your Richard +sleeping under a coverlet of real Brussels lace! Every thing in the +house, however, is magnificent, or was so once, before it was damaged by +barbarous revel. Such orgies as I have witnessed to-night would seem +incredible, if I wrote them; the _Modern Midnight Entertainment_ of old +Hogarth will supply you with the _dramatis personae_; but the splendor +of the surroundings immensely heightened the effect of it all. Carew and +his friends might have sat for Alaric and his Goths carousing amidst the +wreck of the art treasures of Rome. Nothing that he has affords him any +satisfaction; though, if it is of great cost, Chaplain Whymper tells me +that he derives a momentary pleasure from its willful damage. This man +and one other are the only persons of intelligence about Carew; but even +they have no influence with him that can be depended on. If madness were +always hereditary indeed, I might consider myself doomed. You were right +there, I own; but you must needs allow that in undertaking this +adventure contrary to your advice I have effected something. The +chaplain is already speculating upon my future fortunes, and he knows +his patron better than any body; at all events, if I am turned out of +doors to-morrow (which I am aware is quite on the cards), I shall have +three hundred pounds in my pocket, which Carew, with a 'Catch that,' +threw me in notes, exactly as you throw a chicken-bone to _Dandy_ as he +sits on his hind-legs, though I did not 'beg' for them, I do assure you. +The immediate cause of my being invited hither was as follows [here the +writer described his exploit with the stags]. This, with our match at +fisticuffs by moonlight, had greatly inclined Carew to favor me; yet, +when the disclosure of my identity was made, I thought for a moment all +my pains were lost. He resented the intrusion exceedingly; but then he +had himself invited me to be his guest; and he holds his word as good as +his bond. Indeed, by what the chaplain tells me, it will soon be held +something better, for even his vast estate is crumbling away, acre by +acre, beneath the load of lavish expenditure it has to bear. There must +be much, however, at the worst, to be picked up among the _debris_ of +such a fortune." + +"I am aware that it is in the last degree improbable that Carew will be +persuaded to make a will in _any body's_ favor at present. He imagines, +I think, that the whole world is made for his sole enjoyment--it almost +might be so, for all he sees to the contrary--and never dreams that he +will die. But it is also certain that he will die early; and more than +likely that he will come to grief, when he has lost his nerve, in one or +other of the mad exploits which he will be too proud to discontinue. +Then will your Richard become the most assiduous and painstaking of +nurses that ever humored crack-brained patient. But there! I have made a +dozen programmes of what is to happen, and this is but a specimen. Who +can tell? I may be heir of Crompton yet, or I may come back to you +to-morrow like a bad penny, and with what the vulgar describe as a flea +in my ear." + +"It will not surprise you to learn that you are personally held in great +disfavor here, though the chaplain (who has heard all from the Squire's +lips) speaks of you with due respect. The last thing that is desired at +Crompton is, of course, the return of its lawful mistress. Carew himself +is very bitter against you, which is doubtless owing to the good offices +of grandmamma. The clock has just struck four, which bids me close this +letter, though of all the Squire's guests, to judge by the wrangling +that is going on in the Library below stairs, the first to retire will +be your affectionate son, RICHARD YORKE." + +"P.S.--I forgot to say that Carew made the most pointed inquiries as to +whether I had any other profession than that of landscape-painting. +Would it not be strangely comical if he should bestir himself to get me +some Civil appointment! I almost fancied he must have been thinking of +doing so, from some scraps of talk I heard him let fall at dinner. +Curiously enough, by-the-by, who should have been sitting at his +right-hand, but Frederick Chandos, Jack's brother! 'Good Heaven!' (you +will say), 'suppose it had been Jack himself;' however, it was not." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +HOW BENEDICT BECAME A BACHELOR. + + +Notwithstanding the late hour at which Yorke retired to his sumptuous +couch, he was up the next morning betimes. He was restless, and eager to +explore the splendors of the house, that had been so nearly his +inheritance, for it was not without a stubborn contest that the law had +deprived him of what he still believed to be his rights. Nor had +Crompton, in his eyes (as we have hinted), only the interest of +Might-have-been; it had that of Might-be also. If not absolutely +sanguine, he was certainly far from hopeless of fortune making him that +great amends; at all events, while the opportunity was afforded him, +which he well knew might be lost forever by his own imprudence, or +through the caprice of another, he resolved not to neglect it. It was +broad daylight, yet not a soul was stirring in all the stately place; +nothing but the echo of his own footsteps, as he trod the corridor, and +entered the great Picture-gallery, met his attentive ear. The collection +of old masters at Crompton was varied and valuable; he could have spent +hours among them with infinite pleasure, if the intoxicating thought +that they all might be one day his own had not been present to mar their +charms. He regarded them less as an admiring disciple, or a connoisseur, +than as an appraiser. The homely life-scenes of Jan Stein, the saintly +creations of Paul Veronese, the warmth of Rubens, and the stateliness of +Vandyck, were all measured by one standard--that of price. The contents +of this one room alone, thought he, "represent no moderate fortune." + +When his eye strayed to the tall windows, and rested on the wooded acres +which owned in mad Carew a nominal master, the beauty of dale and upland +touched him not at all. "I wonder now," sighed he, "how much of this is +dipped?" It was a good sign, he thought, that in one room he found a +cabinet containing no less than fifty antique cameos; for, if the +pressure of pecuniary difficulty had really begun to be severe, the +Squire would surely have parted with what must have been in his view +useless lumber, and was so easily convertible into cash. The Library +offered a strange spectacle: chairs thrown down, and broken glasses, +bore witness to the wildness of last night's revel; the splendid carpet +was strewn with the ends and ashes of cigars, and with packs of cards; +and on the table, scratched in all directions by the sharp spurs of +fighting-cocks, still lay the dice and caster. The atmosphere was so +heavy with the fumes of wine and smoke that Yorke was glad to escape +from it, through a half-opened window, into the morning air. + +How bright and fresh it was! How much there was of bracing enjoyment, of +wholesome gayety, in the mere breath of it; how much of invigorating +delight in the mere sight of the glittering turf, the beaded trees, to +which the hoar-frost had lent its jewels! But such cheap luxuries are +not only unknown to those who are sleeping off their debauch of the past +night during the brightest hours of the day; they are also lost upon +those who rise early in the morning, to follow the strong drink of greed +and envious expectation. Richard Yorke enjoyed them not, save that he +felt his lungs play more freely. A couple of gardeners were at work upon +the lawn, of one of whom he asked the way to the stables, the report of +the completeness and perfection of which had often reached him. The +house and its furniture--nay, the house and its inmates--were of less +consequence in the Squire's eyes than the arrangements of his +loose-boxes. The old dynasty of Houyhnhnms was re-established at +Crompton; the Horse bare sway, or was at least held in higher account +than the Human. The Horse, the Hound, the Pheasant, the Bag-fox, and, +fifthly, Man, were there the gradations of rank; and a compound +being--half man, half brute--was, by a not unparalleled freak of +fortune, the master of all. Carew had never fed his mares with human +flesh, but there was a legend that he had rubbed a friend over with +anise-seed, and offered that dainty morsel to his dogs. The victim was +snatched away again, however, by some officious underling, who justified +his interference upon the ground that the hounds would have been spoiled +by such an indulgence; and the Squire had pardoned him. This was one of +the stories about the Master of Crompton which divided the country into +those who believed it and those who did not; but Walter Grange had told +it to Richard as a characteristic fact. + +The stables were indeed a marvel, not only of cleanliness and comfort, +but, if it had been possible by any arts of daintiness to make them +cox-combs, such would Carew's horses have become. They had +looking-glasses in their own glossy coats, and yet it was not well for +one of them to be an especial favorite with its master, for it more than +once happened that he would ride such so often and so long that it fell +under him, killed with kindness, overwhelmed with his oppressive favor. +On such occasions, if the Squire happened to have been as devoted as +usual to his brandy flask, he would shed copious tears, which many +instanced as a proof that he was neither selfish nor cold-hearted. + +The kennels were of vast proportions, hedged in by high palisades, +through the interstices of which many a black muzzle now protruded, +sniffing like ill-tempered women, or uttering shrill whines of despair. +As Yorke, with his hands buried in his pockets, for they were cold, +though his head was too well provided with clustering hair to be +conscious of the absence of a hat, was contemplating this spectacle with +cynical amusement, up strode the chaplain, wholesome and ruddy-looking. + +"You are up betimes--as Crompton hours go--Mr. Yorke; I hope such good +habits will not be undermined by evil associations. How I envy you your +constitution, to be able to face this November mist with a bare head!" + +"Nay, parson," rejoined the young man, "you must have risen early +yourself to know that there _was_ a mist. It's clear enough now all +round. I suppose our impatient friends yonder," pointing to the kennel, +where all the dogs, hearing the chaplain's voice, were now in full +chorus, "will have their will this morning?" + +"Yes; it is this pack's turn to hunt." + +"I wish, for your sake, Mr. Whymper, that there was only one pack," +observed Yorke, with good-natured earnestness. + +"Ah, you are referring to that foolish talk about the living last night. +Poor Ryll is quite broken-hearted about it this morning; and, in fact, +he did do me an ill turn, though, I am sure, without intending it. It is +the misfortune of a professed wit--and especially of a poor one--that he +can not afford to be silent." + +"You take it more good-humoredly than I should," said Yorke. "I should +be inclined to charge something for a joke made at my own expense, where +the loss was so considerable." + +"You don't look of a very revengeful disposition, neither," returned the +chaplain, critically. + +"I have never experienced the feeling of revenge," answered the young +man, frankly; "but I know what it is to feel wronged, and I think it is +lucky that it is the law, and not an individual, that has done me the +mischief--one can't have a vendetta against the law, you know. But, if +it were a man, ay, though he were my own flesh and blood, he should pay +for it--yes, sevenfold. I would not put up with injustice from any human +being; and where I could, if the law would not help me, I would right +myself with the strong hand." + +It was curious to see the effect which this objectless passion wrought +upon the young man's face, and even figure. His lithe limbs seemed to +grow rigid; his right hand was clenched convulsively; his handsome +Spanish countenance was lit up with a sort of dusky glow. + +"My dear young friend," said the chaplain, quietly, "my profession, +perhaps, ought to suggest to me some serious arguments against the +disposition which you so unmistakably evince; but I will confine myself +to saying that such a temper as yours is not to be kept for nothing. It +is only men in your father's position who can indulge themselves in such +a luxury, I do assure you. You'll come to grief with it some day." + +Yorke laughed, good-humoredly. "What must be, will be. Let us hope there +will be no occasion for the display of my fire-works. I suppose, what +with his two packs of hounds and the rest of it, even my father will be +brought to behave himself demurely, sooner or later." + +"I should like to see Carew demure," said the chaplain, smiling; +"although not reduced to that state by the extremities of poverty. Yes, +as you say," he added, in a graver tone, "the pace at which he has been +going these twenty years has begun to tell on his fortune. But it is not +the dogs that will ruin him (as they ruined poor Ryll, with his few +thousands), nor yet his hunters. It is his race-horses on the Downs +yonder that will bring him to his piece of bread." + +"I suppose so," said Yorke, sighing, not so much on Carew's account as +on his own; "he backs a horse because it is his own. That is his +confounded egotism." + +"Your tie of relationship, Mr. Yorke, does not, I perceive, make you +blind to your father's foibles." + +"Why should it?" rejoined the young man, passionately. "Am I to feel +grateful to him for begetting me? What has he done to make me feel that +I owe him aught? Do you suppose I thank him for being admitted here, +unacknowledged, uninvited in my own proper person? For being permitted +to take my fill at the common trough along with his drunken swine?" + +"Nay, my friend," interposed the chaplain, coldly; "the food and wine +are of the best; and we should never scoff at good victual. If you have +so proud a stomach, why are you here? It embarrasses you to answer the +question. Let me, then, shape the reply. 'I have a sense of my own +dignity,' you would say, 'far keener than that of my father's flatterers +and favorites; but, on the other hand, I humiliate myself for a much +greater stake.'" + +"_I_ humiliate myself?" reiterated the young man, angrily. + +"You take money that is not very gracefully offered for your acceptance, +my young friend," said the chaplain, quietly. + +"You saw him, did you?" cried Richard, hoarse with shame and passion. + +"No; I did not; but I heard him swearing at you at the hazard-table for +having emptied his pockets; and I am familiar with his mode of bestowing +presents. You must forgive me, Mr. Yorke," added Parson Whymper, dryly; +"but you ought to know that when a man has lost his own self-respect, he +is, naturally averse to the profession of independence in another." + +"If you deem yourself a dependent, Mr. Chaplain," replied Yorke, +bitterly, "you still permit yourself some frankness." + +"Yes; that is one of the few virtues which are practiced at Crompton. +You will find me speak the truth." + +There was irony in Parson Whymper's tone; and yet the young man felt +that he was not the subject of its cynicism. Was it possible that this +hard-drinking, hard-riding, hard-headed divine was scornful of himself, +and of his own degraded position? Yorke did not credit him with any such +fine feeling. He had read of Swift at Temple's, and could understand the +great Dean's bitterness against a shallow master and his insolent +guests, but that a man should become despicable to himself, was +unintelligible to him. + +"Of course," continued the chaplain, smiling at his evident +bewilderment, "I could have been as smooth-spoken as you please, my +young friend; but I had estimated your good sense too highly to endeavor +to conciliate you by such vapid arts." + +"I thank you," said Yorke, thoughtfully. "I hope you were right there; I +am sure at least that from your mouth I could hear home truths, which +from another's would be very unpalatable. You are good enough to speak +as though you would wish us to be friends. I am going to ask you, +therefore, to do me a favor." + +"I will do any thing that lies in my power; but do not, for your own +sake, press me to influence your father----" + +"No, no; it is not that," broke in the other, hastily. "It lies with +yourself to grant my request. I wish to hear from you the true story of +Carew's marriage with my mother." + +"The _true story_?" echoed Parson Whymper. "Nay; I can not vouch for +being possessed of that. I have only heard it from your grandmother: the +counsel for the prosecution is scarcely a reliable authority for the +facts of a case." + +"And I have only heard the defense," said Yorke. "Let me now, for the +first time, know what was urged upon the other side, and so weightily," +the young man gloomily added, "that it made my mother an outcast, and +myself a disgraced and penniless lad. You see, I know exactly what was +the end of it all, so do not fear to shock me." + +"There can be no disgrace where one has not one's self to blame," urged +the chaplain. + +"You think so?" broke in the other, bitterly. "What! not when one's +mother is to blame, for instance? Well, please begin." + +"I had much rather not," said the chaplain. "It would be much better for +you to get the newspaper report of the case--I can tell you the exact +date--and read both _pro_ and _con_." + +"No report was ever published, Mr. Whymper; the case was heard with +closed doors, or suppressed by Carew's influence. So much, perhaps--to +judge by your face--the better for me." + +"I think it would be better for you not to hear it, even now, Mr. +Yorke," returned the chaplain, not without a touch of tenderness in his +tone. "But, if you insist upon it, come to my private room, and let us +breakfast together first, then we will have the story over our cigars." + +Accordingly, the two repaired to the apartment in question--a very snug +one, on the ground-floor, but so strewn with documents and letters that +it resembled a lawyer's sanctum. The morning meal--which, in the host's +case, consisted of a game-pie and a tankard of strong ale--having been +here dispatched, and their cigars lighted, Parson Whymper began as +follows: + +"It must have been in the autumn of 1821 that Carew finally left +school--the public school of Harton. He got into some difficulties with +the authorities--refused, I believe, to apologize for some +misdemeanor--so that he had to be privately withdrawn----" + +"I beg your pardon there," remarked Yorke, hastily. "He was expelled, as +I happen to know for certain." + +"Very likely," said the chaplain, slowly expelling the smoke from his +lips; "indeed, I should say most likely. But remember mine is +professedly an _ex parte_ statement. Mrs. Carew--I mean Mrs. Carew the +elder--is solely responsible for it. Of course, she softened down the +facts against her son, and I have no doubt made compensation for so +doing by highly coloring the offenses of her daughter-in-law. I told +you, you would not like the story. Is it still your wish that I should +proceed with it?" + +"Yes, yes," said Yorke; "go on. I was a fool to interrupt you." But the +chaplain noticed that the young man held his open palm before his face, +under pretense of shielding it from the fire, and that his cheeks grew +scarlet as the tale went on, nevertheless. + +"Carew was not seventeen then, when he left school for the house of a +gentleman of the name of Hardcastle, in Berkshire, as his private pupil. +It was understood that he was to have his particular care and attention, +but not his exclusive services. There were one or two other +pupils--rather queer ones as it would seem; but Mr. Hardcastle +advertised in the newspapers for lads of position, but neglected +education--young fellows, in short, who had proved unmanageable at +home--and undertook to reform them by his system. It was no wonder, +then, that Carew found some strange companions. The strangest of all, +however, under the circumstances, was surely the tutor's niece, Miss +Hardcastle herself." + +"Why strangest?" interrupted Yorke. + +"I think Mrs. Carew the elder meant to imply that this young lady, being +possessed of great physical advantages, should have been the last person +selected by Mr. Hardcastle as his housekeeper, and the companion of his +pupils, and the more so since he was well aware, as it afterward turned +out, that she had already succeeded in victimizing (such was Mrs. +Carew's expression) one of these very lads. That was years ago, it is +true; and it might well be imagined that a lady of the mature age of +five-and-thirty might have outlived her charms; but in her particular +case this was not so. Miss Hardcastle, as she was called, was still very +beautiful, high-spirited, and an excellent horsewoman. She was also--if +that had been necessary to obtain her purpose--well-read and +accomplished. Being clever, good-looking, and not easily shocked, +however, she was more than competent to secure the affections of young +Carew. She was, nevertheless, as I have said, literally old enough to be +his mother; and the idea of the affair having been a love-match, in the +usual sense of the expression, was simply preposterous. That Miss +Hardcastle was herself of this opinion seems evident from her having +enjoined secrecy upon her youthful bridegroom. They lived together as +man and wife, under Mr. Hardcastle's roof, for near six months before +their marriage was proclaimed. Then young Mrs. Carew took a bold step: +she persuaded her husband to bring her to his house, under the roof of +which his mother was then residing. But they did not come (as one might +have imagined) in the fashion of two runaway lovers, who seek +forgiveness for their youthful ardor with penitence and submission. The +bridegroom was full of wild mirth at having at last done something +seriously to astonish the world. He was fond of his mother, after his +own fashion; but so far from entreating her forgiveness, he did not even +perceive any particular necessity for conciliation. The bride was full +of triumph; she had not risked much, and she had won a great stake. It +would have been better for her could she have borne her success with +more modesty. Her mother-in-law was transported with rage, which she was +too wise to exhibit. She knew her son far better than his new wife did; +and she felt that opposition was for the present hopeless; but she took +counsel with her son's guardian, and bided her time. It came at last, +though very slowly. Carew was devoted to his spouse for a whole +twelvemonth--a longer time than youth and beauty combined have ever +enthralled him since. Even when her tender tones--for she had the +sweetest voice that ever woman possessed--failed to thrill him, and her +queenly form to charm, he would probably not have consented to take part +against her, but for her own imprudence. She lost her temper with him +upon a matter where it is difficult for the wisest of her sex to keep +it: she grew jealous." + +"Without cause?" inquired Yorke, gloomily. His cigar had gone out, +though he still held it between his white lips. + +"No; not without cause. That is a point, I fancy, about which my +informant had her reasons for not being explicit." + +"What!" cried the young man, indignantly. "She threw some one in her +son's way, to divert his attention from his lawful wife?" + +"Perhaps; I can't say for certain. I am not defending her, Mr. Yorke; +but remember, she loved her son. She beheld him a victim to an artful +woman. He was not in her eyes as he is in mine, and perhaps in yours. He +had, she argued, capabilities of good, an affectionate and trustful +nature; he was the best _parti_ in the county, and had chosen his +tutor's niece--a woman old enough to have borne him. Besides, she was +_not_ his lawful wife. The dowager had secretly taken legal opinion upon +that matter, and was only waiting for an opportunity to test it. It was +essential for this that her son should desire his own freedom; and at +last he did so. I have told you the occasion. In the whirlwind of her +wrath, your mother told Carew some home truths; above all, let him know +she despised him, and had inveigled him into marriage. He had no other +name for her, henceforth, but Serpent." + +"I know," said Yorke. "Go on." + +"It was within two months of your birth that this quarrel took place. +Had you been born, and especially here at Crompton, I think the rupture +would never have happened. Your grandmother felt that too, and did her +utmost to precipitate matters, and, as you know, she was successful. Her +daughter-in-law was compelled to leave the house, and an action was +commenced in an ecclesiastical court. The validity of the marriage was +contested on the ground of undue publication of the bans, both parties +having a knowledge of the fact. I am a parson, you know, and this bit of +law lies in my way. The bride appeared in the register as spinster, +whereas she was the widow of an old pupil of her uncle's, whose surname +you bear. It was not an easy victory by any means. The judge of the +Consistory Court held that the inaccuracy in question was insufficient +to invalidate the ceremony; but Carew, or rather your grandmother, +appealed to the Court of Arches, and got the decision reversed. The +marriage was therefore declared null and void. Very hard lines it was +for you, Mr. Yorke; and--and that's the whole story." + +"I thank you," said the young man, gravely. "I can easily imagine that +it might have been told by other lips in harsher terms." + +They were silent for full a minute, Yorke busying himself with the +titles of the documents upon the table, written out in the chaplain's +sprawling hand. + +"Your mother must be a most remarkable woman," observed the latter, +thoughtfully. "Is she still young-looking for her age?" + +"Yes; very. What a queer docket is here! '_Tin Mine. Refused_:' What does +that mean?" + +"It is an application from one Trevethick, an inn-keeper, to purchase a +disused mine at Gethin, on the west coast of Cornwall, which Carew has +declined. Two thousand pounds was offered on the nail, a sum far beyond +its value; but it is one of his crazes that his property there is very +valuable, and it's evident that this Trevethick thinks so too--whereas +it is only picturesque. For grandeur of position, Gethin Castle, or +rather what is left of it, for it is a ruin, is indeed unequaled! You +should take your sketch-book down there, some day. May I ask, by-the-by, +are you only an amateur in that way, or a professional?" + +"I am an artist by profession. I live by my pencil, save for what my +mother allows me out of Carew's pittance. That is small enough, you +know. Hollo! there are the hounds coming round to the front! I suppose +Carew and the rest of them will soon be in the saddle?" + +"And you have never made money by any other means?" pursued the +chaplain, thoughtfully. + +"Never. Why do you ask?" + +"Well, it seemed so strange that a lad like you should find purchasers +for his works," returned the chaplain, carelessly. "The Picture-gallery +here will be of service to you, no doubt." + +"Yes. I shall get my education at Crompton, if I get nothing else," said +Yorke; "and indeed, as I have no desire to peril my neck out hunting, I +shall set to work at once. Good-morning, Mr. Chaplain, and many thanks." +And with a nod and a smile, the young man left the room. + +Parson Whymper looked after him with a grave face. "I wonder whether +Fane was right," he muttered. "He seemed quite positive; though, 'tis +true, he owed him a grudge for potting him at pool. There was something +wrong in that young fellow's face as he said 'Never,' when I asked him +that question as to whether he gained money by other means. If he lied, +the lying must have come from the mother's side. That woman must be a +marvel. Well, I'm sorry, for I should have liked Richard Yorke to have +had his chance here." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +IN BLOOMSBURY. + + +It was the evening of the day after Yorke had listened to his own +biography, and night had long fallen upon the shivering woods of +Crompton; the rain fell heavily also upon roof and sky-light with thud +and splash. It was a wretched night, even in town, where man has sought +out so many inventions to defy foul weather and the powers of darkness. +The waste-pipes could not carry off the water from the houses fast +enough, choke and gurgle as they would; the contents of the gutters +overflowed the streets; and wherever the gas-lights shone was reflected +a damp glimmer. In a large room on the ground-floor of Rupert Street, +Bloomsbury, sat a woman writing, and undisturbed by the dull beating of +the rain without. She often raised her head, intermitted her occupation, +and appeared to listen; but it was to the voices of her Past that she +was giving heed, and not to the ceaseless patter of the rain. What power +they have with us, those voices! While they speak to us we hear nothing +else; we know of nothing that is taking place; there is no Present at +all; we are living our lives again. If purely, so much the better for +us; if vilely, viciously, there is no end to the contaminating +association. It is to escape this that some men work, and others pray. +The furniture of the room was peculiar to the neighborhood; massive, yet +cheap. It had been good once; but long before it came into the hands of +her who now owned it. There was the round bulging looking-glass; the +side-board was adapted for quite a magnificent show of plate and +tankards--only there were none; a horse-hair sofa, from which you would +have seen the intestines protruding had it not been for the continuous +gloom. If the sun ever visited Rupert Street, it shone on the other side +of the way. On the mantel-piece were two of those huge shells in which +the tropic deep is ever murmuring. Who that has taken lodgings in London +does not know them? Who has not sometimes forgotten the commonplaces of +his life in listening to those cold lifeless lips? If you take them up +on their own tropic shore, they will tell you of the roar of London +streets. + +There were two articles in the room, however, which were peculiar to +itself. The one was a human skull--to all appearance, the same as all +other skulls, the virtue of which has gone out of them, though it had +once belonged to no common man. The second object could still less be +termed an ornament than the first, although it was a picture. It +depicted a woman of frightful aspect, having but one eye, and a +hare-lip; she was standing up, and appeared to be declaiming or +dictating; while an old cripple, at a table beside her, took down her +words in writing. If you had gone all over the rest of the house--and it +was a large one--you would have found nothing else remarkable, or which +did not smack of Bloomsbury. It was, indeed, nothing but a +lodging-house, and the room we have described was the private apartment +of its mistress. She might consult her own private taste, she +considered, in her own room, else the skull and the picture occasionally +rather shocked "the daintier sense" of the new lodgers, to whom the +landlady gave audience in this apartment. She is as little like a +lodging-house keeper, to look at, as can be imagined. Her cheeks are +firm and fresh-colored, her teeth white and shining, her eyes quite +bright, and her hands plump. To one who knows her age, as we do--she is +fifty-three--she looks like an old woman who has found out the secret of +perpetual youth, but has kept it for her own use, as, in such a case, +every woman probably would do. There is only one piece of deception in +her appearance; her black hair, which clusters over her forehead like a +girl's, is dyed of that color: it is in reality as white as snow. By +lamp-light, as you see her now, she might be a woman of five-and-twenty, +penning a letter to her love. But she is, in fact, writing to her son; +for it is Mrs. Yorke. Writing to him, but not thinking of him, surely, +when she frowns as now, and leans back in her chair with that menacing +and angry look. No; her anger is not directed against _him_, although he +has left her and home, long since, upon an adventure of which she +disapproved. + +"You will gain nothing for yourself, Richard," was her warning; "and, +perhaps, may wreck even _my_ scanty fortunes." But, as we know, her son +had taken his own way (as he was wont to do), and had so far prospered. +She was writing a reply to the letter she had received from him from +Crompton that very morning, and the task was one that naturally evoked +some bitter memories. + +"So he put him in the ebony chamber, did he?" they ran on. "Ay, that was +_my_ room once. What a pretty chime that serpent-clock had; and how +often have I heard it in the early morning as I lay there--alone! If it +had not been for that hateful woman, I might have been listening to it +now! He seems as mad as ever, by Dick's account, and, I do not doubt, as +brutal and as selfish! And yet it was _he_ that suffered, _he_ that was +wronged, _he_ that was to be pitied! His wife was the adventuress, +forsooth! who deserved all she got. Oh, these men, these men, that treat +us as they please, because they are so sure of sympathy, even from our +fellow-slaves and sisters!" + +She bent again to her occupation, but only for a minute. "All this is +labor in vain, Dick," muttered she, laying down her pen; "the luck is +gone both from you and from me. If I were thirty years younger, indeed, +and might have my chance once more, I would tame your father yet. I +ought to have beaten his meek-faced mother out of doors; I ought to have +trained his bold-eyed girl to work my will with him. She should have +been my accomplice, and not hers; but, now, what boots it that old age +has spared me? Yonder is the only woman!"--she looked toward the +picture--"who has found a way to win mankind, save as their toy. My +reign has been longer than that of most; but it is over." She rose, and, +holding up the lamp, surveyed herself, with a mocking face, in the round +glass. "And this was once Jane Hardcastle, was it? _This_ was her face, +and _this_ her figure! No drunkard, staggering home through such a night +as this, could take me for her now! She had wits too; and better for me +had I lost them with all the rest; then I should not have the sense to +be so bitter! What a future she must once have had before her, if she +had but known what men were made of! It is only when too late that such +women discover what they have missed. This mad Carew was tinder to a +flash of these bright eyes; and the fool Yorke, except in his wild +creeds, as pliant as a hazel twig. I used to think yonder woman was an +idiot, because she believed in a place of torment; but she was right +there. Yes, Joanna," she continued, apostrophizing the picture, "I'm +compelled to confess that you are right; for, being in hell, it is idle +to deny its existence." + +She placed the lamp once more upon the table, yet did not seat herself +beside it, but walked hastily up and down the room. "To be young no +more, to be poor and powerless, to have no hope in this world nor belief +in a better, to have lost even belief in one's self--is not that to be +in Gehenna? I am punished for my sins, men say. Hypocrites! liars! Why +is _he_ not punished? Why is he proud, and strong, and prosperous? Sins? +If Judgment-day should come to-morrow, my soul would be as pure as snow +beside that man's! ay, and beside most men's! Joanna here knew _that_--I +suppose by inspiration; for how else should she? What's that?" + +Amidst the pelting of the rain, which had increased within the last few +hours rather than diminished, the pulling of the house-bell could be +heard. Mrs. Yorke drew forth her watch--a jeweled trinket of exquisite +beauty, one of the few relics of her palmy time. "Past midnight," she +murmured, "and all the lodgers are within. Who can it be?" + +The bell pealed forth again. + +She went into the hall, where the gas was burning, and unlocked the +door. At the same time somebody flung himself violently against it, but +the chain was up. + +"Who is it?" inquired she; and it was strange, at such a moment, to hear +how very soft and musically she spoke, although, when talking to herself +a while ago, her tones had been harsh and bitter as her mood. + +"It is I, mother," returned the voice from outside. + +She unhitched the chain and let him in. "I knew it would be so, Dick," +said she, quietly. + +Richard was pale and haggard, and shone from head to foot with the rain, +which poured off his water-proof coat in streams. + +"You were right, mother," said he, as he kissed her cheek. "No +reproaches. Let me have food and fire." + +She brought him socks and slippers, made a cheerful blaze, and set cold +meat and spirits upon the table. + +He ate voraciously, and drank his hot brandy-and-water, while Mrs. Yorke +worked busily at an antimacassar, in silence. + +"You are not disappointed at seeing me, that's one thing, mother?" + +"No. Read that." She pushed across to him the letter she had been +writing to him that evening, and pointed to this sentence: "You have my +good wishes, but _not_ my hopes--I have no hopes. I shall be surprised +if I do not have you back again before the week is out." + +"Just so," said the young man, cynically. "You have the pleasure, then, +which your dear friend Joanna there never enjoyed, of seeing your own +prophecy accomplished; and I, for my part, have three hundred pounds to +solace myself with for what has certainly been a disappointment." + +"I am glad you are so philosophic, Dick. It is the best thing we can be, +if we can't be religious. How did it all happen?" + +"I scarcely know the plot (for there _was_ a plot), but only the +_denouement_. I had offended a certain Mr. Fane, toady-in-ordinary to +Frederick Chandos." + +"Ah!" cried Mrs. Yorke, shaking her head. + +"Yes; you were right again, mother, there--the whole affair is a tribute +to your sagacity, if you will only permit me to narrate it to you. I say +that this fellow Fane, when walking with his patron's brother, stupid +Jack, had me pointed out to him in town one day as the man who had +'pulled him through,' as he called it. Can you imagine how even such a +fool as he could have been so mad? It was an act of suicide, which, so +far as I know, fools never commit. Well, Fane was pretty certain of the +identity of your humble servant, which he was, moreover, anxious to +establish, because I had beaten him at pool, and given him the rough +side of my tongue." + +"Oh, Dick, Dick! have skillful hand and ready speech been only given you +to make enemies?" + +Richard laughed, and lighted a cigar. + +"Well, sometimes, mother, the most prudent of us are carried away by our +own genius. I am told that even you, for instance, lost your temper upon +a certain occasion down at Crompton--gave a 'piece of your mind' to my +father, which, it seems, he took as a sample of the whole of it. There, +don't be angry: the provocation, it must be allowed, was in your case +greater than mine; but then you pique yourself on your self-control! +However, this Fane did hate me, and told the chaplain of his suspicions; +the good parson was my friend, however, and all might have gone well, +but for this oaf--this idiot Jack--coming down to Carew's in person. He +could never get any coin out of 'Fred,' it appears, by letter; or, +perhaps, he couldn't 'write!' But there he was in the big drawing-room +when I went in last night, and Carew saw his jaw drop at the sight of +me. He had not the sense to shut it even afterward, though I told him he +had made a mistake, and gave him every chance. I could have persuaded +him, indeed, out of his own identity--and much more mine--only that he +appealed to Fane; and then the game was up. It would have made me laugh +had I not been so savage. Carew turned us both out of the house +together. His love of truth would not permit him, it seems, to harbor +us. So Jack and I went to the inn, played _ecarte_ all night, and parted +the best of friends this morning. But I'll be even with that fellow +Fane--yes; by Heaven, I will, if it's a score of years hence!" + +Perhaps the light satiric tone which the young man had used throughout +his narrative was little in accordance with the feelings which really +agitated him; but, at all events, his last few words were full of +malignant passion. + +"Be even, Dick, by all means, with every body," observed Mrs. Yorke, +coolly, "but do not indulge yourself in revenge. Revenge is like a game +at battle-door, wherein one can never tell who will have the last hit." + +"At the same time, it is one of those few luxuries which those who have +least to lose can best afford," said Richard, with the air of a +moralist. + +"It is not cheap, however, even to them," returned Mrs. Yorke, still +busy with her antimacassar. "It may cost one one's life, for instance." + +"And what then?" inquired Richard, carelessly. + +"Nobody knows 'what then,' Dick. Our fanatic yonder had one opinion; our +philosopher there"--she pointed to the skull--"another. Both of them +know by this time, and yet can not tell us. It is the one case where the +experience of others can not benefit ourselves." + +This subject had no charms for Richard. When we are what is vulgarly +called "in the sulks," and displeased (if we were to own it) with the +system of universal government in this world, the next seems of but +little importance. There may be a miscarriage of justice (that is, a +thwarting of our particular wishes) even _there_. Perhaps Mrs. Yorke was +aware that her son's clouded face did not portend religious or +metaphysical speculation, for she abruptly changed the subject. + +"And what are you going to do, Dick, now that this Crompton plan has +failed?" + +He did not answer, but stood with his back to the fire, moodily stroking +his silken mustache. + +"Richard"--she rose, and placed her plump white hand upon his +shoulder;--"it is very, very seldom that I ask a favor of you, but I am +about to do so now. Promise me that you will never again undertake for +another what you undertook for this man Chandos." + +He laughed, as he had laughed before, in bitter fashion. "Why not? It +was fifty pounds down; and apparently no risk: that is, no risk from the +law, which has omitted to provide for the contingency. Next to being +above the law is surely to be ahead of it. Besides, I am really a public +benefactor. Without my help, the state would already have been deprived +of the services of four young gentlemen, all of excellent families. Of +course, such a calling has its disadvantages. It is very difficult to +obtain clients. The offer of one's valuable assistance is liable to be +declined uncivilly--it requires the talents of a diplomatist to convey +it without offense--still, I possess those talents. Again, undoubtedly +the profession is in itself temporary, can never be permanent; but then, +has not nature especially favored me for it, after my mother's model? +Shall I not be a boy at forty, and blooming at fifty-three? The idea of +you being fifty-three, mother!" + +As they stood together side by side it seemed, indeed, impossible that +this young man could be her son, far less the offspring of her middle +age. She smiled upon him sadly, patting his handsome cheek. "And is my +Richard so full-grown a man," said she, "as, to flatter, and not to +grant?" It was impossible to imagine a more winsome voice, or a more +tender tone. + +"Nay, mother; I will promise, if you please," said the young fellow, +kissing her. "And now, let us divide this Crompton spoil together." He +pulled out his purse, and counted the contents. "There is Carew's three +hundred, a few pounds I won at pool, and dull Jack's IOU for +twenty--worth, perhaps, five. Come, we two are partners in the game of +life, you know, and must share alike." + +"No, Dick, no," returned his mother, tenderly; "it is enough for me to +see you win." She shut the purse, and forced it back into his unwilling +hand. "Some day, I trust, you will sweep away a great stake--though not +as you gained this." + +"Ah, you mean an heiress! You think that every woman must needs fall in +love with me, because _you_ have done so, mother." + +His rage and bitterness had vanished, as though by magic; her tone and +touch had spirited them away. + +"Perhaps I do, dear. Go to bed, and dream of one. You must be very +tired. I ought not to say that I am glad to see you back, Dick; yet how +can I help it?" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +OVER THE EMBERS. + + +It was one of the peculiarities of Jane Yorke that she took but little +sleep. The household had long retired, and she put the remains of her +son's meal away with her own hands, then sat down by the fire, thinking. +She had more subject for thought than most women; her life had been +eventful, her experience strange. We know what her second husband--the +man who repudiated her and her child--had been and was. Her first +husband had been scarcely less remarkable. Leonard Yorke was a young man +of respectable family, and of tolerable means. His parents were dead, +and his relatives and himself had parted company early. They were sober, +steady people, connected with the iron trade: a share in their house of +business at Birmingham, carried on in the name of his two uncles, was +the only tie between him and them, save that of kinship. They were +strong Unitarians, strong political economists, strong in their rugged +material fashion every way. They did not know what to do with a nephew +who was a religious zealot, and thought all the world was out of joint; +and they had characteristically sought for assistance in the advertising +columns of the _Times_. Mr. Hardcastle therein proclaimed himself as +having a specialty for the reduction and reform of intractable young +gentlemen, and they had consigned Leonard to his establishment. It was +the best thing that they could think of--for they were genuinely +conscientious men--and they did not grudge the money, though the tutor's +terms were high. Jane was then a very young girl--so young, indeed, that +parents and guardians would scarcely have taken alarm had they been +aware of her being beneath the same roof with their impressionable +charges; and she was childish-looking even for her tender years. Leonard +Yorke, gentle and good-humored, was moved with compassion toward the +orphan girl, as guileless-eyed as a saint in a picture; he pitied her +poverty, and, still more, the worldly character of her uncle and her +surroundings. She was wholly ignorant of the spiritual matters which +engrossed his being, and yet so willing to be taught. She sat at his +feet, and listened by the hour to the outpourings of his fervid zeal. If +she did not understand them, she was in no worse position than himself. +His tongue was fluent. His words were like a lambent flame, playing with +some indestructible material. His mind was weak, and devoted to +metaphysical speculations--mysticisms: the _arcana coelestia_ of +Swedenborg was Holy Writ to him. He believed in three heavens, and their +opposites. Jane's endeavors were directed to make him believe in a +fourth heaven. Childlike and immature in appearance, she was in +character exceedingly precocious. Her intelligence was keen and +practical. In very early years it had been instilled into her that her +future welfare would depend upon her own exertions, and she never forgot +the lesson. Her uncle was very generous to her; but he was not the man +to have saved money for his own offspring, if he had had any, and far +less for his niece; he spent every shilling of his income. Little Jane +would secretly have preferred to receive in hard cash the sums which he +lavished upon her in indulgences; she would have dispensed with her +pony, and kept a steed in the stable for herself of another sort. The +rainy day was certain to come some time or other to her, and she would +have liked to have made provision for it--a difficult matter for most of +us, and for her impossible. She was wise enough, even then, to know how +Uncle Hardcastle would have received any suggestion of a prudential +nature, and she held her tongue. + +In Leonard Yorke, if she did not comprehend his doctrine of "perpetual +subsistence," she perceived a provision for her future. At +one-and-twenty, indeed, he made his pupil his wife, to the astonishment +rather than the scandal of the neighborhood. They opined that it was +only in the East, or in royal families who wedded by proxy, that brides +ran so young. Jane Hardcastle, however, was in reality eighteen years of +age. + +Yorke Brothers, of Birmingham, had nothing to say against the match, but +they objected to a Swedenborgian partner in the iron trade, and bought +their nephew at a fair price out of the business. They did not offer to +take him back again, when, five years later, he became a true believer +in the faith of Mary Joanna Southcott and the coming of the young +Shiloh. This lady, whose portrait, with that of her spiritual +amanuensis, hung in Mrs. Yorke's sitting-room, had been her only rival +in the affections of her husband. She had not been jealous of her upon +that account, feeling pretty certain, perhaps, that the "affinity" +between them was Platonic; but she had rather grudged the money with +which he had so lavishly relieved the "perplexities" of "the handmaid." +The amanuensis used to issue I O U's at Joanna's dictation, to be paid +with enormous interest Hereafter, and Leonard Yorke was always ready to +discount her paper. There was no one that subscribed more munificently +than he did toward the famous "cradle," or looked more devoutly for its +expected tenant. Even when that long-looked-for 19th of October had come +and gone without sign, and two months later his poor deluded idol passed +away into that future with which she had been so rashly familiar, he was +faithful to her yet, and kept the "seal" which she had given him--his +passport to the realms of bliss--as his dearest treasure. He had +scarcely any other "effects" by that time, for, actuated by his too +fervent faith, he had been living upon the principle of his fortune; and +at five-and-thirty years of age Mrs. Yorke found herself a widow, with a +stock of very varied experience indeed, but not much more of worldly +wealth than she had had to start with. It was hard, after half a +lifetime, to resume the same semi-relative, semi-dependent position +under her uncle's roof which she had occupied before; but no better +offered itself, and she was glad to accept it. Her natural attractions +were still wondrously preserved to her; and, perhaps, on the occasion of +her second nuptials (and the fact of her first was carefully concealed), +her age excited less astonishment than her youth had done in the former +instance. + +Yet now at fifty-three, this woman, as remarkable for her talents as for +her beauty, and who, if but for a brief period, had once stood "on +fortune's crowning slope," found herself with little beyond a bare +subsistence, which she received without gratitude from the hands of +Carew. What she derived from her lodging-house defrayed the somewhat +lavish expenditure of her son Richard. She was far, however, from +complaining of his extravagances. She wished him to live like a +gentleman, and not to soil his hands with ignoble, pursuits. She felt a +genuine pleasure--only known to mothers--in gathering toilsomely +together what she knew he would lightly spend. She was for the present +amply repaid by the reflection that her Dick was as handsome and +well-appointed a young fellow as was to be seen in London, with an air +and manner that would become a prince. It was only a question of time, +she thought, when the princess should appear, be captivated, and raise +him to the sphere for which she had taken care to fit him. In the mean +time, it was only natural that he should enjoy himself after the manner +of other youth of great expectations. She was not averse to his +dissipations, for in them indeed lay his best chance of getting +acquainted with young men of this class; nor, so far, had she been +disappointed. It would be surprising to many a stately pater-familias to +learn how easily acquaintanceship, and even friendship, is contracted +with his male offspring, if they be among the pleasure-seekers of the +town. A young man of good address and exterior, with plenty of money in +his pocket, does not require introduction. The club door soon flies open +to him, but not that of the home. Richard was on tolerably intimate +terms with Chandos, and other young men of the same class--but he had +never been introduced to their sisters. It was here that Mrs. Yorke made +her mistake: she thought she understood society because she had studied +two exceptional phases of it. There is nobody more short-sighted than +the Bohemian, who imagines he is a citizen of the world; his round of +life may have no fence in the shape of convention, yet it is often, very +limited, and it is outside every other. + +Mrs. Yorke judged of all men by her knowledge of her late husband and of +Carew, and of women by herself. If it had not been for the +artificialities of society, she might have been right; but they are +powerful, and she knew little about them. In some matters she was +exceedingly sagacious. She did not entertain the alarm which would have +been felt by some mothers with respect to her son's morals, probably +exposed to some danger by his mode of life; perhaps she had not their +scruples; and yet it is strange to see how light those weigh, even with +our severest matrons, when any question of "position" is in the other +scale: they will not only permit their sons to herd with _roues_, +provided they are persons of distinction, but even accept them for their +sons-in-law. Mrs. Yorke, being daughterless, had no temptation to commit +this latter crime, but she was not displeased to imagine her Richard a +man of gallantry; he would in that case be less likely to fall a victim +to undowered charms. "It is not your man-about-town who sacrifices his +future in a love-match," was her reflection. On the other hand, no one +knew better than herself what an easy prey to woman's wiles is a young +gentleman without experience. It was for this reason, as well as because +she loved to have her boy about her, that she had opposed Richard's +going to Midlandshire. She knew Carew too well to hope that he would +ever take into favor a son of hers, and she distrusted the country, with +its opportunities for ensnaring youth into matrimonial engagements. +Thirty years ago, in a fortnight of village life together, she would +have backed herself to have got a promise of marriage out of the Pope; +and she did not believe this to be one of the lost arts among young +persons of her sex. + +Thus Mrs. Yorke had strained every nerve to get the necessary funds to +make town-life pleasant to her son, and yet she had not succeeded. It +was not so much that he found his allowance insufficient, for he had +various means of supplementing it, one of them (at which we have already +hinted) a strange one enough; but the wayward fit was on him that takes +so many of us in the early dawn of manhood; he was restless and eager +for change, and the lessons which his mother had caused him to receive +in landscape-painting furnished him with an excuse for wandering. She +had had him taught to sketch, because it was a likely sort of +accomplishment to aid the scheme of life which she had planned for him; +and he had taken up with the art more seriously than with any thing +else. But it was not in Richard's nature to apply himself with assiduity +to any pursuit. Such callings as lay within his means and opportunities +he was incapacitated for by education and temper. He could not have +occupied any subordinate position that required respectful +behavior--submission to the will of a master. He had had to put the +greatest restraint upon himself during his brief residence at Crompton, +and it was more than doubtful if he could have maintained his position +there as a dependent in any case. He was gentle and good-humored, genial +and agreeable, when pleased; but he had that personal pride which is as +stubborn as any haughtiness of descent, and infinitely more inflammable. +It was no idle brag when he told the Crompton chaplain that he would put +up with injustice from no man (if he could help it), and would repay his +wrong-doer sevenfold (if he got the chance). His sense of right was very +acute and sensitive, especially as respected himself. All his passions +were strong. Much of this might probably be said of any young gentleman +of position accustomed to have his own way: lads of spirit (who can +afford it) do not put up with slights; young noblemen in moments of +exhilaration may even pitch into policemen; and generally, where there +is no temptation to offend, much is forgiven. The danger in Richard +Yorke's case was that his position was far from assured, while he had +done some things which might prove great obstacles to his ever winning +one. He had all the sensitiveness and impatience of one born to fortune, +without the money. + +Mrs. Yorke was too wise a woman not to be acquainted with her son's +character. Her love for him was very great; as great and disinterested +as that with which the most religious and well-principled of women +regard their offspring; but it did not blind her to his faults. Her +experience of life had not led her to expect perfection; her standard of +morals was of very moderate height, and Dick came fully up to it; yet +she felt that her son was headstrong, impulsive, and occasionally +ungovernable. He had taken his own line in respect to his dealings with +Chandos and with others, in spite of her urgent entreaties. Her +opposition, though fruitless, had indeed been so strenuous that the +subject was a sore one between them; and had the opportunity been less +palpable, she would scarcely have ventured to revert to it that night. +She had done so, however, and carried her point. He had passed his word +to her that he would undertake no more such hazards, and Dick's word was +as steadfast as Carew's. He was aimless and indolent; but as a mean man, +who brings himself to perform some act of munificence, will effect it +unsparingly, or a selfish man, "when he is about it," will be all +self-abnegation; so, when he _had_ made up his mind, his determination +was rock. Mrs. Yorke then felt sure of her son so far, and rejoiced at +it. But she was disturbed about him on other accounts. Perhaps, +notwithstanding her assertion to the contrary, she may have had some +scanty hopes of her son's success at Crompton; or perhaps his want of it +placed before her for the first time the gigantic obstacles that lay in +his social path. Were the times really gone by which she had known, +wherein personal beauty, and youth, and grace of manner could win their +way to any height? Or did she misjudge her own sex, while so sagacious +an observer of the other? Her Dick was still very young; but his +appearance should surely have done something for him even now; yet +hitherto it had won him nothing but friendships of doubtful value, one +of which, indeed, had just done him infinite hurt. Were girls with +fortunes, then, as prudent and calculating as those who were penniless, +as she had been? It did not strike her that they were infinitely more +unapproachable; or rather, such was her estimation of her son's +attractions, that she thought he had only to be seen in his opera-stall +to become the magnet of every female heart. Had she been mistaken +altogether in her plan for his future? + +As she sat over the dropping embers of the fire, while the ceaseless +rain huddled against the pane without, a terrible vision crossed her +mind. She saw her son, no longer young, wan with dissipation and excess, +peevish and fretting for the luxuries which she herself, old and +decrepit, could no longer procure for him. She even heard a voice +reproaching her as the cause of their common ruin: "Why did you humor +me, woman, when I should have been corrected? Why did you bring me up to +beggary, as though I had been a prince? why have taught me nothing +whereby I could now at least earn my daily bread? Why did you let me +lavish in my youth the money which, frugally husbanded, might now have +supported us in comfort? Why did you do all this--you who were so +boastful of your worldly wisdom?" For a moment, so great was her mental +anguish, that she almost looked her age--not that the picture had any +terrors for herself, but upon her son's account alone. She may not have +been penitent, as good folks are, but her heart was full of another's +woe, and had no room left for one selfish regret. She had (in her +vision) ruined both; but it was only for dear Dick that her tears fell. +If the guardian angel, which is said to watch for a time by every one of +us, had not given up his disappointing vigil at poor Mrs. Yorke's elbow, +a tremor of delight then stirred him limb and wing. Nay, perhaps in the +Great Day, when all our plans shall be scrutinized, whether they have +been carried out or not, this poor, impotent, fallacious one, which +worldly Mrs. Yorke had formed for her son's future, will stand, +perchance, when others which recommend themselves better to human eyes +have toppled down, because built on the rotten foundations of self. +There will certainly be many worse ones. She did not propose to sell her +offspring, as match-making mothers do, to evil bidders. In her doting +thought her Dick would make any woman happy as his wife. At all events, +right or wrong, judicious or otherwise, her scheme must now be adhered +to: it was too late to take up with any other. The vision of its failure +had faded away, and she could think the matter out with her usual +calmness. + +The gray dawn creeping through the shutter-chinks found her thinking +still; but ere the dull sounds of awakening life were heard above +stairs, and before the coming of the sleepy, slatternly maid to "do the +parlor," Mrs. York had arrived at her conclusion. + +The early matin prime, she was wont to say, was always her brightest +hour, but it found her, on the present occasion, white and worn, not +with her long vigil, but because it was "borne in upon her," as poor +Joanna used to say, that her son and she must part for his own good: so +soon as the spring should come she would bid him go. London, where all +was prudence and constraint, was no place to win the bride she sought +for him. He should go forth into the country, where even heiresses were +still girls, and win her, as troubadour of old, but with sketch-book in +hand instead of harp. Not a promising scheme, one might say; but then, +what schemes for a young man's future, who has no money, _are_ promising +nowadays? Moreover, it could be said of it (as can not be often said) +that, such as it was, her Richard was by nature adapted for it; +and--though this was a less satisfactory reflection--was adapted for +nothing else. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE GUIDE TO GETHIN. + + +It is the spring-time, that time of all the year when those "in city +pent" desire most to leave it, if only for a day or two, and breathe the +air of the mountain or the sea; the time when the freshest incense +arises from the great altar of Nature, and all men would come to worship +at it if they could. Even the old, who so far from the East have +traveled that they have well-nigh forgotten their priesthood, feel the +sacred longing; in their sluggish blood there still beats a pulse in +spring-time, as the sap stirs in the ancient tree; but the young turn to +the open fields with rapture, and drink the returning sunbeams in like +wine. To draw breath beneath the broad sky is to them an intoxication, +and the very air kisses their cheek like the red lips of love. + +With his face set ever southward or westward, Richard Yorke has traveled +afoot for days, nor yet has tired; neither coach nor train has carried +him, and all the luggage that he possesses is in the knapsack on his +back, to which is strapped his sketch-book, like a shield. He is +striding across a heath-clad moor, with stony ridges, and here and there +a distant mine-chimney--a desolate barren scene enough, but with +sunshine, and a breeze from the unseen sea. It is classic ground, for +here, or hereabouts, twelve centuries ago, was fought "that last weird +battle in the west," wherein King Arthur perished, and many a gallant +knight, Lancelot, or Galahad, may have pricked across that Cornish moor +before him on a less promising quest than even his. How silent and how +solitary it was; for even what men were near were underground, and not a +roof to be seen any where, nor track of man nor beast, nor even a tree. +There had been men enough, and beasts and trees too, in old +times--heathen and ravening creatures, and huge forests; but it seemed, +as the wayfarer looked around him, as though all things had been as he +now beheld them from the beginning of creation. Richard, artist though +he was by calling, had not the soul to take pleasure in a picture for +the filling in of which so much imagination was required; and he turned +aside to one of the stony hills, and climbed it, in hopes to see some +dwelling-place of man. He was gregarious by nature, and, besides, he was +in want of his mid-day meal. + +There was feast enough before him for his eyes. + +In front lay a great table-land, indented here and there with three +chasm-like bays, which showed how high the cliffs were which they cut. +In one, nestled a fishing-town, with its harbor; in another, a low white +range of cottages hung on the green hill-side; and in the third, at sea, +as it appeared, stood up an ancient castle, huge and rugged. This last +object was of such enormous size that Richard rubbed his eyes like one +in a dream. He had heard of Cornish giants, and certainly here was a +habitation fit for the king of them. A lonely church upon the clifftop +beyond it, by affording him some measure of the probable size of this +edifice, increased his incredulity. He looked again, and saw that it was +not a castle, though the sun yet seemed to light up tower and battlement +quite vividly, but only one isolated rock of vast size and picturesque +proportions; upon the crown of which, however, there were certainly +walls, and what looked to be broken towers. "That must be Gethin," said +the young man, cheerily. "I must be at the end of my journey." Unless, +indeed, he should take ship, there was not much more opportunity for +travel. Before him stretched in all directions the limitless sea. + +So magnificent had been the prospect that, when Richard descended and +pursued his trackless way again along the moor, he half doubted whether +that fair vision had not been a mere figment of his brain; the more so, +since what view there was about him seemed now to contract rather than +to expand; the horizon grew more limited; and presently nor sea, nor +land, nor even sky was to be seen. There was no rain, but his hair and +mustache were wet with a fog that was as thick as wool. By touch rather +than by sight he presently became aware that he had left the heath, and +was walking on down-land. Suppose he were nearing the verge of that line +of cliff's which he had just seen, and should come to it before he was +aware! As he paused, in some apprehension of this, all of a sudden a +song broke upon his ear, like a solemn chant: + + "Keep us, O keep us, King of kings, + Under thine own almighty wings." + +He did not recognize the words, but the tone in which they were sung, +though muffled by the dense atmosphere, struck him as especially sweet +and earnest. The next instant, walking rapidly, with a light and +graceful motion, the dim figure of a young girl passed in front of him, +and the mist closed behind her, though he still heard her pious psalm. +Richard stood like one enchanted. Was she an angel sent to warn him of +his peril, or an evil spirit clothed in beauty and holiness to lure him +on to it? He gave a great shout, and the harmonious voice, already +faint, grew still at once. He cried out again: "I am a stranger here, +and have lost my way; pray, help me." + +Then once more through the mist came the young girl, this time without +her song, and stood before him; she was very beautiful, but with a pale +face and frightened eyes. "She is crazed, poor soul," thought Richard; +and he smiled upon her with genuine pity. She put her hand to her side, +as though in pain, or to repress some tumult of her heart. + +"Where is it you wish to go, Sir?" + +"To Gethin; where there is an inn, I believe. Is it not so?" + +"Yes, Sir." Her words were sane and concise enough, but the tone in +which they were spoken was tremulous and alarmed. + +"You are not afraid of me, are you?" said Richard, in the voice that he +had inherited from his mother. + +"No, Sir, no," answered she, hurriedly; "only the fog was so thick, and +I was startled. I did not expect to find any body here. It is very +lonely about Gethin, and we do not in general see any of the quality who +come to sketch and such like"--and she pointed to his portfolio--"until +much later in the year." + +"I am not the quality," rejoined Richard, smiling, "but only a wandering +artist, who has heard of the beauties of Gethin. What has been told me, +however, comes far short of the reality, believe me;" and he cast a +glance of genuine admiration upon the blushing girl. + +A slender fair-haired maiden she was, with soft blue eyes, over which +the lids were modestly but attractively drooped. One who had a great +experience of the sex--if not a very respectable one--has left on record +a warning against eyelids. "A wicked woman," says he, "will take you +with her eyelids." + +It does not, however, require wickedness to ensnare a young gentleman by +these simple means. + +"I wish, my pretty damsel," said Richard, softly, "that I painted +figures instead of landscapes, for then I should ask you to be my +model." + +It was not modesty so much as sheer ignorance which kept the young girl +silent; she had never heard of a painter's model; but the tone in which +her new acquaintance spoke implied a compliment, and she looked more +confused than ever. + +"Have you often so thick a fog as this at Gethin?" + +"Not often, Sir; this is a very bad one, and you might have come to harm +in it. Some folks believe that in such weather the Pixies come abroad, +as they do at night, to mislead travelers who have lost their way; and, +indeed, the clifftop lies not a hundred yards in front of you." + +"Oh, you think I was misled by a bad fairy, do you?" returned Richard, +in an amused and bantering tone. "Well, at all events, I have now met +with a good one; and may I ask what name she goes by?" + +"My name is Trevethick, Sir," said the damsel, simply. "I am no angel, +but I am going to the place you seek; it is this way, Sir." + +It was evident that his banter had not pleased her. The same tone that +is found agreeable in the town does not always prove welcome in the +country. She motioned with her hand to the southward, and began to walk +so fast that Richard could not easily keep pace with her. + +"But are there really fairies about here?" inquired he, seriously. "I am +quite a stranger to these parts, and should be glad to learn all I can." + +"Nay, Sir, I can not say; I have myself never seen one, though I know +some who have, or say they have. There are tales of worse than Pixies +told about that moor you have come across. You might have met the Demon +Horse that tempts the tired traveler to mount him, and then carries him +nobody knows whither; but, for certain, he is never seen again." + +"Then the spirits about here are all bad, are they? I suppose to make up +for the goodness and the beauty of the mortals, eh?" + +"Nay, they are not all bad, Sir," continued the young girl, gravely; +"the Spriggans, who guard the buried treasures of the giants, have often +helped a poor man out of their store; or, at least, 'tis said so." + +"And the giants--are they all dead?" + +"Yes, indeed, Sir, long ago," answered the damsel; "though that they +lived here once is true enough. There's Bonza's Chair, you must have +passed before the fog came on, and could not but have noticed; and the +hurling-stones he used to throw for pastime with his brother, they are +to be seen still; but all that about his having such long arms that he +could snatch the sailors from the decks of ships as they went by, is, in +my judgment, but an old wife's tale, and I don't credit it. There, see, +Sir; the fog is thinning; that is the castle yonder. When you see it +thus in air it is a sign of storm." + +The mist, instead of lifting, was growing less dense above, as it melted +before the rays of the sun, and the ruin which Richard had seen from the +hill-range was now once more visible, without the pedestal of rock on +which it was placed. It was a glorious sight, though weird and spectral, +and the young painter halted in mute admiration. The scene seemed +scarcely of the earth at all. + +"Most folks are pleased with that when they first see it," remarked his +companion, with the flattered air of one who exhibits some wonder of his +own to a well-pleased stranger. "You are very lucky, Sir; it is not +often one gets so good a view." + +"I am lucky, too, in having so fair a guide to show it me," said +Richard, gallantly. "There is a church in air too: what is that?" + +"That is Gethin church, Sir. It stands all by itself, a mile from the +village; but folks say that the tower was first built for a landmark for +the ships, and that the church and church-yard were added afterward." + +"Then people die here, do they, even in this land of dreams?" said +Richard, half to himself. + +"Die, Sir? Oh yes," answered the young girl, sadly; "my own mother died +two years ago, and lies buried there in yonder lonesome place. But it is +not usual for Gethin folks to die so young, except by shipwreck." + +"Are there many wrecks here, then?" + +"Yes, Sir, and will be to all time; our church-yard is half full of +drowned men. On the nights before storm, up yonder, you may hear them +calling out each other's names." + +"Have _you_ ever heard them?" + +"Not I, Sir, thanks be to Heaven. I would not venture there at night for +the best cargo that ever came to Turlock." + +"Where is Turlock?" + +"The port there behind us, Sir; you can see the houses now, but not the +harbor. It winds beneath the cliff, so that a ship can scarcely make it, +save in smooth weather, though, when it once does so, it is safe enough. +To see the great green waves rush in and turn, and turn, and waste +themselves in their wild fury, as though they searched for it in +anger--ah! it's an awful sight." + +"That is in winter-time only, I suppose?" + +"Nay, Sir; we have storms at other seasons. Whenever I see such a sign +as the castle without the crag--it's all clear now, you see, because the +wind is rising--then am I thankful that my father is no sailor. Most +folk are such at Gethin that are not miners." + +"Then your father is a miner, is he?" + +"No, Sir, not now, though he once was. Every body knows John Trevethick +about here, and why he don't work underground." + +"How was that, then?" inquired Richard, with interest. "You must +remember I am a stranger, and know nothing." + +"Well, Sir, it was years ago, and before I was born. Father was just +married, though he was not a young man for a bridegroom, and was down +Turlock pit-hole with Harry Coe (Solomon's father), putting in shot for +blasting. They had worked underground together for five-and-twenty +years, and were fast friends, though Coe was an older man, and a +widower, with Solomon almost of age. They were deep down in the shaft, +and one at a time was all that the man at the windlass above could haul +up; and they had put in their shot, and given them the signal. One was +to go up first, of course, and then the second to light the match, and +follow him with all speed. Now, while they were still both at the +bottom, it struck Coe that the match was too long, and he took a couple +of stones, a flat and a sharp one, to cut it shorter. He did cut it +shorter, but at the same time kindled the match. Both shouted their +loudest, and sprang at the basket, but the man at the windlass could not +lift the double weight. You see, Sir, it was certain death to both of +them, unless one should give way. Then Coe jumped out, crying to father +'Go aloft, John. In one minute I shall be in heaven.' It was he who had +caused the disaster, and therefore, as he doubtless thought, should be +the one to suffer for it; besides, he reflected, perhaps, that he was an +old man, and had no bride at home to mourn for him; still, it was a +noble deed, and I never denied it." + +"Denied it!" exclaimed Richard; "I should think not. Why should you?" +and he looked up with wonder into his companion's face. It was one blush +from brow to chin. + +"Well, Sir," continued she, disregarding his interruption, "my father +was hurried up; and as he looked over the basket the charge exploded, +and the great stones flew up and blackened his face. In a minute more he +was safe above-ground." + +"But the poor man below?" + +"He was dead, Sir. It could not have been otherwise. Father took it so +to heart that he never did a day's work underground again. And when I +was born, a few months afterward, I was christened Harry--though that's +a lad's name--in memory of the friend that saved his life by the +sacrifice of his own." + +"He might well have done that, and even more," said Richard, "if more +could have been done." + +"That's just what father says, Sir," answered the young girl, quietly. +"But when things have happened so long ago--before one was born--they +don't come home to one quite so strong, you see. Father keeps not only +his old gratitude, but his old tastes. He cares more for mines and +machinery and such like than for any thing else; he is a better mechanic +than any in Turlock, where I have just been to the watch-maker's to get +him some steel springs. You should see the locks he makes, and the rings +he turns. He will be so pleased if you ask him to show them to you." + +"I shall certainly ask him to do so, if I get the chance," said Richard, +eagerly. "Is that your house with the pretty garden?" + +"No, Sir; that's the parson's. Nobody can get flowers to grow as he +does. The next house at the top of the hill is ours." + +"Why, I thought that would be the inn!" exclaimed Richard, looking at +the little white-washed house, with its sign-board, or what seemed to be +such, swinging in the rising breeze. + +"It _is_ the inn," said his companion, quietly, but not without a +roguish smile. "Father keeps the _Gethin Castle_, although he has many +other trades." + +"And is that he, at the door yonder?" inquired Richard, pointing to a +tall, thick-set man of middle age, who was standing beneath the little +portico, with a pipe in his mouth. + +"No, Sir, that is not father," replied the girl, with sudden gravity; +"that is Solomon Coe." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A PERILOUS CLIMB. + + +"Is father in?" inquired the young girl of Solomon, as he stood in the +doorway, without moving aside to let Richard pass into the house. + +"No, he is not," returned the person addressed, his keen blue eye fixed +suspiciously on the stranger. "As you were so long on your errand, he +gave up his lock-work, and has gone off to the pit. He said he had never +known you loiter so." + +"I did not loiter at all," returned the maiden, indignantly; "if it had +not been for the fog, I should have been home an hour ago; but one can't +walk through wool as if it were air. You had the fog here yourselves, +hadn't ye?" + +It was strange to note the change in the girl's speech; not only were +her air and tone quite different from what they had been--her modesty or +shyness exchanged for a confidence and even a touch of defiance--but her +phraseology had become blunt and provincial. + +"Well, any way he was angered, Harry," returned Solomon, "until I told +him of the new copper lode, as I whispered to you of this morning (you +were the first to learn it, Harry), when off he set, in good-humor +enough with all the world.--You'll come across John Trevethick, if you +want him, young man, over at Dunloppel, though I doubt whether you will +find him much of a customer--unless you are in the iron and steel line." + +"I am in the knife-and-fork line just at present," answered Richard, +good-humoredly; "and, if you will be good enough to move aside, I should +like to order my dinner." + +"I ax pardon," said Solomon, sulkily, withdrawing himself from the +doorway. "I did not know I was hindering custom.--Who is this young +spark, Harry?" added he, in a low tone, as the other entered the house. + +"Well, he's a young gentleman, Solomon, as you could see very well if +you chose," answered the girl, angrily. "He don't look much like a +bagman, I think, any ways. I am sure father would not like you to treat +his customers in that fashion." + +"I am sure he wouldn't like your escorting such customers over Turlock +Down alone." + +"That's father's business, and not yours, at present, Solomon," retorted +the girl, tartly; "and perhaps it never may be yours. You take as much +upon yourself because of your new copper vein as if it was gold." + +"Nay, don't say that, Harry," replied the other, with an admiring look, +from which every trace of ill feeling seemed to have departed. "If it +_were_ gold, I should be more pleased upon your account than my own, you +may depend upon it. You think I am jealous, now, of yonder bit of a lad, +but----" + +"I think nothing of the kind," answered Harry, impetuously. + +"Well, well," returned Solomon, soothingly; "then we'll say no more +about it. Trevethick wanted me to be away with him to pit, but I said: +'No; I'll wait for Harry, and bring her with me to Dunloppel.' It's a +great find, my girl, and may be the making of us all." + +"Nay, a walk to Turlock and back is enough for one day's work, Solomon; +and, besides, I'm wet through with the fog, and must change my +things.--Hannah! Hannah!" and, raising her voice to landlady pitch, she +addressed some one within doors, "didn't you hear the parlor bell +ringing?--So never mind me, Solomon; I dare say I shall hear enough +about the lode when you and father come back;" and with that, and a +careless nod of her shapely head, the young girl pushed past her +disappointed swain, and ran up stairs. + +The _Gethin Castle Inn_ was a much better house of entertainment than +might have been looked for in a spot so secluded from the world, and far +from the great arteries of travel. A coast-road passed through the +little village leading from Turlock to the now almost disused harbor at +Polwheel, and that was the sole means of getting to Gethin save on foot +or horseback. There was no traffic--to be called such--in the district. +Dunloppel, always a productive mine, was, like its more famous brother, +Botallack, situated on the sea-coast, so that neither road nor tramway +had been created for its needs; the land about was barren, except in +minerals; and not a tree was to be seen for miles. Indeed, with the +exception of the parson's garden, there was scarcely a cultivated spot +in the whole parish. The graceful sprays of the sea-tamarisk, however, +flourished every where, in lieu of foliage, and in places where +certainly foliage is seldom seen. Not only did it grow luxuriantly on +banks and similar exposed positions, as though the roaring sea-winds, +which cut off all other vegetation, favored and nourished it, but waved +its triumphant pennant upon walls and house-tops. Stony places have a +special attraction for this weed; and it takes root so readily that the +story of its importation into Gethin might have had more foundation in +fact than some other local legends equally credited. Only a few years +back the plant had been unknown there, but a wagoner of the place, on +his return journey, had plucked a sprig of it in some locality where it +grew, to serve the purpose of a whip; and, when he reached home, had +thrown it carelessly on the top of an earthen wall, where it had struck +root, and multiplied. + +The cliffs, and the sea, and, above all, the ruined castle upon the +rock, were the sole attractions then which Gethin possessed--and that +they _did_ attract was an unceasing subject of wonder to its +inhabitants. Whatever could the fine folk see in a heap of stones or a +waste of water, to bring them there for hundreds of miles, was a mystery +unexplained; but the villagers were no more unwilling than professional +spiritualists to take a practical advantage of the Inexplicable. In the +winter they reaped the harvest of the sea, or explored the bowels of the +earth; in the summer they transformed themselves into "guides," and set +up curiosity-shops of shells and minerals; while, to supply +accommodation to the increasing throng of Visitors, John Trevethick, who +had always a keen eye for profit, had leased the village beer-house, and +enlarged it to the dimensions of a respectable inn. Even now, however, +the house exhibited a curious ignorance or disregard of the tastes of +those for whose use it was built--the windows of all its sitting-rooms +opened upon the straggling street, while the glorious prospect of cliff +and ocean which it commanded behind was totally ignored. Thus Richard +Yorke found himself located in an apartment which, though otherwise +tolerably comfortable, might as well have been in Bloomsbury for the +view which it afforded. The walls were ornamented by colored pictures of +the Royal Exchange and of the Thames Tunnel, London; and upon the +mantel-piece was an equestrian figure (in china) of Field-marshal the +Duke of Wellington as he appears upon the arch of Constitution Hill. The +only attempt at "local coloring" was found in the book-case--composed of +two boards and a cat's cradle--in which three odd volumes of the "Tales +of the Castle" had been placed, no doubt with reference to the grand old +ruin whose tottering walls beckoned "the quality" to Gethin. + +His simple meal of bacon and eggs having been dispatched, and gratitude +failing to invest with interest the lean pigs that searched in vain for +cabbage-stalks, or the dyspeptic fowls that were moulting digestive +pebbles in the street without, Richard lit a cigar, and prepared to +saunter forth. The fog had vanished; all the sky was blue and bright. +The keen and gusty air increased in him that elasticity of spirit with +which luncheon at all stages of their life-journey inspires mankind. + +"I suppose," said he, looking in at the window of the room he had just +left, and where Hannah, who was waiting-maid as well as cook, except "in +the season," was clearing away the remnants of the repast, "one can get +to the castle without a guide?" + +"Nay, Sir; you must get the key first, for the man don't bide at the +cottage, except in summer-time, and the gate has got spikes at the top. +Miss Harry has got it somewheres, if you'll wait a minute." + +Miss Harry herself brought it out to him. She had changed her attire for +what was an even more becoming one than that she had worn before, and +her bright brown hair was arranged with greater care, and perhaps with +more view to effect. + +"The guide has not begun his duties yet, Sir," she explained, with a +smile; "and so we keep the key here. You can't fail to find the road; +but the precipice-path is a bit awkward in a wind like this, and you +must be careful to take the right one; the old ledge was broken in by +the storm last month, and has an ugly gap." + +"But why not show me the way yourself, Miss Harry?" pleaded the young +fellow. "You know how easily I lose myself; and if I should come to +harm, by taking the wrong turning, you would be sorry, I'm sure." + +"Indeed I should, Sir," returned the young girl, simply; "and I doubt +whether you will find any body else in the village. This news from the +mine has taken them all off, it seems; and you wouldn't know rock from +castle, unless you had one to tell you, they are so alike." + +The fact was that Harry's conscience smote her for her wish to be of +service to this handsome young fellow, since she had just refused to +accompany Solomon to Dunloppel, on the score of fatigue. It was level +walking, or nearly so, to the pit-mouth, and it was a climb of many +hundreds of feet to the ruin. Still, she felt no longer tired, if she +had done so a while ago, and the stranger _might_ come to harm without a +guide. + +"But you're not coming without a bonnet?" exclaimed Richard. + +"Nay, Sir; I should come home without one if I went up yonder in such a +wind as this," answered she, laughing; "and I recommend you to fasten on +_your_ hat, if you wish to see it again." + +"But you'll catch cold," urged Richard. + +"We don't mind air at Gethin, Sir; and this shawl will cover my head, if +that's all." + +It really was Harry Trevethick's custom to go bareheaded in fine weather +about her own home, though, perhaps, the consciousness that she never +looked so well in even her Sunday head-gear, as with her own ample +tresses for a covering, may have influenced her resolve. Chignons were +unknown at that time, and never had the young man beheld such wealth of +gold-tinged locks as that which blew about his fair companion's brow, +and presently streamed out behind her, as they neared the cliffs, and +met the full force of that Atlantic breeze. It blew freshly and shrilly +enough up the winding gorge through which they had to descend to the +foot of the castled rock; but by the time they reached the beach the +wind had risen to a gale. They stopped a minute within shelter of a +hollowed cliff to view the place. It was a noble spectacle. The great +waves came roaring in, and dashed themselves against the walls of slate +in sheets of foam, to fall back baffled and groaning. They had eaten the +cliff away in two dark frowning spots, which his guide said were +caverns, approachable at low-water; but the rock itself on which the +castle stood defied them; they had only succeeded in insulating it, +except for a narrow tongue of land, which now formed the sole access to +it from the shore. Even without any historical or poetic association, +the object before them--rising bare and sheer into the air to such a +height--on which a swarm of gulls, shrunk to the size of bees, were +clanging faintly, was grand and striking; but the place had been the +hold of knights and kings a thousand years ago and more. The young girl +pointed out to Richard where the main-land cliff had once projected so +as to meet the rock, and showed him on the former's brow some fragments +of rude masonry. "That was the ancient barbacan," she said, "once joined +to the castle by a draw-bridge, as was supposed, which, when drawn up, +left Gethin so that neither man nor beast could approach it without +permission of its defenders. Even now, with none to hinder one, it is a +steep and perilous way, especially in a wind like this. Perhaps it would +be better not to venture." + +"But you shall take my arm, Harry," said Richard; "only let me pin your +shawl about your head first, lest those long locks of yours blind us +both." + +"I can do that myself, Sir, thank you," said Harry, austerely; then +added, with a smile, to reassure him--for why should she be angry?--"you +would only have pricked your fingers, as Solomon does. No man is clever +with his hands, excepting father." + +"And you say that to a painter, do you, Miss Harry--a man who lives by +his handiwork?" + +"I forgot that," said Harry, penitently; "besides, I was only saying +what Solomon says." + +"That was the gentleman who took me for a peddler, eh?" said Richard. +"He is not quite so wise as his namesake--is he?" + +"Oh yes, Sir; Solomon Coe has a long head: the longest, father says, of +any in these parts. He has made his own way famously in the world--or, +rather, under it, for he is a miner. He used to work in the coal-pits up +Durham way, but--" + +"Is that why he looks so black?" interposed Richard, laughing. + +"Nay, Sir, I didn't notice _that_," said Harry, simply. "Very likely he +was down Dunloppel this morning. It half belongs to him, father says; +and if this lode turns out well, he will be very rich." + +"And your father would be glad of that, would he not?" + +"Yes, indeed, Sir; for Solomon is the son of his old friend and +preserver, as I told you." + +"But it would not please _you_ quite so much--eh, Miss Harry?" + +"Not so much as father--certainly not," answered the girl, gravely. "It +seems to me folks are rich enough when they don't spend half they get; +just as other folk--like Mr. Carew, who owns all about here--are poor +enough, with all their wealth, who pay out of their purse twice what +comes into it." + +"Mr. Carew is known here for a spendthrift, is he, then?" + +"Well, Sir, it's only gossip, for he has never set foot here in his +life, I reckon; but, from what we hear, he must fling away his money +finely. However, as father says, there's one excuse for him--he has +neither chick nor child of his own. Eh, but you're looking white, Sir; +Gethin air is apt to nip pretty sharp those who are not accustomed to +it. You had best not try the castle to-day." + +"Yes, yes; we will go at once," cried Richard, impatiently; and, drawing +the girl's hesitating arm through his own, he moved rapidly along the +wind-swept way. Under the circumstances, there really was some danger; +but, had there been twice the peril, he would not have shrunk from it at +that moment--the chance observation of the young girl about Carew's +having no offspring had turned his blood to a white heat of wrath. +Although his mother had studiously instilled in him how foolish it was +to indulge in any expectations with respect to the Squire, he had always +entertained some secret hopes in that quarter until he had proved their +fallacy by experiment; and the failure of his expedition to Crompton +rankled in his mind. He regarded his father with the bitterest +resentment; he did not altogether forgive his mother for the share which +she had had (through her misrepresentation of her own position in the +register) in depriving him of his birth-right, and he felt himself at +odds with all the world. He had come to Gethin partly on account of what +Parson Whymper had told him of its picturesqueness, but chiefly because +it was an out-of-the-way spot, unfrequented by that society with whom he +had such good grounds for quarrel, and where he was not likely to have +his pride wounded afresh by any reference to his position; and yet he +had not been two hours in the place before the only person in it in whom +he was likely to be interested had galled him keenly. He could not long +be angry with her, however, for her involuntary offense, nor angry at +all in such fair company. She clung to him, perforce, upon the narrow +causeway, and shrank with him into whatever shelter was afforded, here +and there, upon their toilsome path, when they took breath, and gathered +strength together for once again confronting that pitiless blast. If +either of them had known how fierce a gale was imminent, they would not +certainly have ventured upon such an expedition; but, having done so, +they were resolved to go through with it. Harry had plenty of courage, +and fought her way with practiced eye and hand along the winding ledge; +and Richard was not one to own himself vanquished by difficulties before +which a woman did not quail. Twice and thrice, however, they were both +driven back again round some comparatively sheltered corner by the mere +fury of the wind, which battled with them as stubbornly as though it +were the disembodied spirits, of the ancient defenders of the place; and +when, mechanically, and almost of necessity, Richard's arm sought the +young girl's waist, whose garments made it more difficult for her to +advance than for him, she did not reject its welcome aid. Then, just as +his disengaged hand was clinging to a pinnacle of rock, his hat blew +off, exactly as she had predicted, and his dark curls mixed with hers in +wild confusion. Thus, foot by foot, they won their way, and reached at +last the iron-spiked door, the only work of modern hands on that gray +rock. This screened them from the gale; and, as they stood a while to +rest beneath its shelter, she showed him what a handsome key her father +had made for it, with cunning wards, more suitable for a banker's safe +than for such ancient relics as they guarded, and told him how the gate +was put there to exclude the summer visitors, who would otherwise enter +without fee. + +"Nay, but I will pay my fee," said Richard, gallantly; and, since their +cheeks were almost touching as it was, the debt was easily discharged on +her ripe lips. + +"For shame, Sir!" cried the girl, indignantly; and there was something +in her face and voice which showed him that her anger was not feigned. +"I am sorry I brought you here, mistaking you for a gentleman. Here is +the key, Sir; but I go back alone." And she freed herself roughly from +his arm, and turned to go. + +"For Heaven's sake, don't!" cried Richard, earnestly. "You may call me +any thing you please, but do not let my rudeness prove your peril. I +_was_ rude, but, on my honor, I did not intend to be so. I meant no +harm, although I see I have vexed you. Forgive me, pray; I did not mean +to be either ungenerous or ungrateful. Is it thought so very wrong at +Gethin--even with such great temptation--" + +"Yes, Sir, it is," she broke in, vehemently; "and I was wrong to come +with you." + +"Nay, don't say that," pleaded the young fellow. "How could you be wrong +to do so great a kindness to a stranger as you have done to me? It was +my sense of it--my heartfelt sense, believe me, of the trouble and toil +you have undergone for my sake; and I don't deny, Harry, your beauty +too, of which I have never seen the like. But there, I am offending you +again. Pray, come into the shelter; it makes me sick to see you in such +danger;" and to make room for her, and at the same time to stand as much +apart from her as possible, he stepped back, forgetting the scanty space +on which he stood, and--fell! + +A yard--a mile--he scarcely could say which, so overwhelming for the +instant was his sense of peril! He only knew that he was flying through +space. Then, suddenly, his feet found foothold, and his hands clung to +the gray rock, and the driving wind beat on his body ceaselessly, and +seemed to nail him where he clung. + +Was it the scream of gull, or piercing cry of some spirit of the air, +that rang through his brain? or was it, indeed, the agonizing shriek of +a woman? He heard it plainly; but Harry never knew whether she had +shrieked or not. She was aware of nothing except that this unhappy man +was perishing--had, perhaps, already perished--for her sake; through +fear for her safety, and his wish not to give her offense. She was on +her knees upon the ledge, and craning over it with horror-stricken face +the next instant, and could see him plainly. His feet had fallen upon +that very part of the old path which the storms of last winter had torn +and jagged away. A few jolting fragments of rock were all that was left +of it--insufficient even for a practiced cragsman to make his way along +on either side. His head--she could not see his face--was but a yard +beneath her; but how could she get at him? + +"I am here," she cried. "Be of good courage, Sir." + +She had nothing to offer in the way of help at the moment; but she was +well aware of what vital importance it was that he should not lose +heart. She lay down with her face on the bare rock, and strove to reach +him; but, even had her arm been long enough, he had no hand to spare to +clasp her own. The whole force of the gale was full upon her, and +carried her hair to windward like a whip. + +"Do not come too near the edge, brave girl," cried Richard, beginning to +be conscious of her efforts. "Is there no rope nor ladder?" + +"Yes," answered the girl. "Keep heart. Do not look down. I must be five +minutes gone--not more." + +She was up, and with the gate-key in her hand, ere she had done +speaking. Great Heaven! would that door never open? How her trembling +hands missed the keyhole; and when the key was in, how the rusty wards +opposed its turning. Then when the door was opened, it seemed as though +the winds had husbanded their strength behind it for one wild sortie, +with such fury did they rush out to beat her back. But she struggled in +somehow, and on across the howling waste of clifftop to a little hut of +stone, which formed the covering of a well. There, as she expected, she +found a rope coiled up, which was used to draw up water in an iron cup, +to gratify the curiosity of visitors as much as to quench their thirst; +for it was strange, indeed, to meet with fresh water there, the presence +of which, no doubt, had caused the place to be chosen for a fastness in +old time. With this she hurried back; and fixing one end firmly round +the door-post, she looped the other in a slip-knot, and lowered it +carefully to Richard. "Put this beneath your arms," she said; "the rope +is strong and firmly fastened. You must climb up by it, hand over hand." + +It was not so easy a task for the young artist as for a Gethin man; but +he was strong and active; and where his chief difficulty lay, which was +at the clifftop, the girl's willing arms assisted him. + +"You have saved my life, Harry," were his first words, when he stood in +safety. "How shall I ever repay you?" + +Then this brave girl, who had never faltered where action was necessary, +began to sob and cry. + +He took her hand and covered it with kisses. "I may kiss this," said he, +plaintively, "may I not?" + +She did not withdraw her fingers, but neither did she cease from +weeping. Her grief seemed to be something more than that resulting from +the tension of strong feelings suddenly relaxed. + +"Let me go home, let me go home!" was her sole reply to all his +entreaties that she should rest a while, and strive to calm herself. It +was with difficulty that he could support her down the steep, so +violently did she tremble. When they reached the foot of it she turned +to Richard and murmured: "I have one favor to ask of you, Sir. Will you +grant it to me?" + +"Most certainly, dear girl. It would be gross ingratitude indeed if I +did not." + +"Then never speak," returned she, earnestly, "of what has occurred +to-day. Never show by your manner that you feel--as you say--grateful +for what service I have been able to be to you. Let not father nor +Solomon ever know." + +"It will be very hard, Harry, to keep silence--to owe you so great a +debt, without acknowledging it," said Richard, tenderly; "but, since +such is your wish, I will obey it." + +"Thank you, Sir. And now I will go home alone. I was deterred by the +wind, the steepness--any thing you please--from accompanying you up +yonder; remember that. You will not mind waiting a while behind me?" + +"Surely not," said Richard, wonderingly. + +And the next moment she had hurried round an angle of the main-land +cliff, and was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +FISHING FOR AN INVITATION. + + +"What a strange girl!" muttered Richard, as he stood in the same +hollowed rock, alone, where Harry and he had first taken shelter. "What +a compound of strength and weakness--as my mother says all girls are, +though I have never known them strong before! How eager she seemed to +part company with me, and how anxious to get home without me--and I am +never to speak of what has happened, to her father nor to Solomon! This +Solomon is her unwelcome wooer, that is clear. He is neither young nor +handsome--nor attractive in any way in her eyes, I reckon. And what a +beauty she is, to be thrown away on such a boor!" + +The recollection that the door at the top of the rock had been left +open, and the key inside it, here flashed upon him. "She will be sorry +about that key," he thought; "and glad and grateful to me if I go back +and fetch it. The old man will be wroth with her for having trusted a +stranger with such a treasure. This Trevethick must be an ingenious +fellow, and a long-sighted one, no doubt. It was he who applied to +Parson Whymper for a lease of the old mine, if I remember right. Perhaps +the chaplain may help me to get it him, for I owe him something for his +daughter's sake. The idea of his having such a daughter! What rubbish is +this we artists talk of birth and beauty! Neither in life nor on canvas +have I ever seen one so fair as this girl." He meditated for a moment, +then cried out, angrily: "Heaven curse me, if I harm her! What an +ungrateful villain should I be! If there be a Gehenna, and but one man +in it, I should deserve to be that man!" + +Then he began to climb the rock. He did not tarry this time for breath +nor shelter, though the wind had no whit abated, but trod right on till +he reached the spot where the catastrophe which had been so near fatal +to him had occurred. "It was a narrow escape," mused he, looking down +upon the place, not without a slight shudder. "What odd things come into +the head when Death is whispering in the ear! If it had not been for my +fair guide, where should I have been by this time? Beneath the sea, for +certain. But what else? How strange it seems that if there is any +'else,' no one, from the beginning of time till now, of all the millions +who have experienced it, should have come back to tell us! And yet there +was a man who came back from the grave once. Who was he? I recollect his +picture by Haydon; his talk must have been better worth listening to +than that of most. Is nothing true that one hears or reads, I wonder? +Here is where I kissed her! I wouldn't kiss her again, if I had the +chance; I swear I would not. I am a good boy now--all morality, if not +religion--for they do say that hell is paved with good intentions--which +seems hard. If one is to be punished for one's wicked thoughts--even if +they do not bear fruit--it is surely but reasonable that one's good +ones--even if never carried into practice--should be set down on the +credit side of the ledger." + +With an exclamation of contempt or impatience, he turned from the dizzy +sight of cliff and sea, and shouldered his way through the wind-kept +doorway on to the open summit of the rock. It was a wild waste place +indeed, yet not without ample indications of having been inhabited in +days of old. Low but massive walls sketched out the ground-plan of many +a chamber, the respective uses of which could only now be guessed at. +But beneath one broken arch there was a heap of rude steps with a stone +something on it, which Richard rightly imagined had once formed an +altar. Man had worshiped there thirteen hundred years ago. Nay, not far +off, and in the very centre of this desolate hold, there was a +burial-ground, with a low wall of earth about it, which neither time, +nor the curious barbarism which marks our epoch, had much defaced. The +archaeologists had been there, of course, and discovered evidence which +had satisfied them of the presence of the remains of their +fellow-creatures; but with that they had been content. The dead had, for +the most part, been left undisturbed in their rocky graves, to await the +summons in the faith of which--and perhaps even for it--they had died. +For these were King Arthur's men (as Richard had read)--the warriors who +had helped the blameless king "to drive the heathen and to slay the +beast, to fell the forest and let in the sun." + +The lonely desolation of the place, and its natural sublimity, combined +with the recollection of his late deadly peril, tinged the young man's +thoughts with an unusual seriousness; and yet he could not restrain the +cynicism that was habitual to him whenever his attention was compelled +to solemn subjects. + +"Now, are these poor folks--whose creed must have been any thing but +orthodox, by all accounts--all in eternal torments, I wonder, or only +waiting to be so, for a few hundreds of years longer? Such was my +mother's friend, Joanna's, comfortable creed, and it is shared, as I +understand, by all the most excellent people. How much better (if so) +would it have been for them to have been born and cradled on this rock +as sea-gulls! Gad, to dwell here and fight for a king about whose very +existence posterity is to be in doubt in this world, and then to go to +the devil! What a nightmare view of life it seems! If, an hour ago or +so, things had turned out otherwise with _me_, I should have solved the +problem for myself. I almost wish I had. And yet it was not so when I +was clinging tooth and nail to the cliff yonder; and these folks would +not have died if they could have helped it, neither. There's something +ugly in black Death that disinclines man to woo her. This wind bites to +the marrow, and I'll go. I've seen Gethin now, and there's an end." He +turned, and walked as slowly as the blast would let him toward the gate. +"And yet, if it was warmer, and summer-time," continued he, "I should +like to sketch these things, or some of them, especially if Harry were +with me." He came out, and locked the door, and once more stood in the +shelter of it, with the key in his hand. "She'll be glad I went back for +this, and know that it was done for her sake. If she had but money, +now--this girl--and was a lady, and all that! Or if I could choose whom +I would!" He began to descend slowly, step by step; the furious gale +forgotten; his late escape from death unremembered; one thought alone +monopolizing his mind--the thought that monopolizes all men's minds (or +nearly all) at his age. It was here that his hat had blown off, and her +soft curls had played about his face; it was there that he had first +clasped her waist, and had not been rebuked. Then he fell to thinking of +all that had happened between them during the few hours that were +already an epoch in his life. Why had she looked so frightened at first +seeing him? Had he seemed to come upon her as her "fate," as some girls +say? He would ask her that some day--perhaps up yonder amidst the ruins. +He had not missed the look of annoyance which she wore when Solomon had +spoken to him so roughly, nor failed to couple it with the expressions +she had before made use of with reference to Coe the elder, and the +gratitude with which her father regarded his memory. This Solomon might +be a suitor who was backed by the old man, but certainly not encouraged +by Harry. Was she already engaged to him, tacitly or otherwise? It was +impossible, being what she was, that she should not have been wooed by +somebody. + +Richard Yorke was not one of those exacting characters who demand that +the object of their affections should never have attracted those of +another; he was even reasonable enough to have forgiven her (if +necessary) for having returned them, in ignorance of the existence of a +more worthy admirer in himself. There are many more varieties of Love +than even the poets have classified; and perhaps it is in despair of +dealing with this Proteus that we elders so often ignore him in our +calculations. + +The day was darkening by the time Richard reached the village. Around +the inn door were a group of miners, who stared at his bare head hard +enough, but gave way to him civilly. They were talking and laughing +loudly, and wiping their mouths with the backs of their hands. It was +evident that somebody had been "standing treat" in the narrow passage; +and leaning their elbows on the sill of the little bar window were more +miners, each with his pint pot of ale. + +"Here's luck to Trevethick and Coe," said one, "for a parting toast." + +"Ha, ha, that's good!" cried another, in appreciation of this commercial +epigram; "Trevethick and Coe; to be sure." + +"Trevethick and Coe, and may the copper last!" + +But one, emboldened by the liquor, or naturally more audacious than the +rest, put his head and shoulders through the open window, and, making a +trumpet of his two hands, whispered in a hoarse voice, audible to every +one: "And is it to be Coe and Trevethick also, Miss Harry--eh?" + +Then the window was slammed down with no gentle hand, and the men went +out laughing heartily, and for the first time leaving room for Richard +to pass in. He did not look toward the bar window, but, as though he had +heard nothing, walked quickly past it into the sitting-room, which had +been allotted to him. It was strange, since what he had just heard only +confirmed the suspicions which he had already entertained, that the +words should give him annoyance; but they certainly did so. What was +more natural than that this inn-keeper's daughter should be engaged to +marry her father's friend--a man apparently well-to-do, and with a +prospect of doing better? What could be more unreasonable than for Mr. +Richard Yorke, a young gentleman whose only hope in life was to marry a +girl--or an old woman, for that matter--with a good fortune, to be +irritated at such intelligence, especially after an acquaintance with +this "Miss Harry" of about three hours at most? After a minute or two of +reflection the idea seemed to strike even himself in the same light; for +he gave a short sharp laugh, and said what a fool he was, and then lit +his pipe. Even tobacco, however, that balm of hurt minds, did not +altogether soothe him. He could think of nothing but this young girl, +whose beauty had bewitched him, and to whose courage and presence of +mind he owed his life. He had sworn to himself--and there was no +necessity to repeat it--that he meant her no harm. Indeed, it would not +be less than she deserved to ask her to be his wife. Perhaps, if this +mine, in which her father had a share, should turn out well, she would +not be so bad a match, even in point of money; but to this he did not +attach much importance. He was indulging in a dream, which he fondly +imagined was unselfish and honorable to himself in a high degree. Quite +a virtuous glow seemed to mingle with his ardent passion; though the +fact simply was (as it often is in such cases) that, for a personal +gratification, he was prepared to barter his future prospects. He did +not doubt but that what he contemplated would be for the benefit of this +young girl; he must seem like an angel to her (for love does not always +touch us with the sense of unworthiness); as, indeed, by comparison with +this man Coe, he was. His mother would be a good deal "put out," it was +true, but then she was too fond of him to be angry with him for long, +far less to break with him. He was his own master, for some time to +come, at all events, for he had two hundred pounds in his pocket. + +What nonsense do the greatest philosophers sometimes discourse, when +their topic is Self-interest! It is likely enough that self-interest +actuates _them_, and in a supreme degree. When folks are by nature wise +and prudent--or if their tastes are studious, and their vices few--or +when, above all, the brain is seasoned, and the blood moves sluggishly +in the veins, then men do act for their own advantage, and keep their +eyes fixed on the main chance. But with most of us, especially when +young, self-interest, properly so called, is often but a feather's +weight in the balance of Motive. Revenge makes it kick the beam; and +Passion; and even momentary Whim. It was one of the arguments advanced +by Christian men in favor of slavery, that no man would ill-use his +slave, because it was his own property; as though the lust of cruelty in +a brutal nature were, while it lasted, not ten times as strong as the +lust of gain. There are moments when a man is ready to part with not +only his earthly prospects, but his hopes of heaven, rather than be +balked of an immediate satisfaction: that of striking his brother to the +heart, or growing rich by one stroke of fraud, or ruining forever the +woman that loves him best; and there are many men, in no such desperate +case, whose only guide is Impulse, and whose care for the morrow is +dwarfed to nothing matched with the gratification of to-day. These are +said to have no enemies but themselves, but they have victims; and, +though not apt for plots, are often more dangerous than the most +designing knaves. + +Pipe after pipe smoked Richard Yorke as he sat over the fire in the +deepening twilight, so deep in thought that it quite startled him, when, +suddenly looking up, he found that all was dark. Then he rang the bell, +and Hannah entered with the wished-for candles. + +"Is your master in?" + +"I'll see, Sir. Do you wish to see him?" + +"Yes. First bring me a bottle of sherry and two glasses, then ask him to +step in." + +The serving-maid obeyed; and presently there was a heavy step in the +passage, and in strode John Trevethick, a man of sixty years or so, but +straight as a pine, and strong as an oak. + +"Your servant, Sir," said he, in a gruff voice, and with no such +inclination of the head as landlords use. + +"Good-evening, Mr. Trevethick. I am afraid I'm putting you to some +inconvenience by coming to Gethin so many weeks before the usual time." + +"Nay, Sir; my house is open summer and winter." + +"Now I wonder is this the natural manner of this boor," thought Richard, +"or has he been already prejudiced against me by the other?--And an +excellent house it is, Mr. Trevethick; I little expected to find so good +a one down here, I promise you." + +"Well, I built it myself, Sir," said the landlord; "so it don't become +me to say much of that. It cost me a good bit of money, however; and +it's hard to get it back, when one's season only lasts for a month or +two." + +"Ah! I'm the first swallow that you've seen this year, I dare say. Well, +I hope I herald a lucky summer. Take a glass of your own sherry, will +you?" + +The landlord looked suspiciously at his guest: perhaps the phrase "your +own sherry" smote his conscience, knowing the price he paid for it, and +what it was, and what he meant to charge; but grunting: "Here's to you, +Sir," he filled his glass, and smacked his lips over it slowly. + +"Solomon has not set him against me," was Richard's conclusion. "The +graceful manner of this Cornish giant is natural to him.--You have a +fine castle here, Mr. Trevethick, and nobly placed. Indeed, I never saw +the like before." + +"So most folks say," answered the landlord. + +"There is not much left of it, however," said Richard, smiling. + +"Well, it'll last my time, at all events, and I dare say yours," was the +morose reply. + +"Indeed it will, and that of many a generation to come. It is seldom one +sees such massive walls. A good deal of trouble, however, seems to have +been taken to prevent people from running away with them, to judge by +this;" and he held up the key. + +"Well, the castle is mine, Sir--or, at least, I pay my rent for it; and, +I suppose, I can do what I like with my own. If there was no gate there, +do you think any body would pay me for viewing the place? Not they. Why, +there's some parties ain't even content with the key, but must have a +guide too, or else they buttons up their pockets." + +It was so impossible to misunderstand the bearing of this remark that +Richard burst out into a good-humored laugh; he was really pleased +because the landlord's hint assured him that he was in ignorance that he +had had a guide. "I shall certainly pay my footing, Mr. Trevethick, the +same as if I had had an attendant--of which, however, I should have been +glad at one or two places; the wind did take my hat, and very nearly the +rest of me. But what I meant by the trouble that was taken to secure +your ruins from intruders was with reference not to the door, but to the +key of it. Why, if it were a real castle, full of furniture, it could +not be more effectually guarded. You must have good lock-smiths +hereabout, if that's a specimen of their work." + +The icy landlord thawed again. + +"Well, Sir, the fact is, I made that key with my own hands." + +"You?" cried Richard, in affected astonishment. "Why, you must be a +mechanical genius. Look at the work! look at the wards!" and he +scrutinized them admiringly close to the candle. "Do take another glass, +Mr. Trevethick." + +"Nay, Sir; I've a friend in the parlor waiting for me," rejoined the +landlord, dryly. He appeared already to regret having given way to that +momentary feeling of self-esteem. + +"I wish _I_ had," observed Richard, smiling. "It's lonely work coming +down here by one's self, and finding nobody to speak to." + +There was a short pause, during which Richard was rapt in admiration of +the key. + +"Now, if his thick skin prove impervious to flattery," thought he, "then +will I fly my last shaft into his very gizzard." + +Mr. Trevethick's skin was quite compliment-proof, if an invitation into +the bar parlor was to be the evidence of its having been pierced. + +"You should come down in the summer-time, Sir," said he, coolly; "then +you will find lots of folks to talk with. At present I am afraid you +must put up with your own company." And the huge frame of the landlord +was already moving toward the door. + +"I am afraid so, indeed," said Richard, carelessly. "Parson Whymper +ought to have known better than to send me down here at such a time as +this." + +John Trevethick stopped at once, and Richard saw reflected in the glass +above the fire-place a look of intense interest. He could not have +supposed so phlegmatic a face was capable of so much expression. + +"Parson who, did you say, Sir? Whymper?" + +"Yes; an excellent friend of me and mine; the chaplain of Mr. Carew, of +Crompton. It was he who told me how I might fill my sketch-book with the +beauties of Gethin; and added, that I should have a hearty welcome from +one John Trevethick, if I gave his name." + +"And that you shall, Sir," cried the landlord, returning to the table, +and striking his broad palm upon it, to give emphasis to his words. "A +friend of Mr. Whymper's should be always welcome here. How is he, Sir? +And how is Mr. Carew?" + +"I have seen neither of them since I was staying at Crompton three +months ago or so," said Richard, coolly. "They were well enough then, +though the Squire was doing his best, as usual, to exhaust his +constitution and his purse; and the chaplain, as usual, also, was making +things as straight as he could, and putting the skid on where he dared. +But you know all about that, Mr. Trevethick, I dare say, almost as well +as I do. I am sorry you won't take another glass of wine." + +"I think I will, if you permit me to change my mind, Sir," said the +other, suiting the action to the word. "Now, the idea of your being so +intimate with Parson Whymper, and having staid at Squire Carew's! Why, +the Squire's my landlord, and owns all about here--leastway, short of +Dunloppel. It's unlucky that this copper should have cropped out just +beyond him, as it were." + +"There is no mine here belonging to him then, eh?" + +"Well, no, Sir; not, properly speaking, a mine, there ain't;" and the +well-practiced hand of the landlord shook as he put down the glass, so +that it clanked against the bottle. + +Richard Yorke laughed a short dry laugh, apparently at some reflection +of his own. + +"Well, I'm sorry you've got your friend, landlord, and therefore can not +have a chat with me; for it is evident we should find something to talk +about together." + +"And I'm sorry too, Sir. Though, if you wouldn't be too proud to come +into our bar parlor--but then I can scarcely ask a gentleman as has been +used to Crompton to do that." + +"Indeed, I shall be very pleased to come," said Richard, frankly. "I +have nothing to be proud of, I assure you; and if I had, why should I +not accept the company of an honest man?" + +"Very good, Sir. There's only me, and my daughter Harry, and this friend +of mine, Solomon Coe. If you'll please to walk this way." + +"Let's take the bottle with us, and then, perhaps, Mr. Coe will help us +to finish it." + +And bearing that token of amity in his hand, John Trevethick led the way +into the bar parlor. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE BAR PARLOR. + + +The bar parlor of the _Gethin Castle_ was a small snug apartment in the +rear of the house, and therefore exposed to the full fury of the +Atlantic winds, which were now roaring without, and enhanced, by their +idle menace, the comfort of its closely drawn red curtains, and its +ample fire, the gleam of which was cast back from a goodly array of +glasses and vessels of burnished pewter. Upon a well-polished oak +chest--the pride of the house, for oak was almost as rare at Gethin as +among the Esquimaux--stood a mighty punch-bowl; and on the mantel-piece +was a grotesque piece of earthen-ware, used for holding tobacco, about +which some long clay pipes and peacocks' feathers were artistically +arranged. A smell of nutmeg and lemons pervaded this apartment, and +pleasantly accorded with its almost tropical temperature; and the +contrast it altogether afforded to his own more stately but desolate +"private sitting-room," with its disused air and comfortless +surroundings, struck Richard very agreeably. On a chintz-covered sofa, +in the most retired corner of this parlor, sat Solomon Coe and Harry +Trevethick, and it was difficult to say in which of their countenances +the most astonishment appeared when the young painter presented himself +at the door. Harry's cheeks, which were not pale before, became crimson, +though she neither moved nor spoke. But Solomon rose, and, with a frown, +seemed to be asking of Trevethick the reason of this unexpected +intrusion. + +"This is a friend of Mr. Whymper's," said the landlord, setting down the +sherry on the table; "and therefore, I am sure, the friend of all of us. +That's my daughter Harry, Sir; and that" (and here he grinned) "is +Solomon Coe, a very intimate friend of hers--as you may see. We are a +family party, in fact, or shall be some day; so, pray, make yourself at +home." + +"I have seen Mr. Coe before," said Richard, frankly, and shaking that +gentleman's unwilling hand; "and, though he took me for a bagman, I bear +him no malice on that account." + +"A bagman! Lor, Sol, what could you ha' been thinking about?" laughed +Trevethick, grimly. "Why, this here gentleman has been stopping at +Crompton with the Squire! But you mustn't mind Sol, Sir; his mind ain't +free just Well, Harry, lass, why don't you get up and shake hands with +the gentleman?" + +"I have seen this young lady before, also," explained Richard. "It was +she who was good enough to get me the key of the castle, which I have +just returned, by-the-by, to your father," he added. + +Harry gave him a look which showed him that his second pilgrimage up the +rock was not unappreciated. + +"Did you see the chapel, Sir, and the tombs?" inquired she. + +"I hardly know, indeed," said Richard. "It was the climb itself that I +enjoyed the most, and shall never forget as long as I live." + +"Oh, but you must go properly over our ruins, young gentleman," said +Trevethick, with the air of a proprietor. "My girl here, or Solomon, +must show you them to-morrow, for they need a bit of explanation. Sol +knows all about them. Don't you, Sol?" + +"Oh yes; _I_ know," answered Solomon, doggedly; "but nobody won't go up +to the castle to-morrow, I reckon, with this sou'wester a-blowing." + +"It is a wild night, indeed," said Richard, putting aside the curtain, +and looking out through the shutterless window. "The clouds are driving +by at a frightful speed." + +"Ay, and it ain't only the clouds," said Trevethick, filling his pipe, +and speaking with great gravity; "the Flying Dutchman was seen off the +point not two hours ago." + +"By old Madge, I suppose?" observed Solomon, derisively. + +"Yes, by old Madge," retorted the landlord, sturdily. "She as knew our +life-boat was lost last year with all hands long before she drove into +Turlock Bay, bottom upward." + +"But how was that?" inquired Richard, with interest. + +"Well, Sir, it was this way," said Trevethick. "It was a stormy night, +though not so bad a one as this is like to be, and the life-boat had +gone out to a disabled Indiaman. She had been away three hours or more, +when, as I was sitting in this very parlor, in came Madge, looking +scared enough. She had been to Turlock on an errand for me. So, 'Sit +down,' says I, 'and take a glass, for you look as though the wind had +blown your wits away, old woman.' 'Tain't that, John Trevethick,' says +she; 'but I'm near frightened to death. I've seen a sight as I shall +never forget to my dying day. I have just seen our life-boat men--all +nine of 'em. The Lord have mercy on their souls!' 'Well, why not?' says +I. 'Why shouldn't you ha' seen 'em? They've got back sooner than we +hoped for--that's all.' 'Nay,' said she; 'but I met 'em coming out of +Gethin--away from home--the home they will never see again--all wet and +white like corpses. They're drowned men, as sure as you stand there, +John Trevethick.' And so it turned out, poor fellows!" + +"And did you tell any body of this before you knew that they were +drowned?" inquired Richard. + +"Ay, that's the point," muttered Solomon, approvingly. + +"No," said Trevethick. "I didn't believe the old woman, and I thought +her story would be very ill taken; so I kept it to myself. But it turned +out true for all that; the thing happened just as I say. John Trevethick +ain't no liar." + +"Of course you are stating what you believe to be the fact," said +Richard, in a conciliating tone; "I don't doubt that." + +"Just so; he's told it so often that he really does behave it," said +Solomon, laughing. "But what seems curious is, that it is always +Madge--purblind old woman, as wants to be thought a witch--as sees these +things--drowned sailors, and Flying Dutchmen, and so forth. I should +like to know who else has ever had the chance?" + +"Lots of folks," said the landlord, doggedly. + +"Well, _you_ been here these forty years," said Solomon, "have _you_ +seen 'em? And Harry here has been at Gethin all her life, has _she_ seen +'em?" + +There was an awkward silence. Harry had turned very pale--in terror, as +Richard thought, of the dispute between her father and Solomon becoming +serious. + +"That's naught to do with it," said Trevethick, sharply. "You're no +Gethin man, Solomon, or you wouldn't talk so. Why, didn't Madge describe +the very ship as was lost off Castle Rock, the night before we ever set +eyes on her? and wasn't it printed in the paper?" + +"In the next Saturday's paper: yes," replied Solomon, curtly. + +"Nay, I heard the old woman with my own ears," said Harry, gravely. +"There had been no wreck when she told me she had seen the schooner. +'The _Firefly_,' said she, 'will never come nearer home than Gethin Bay: +you mark my words.' That was twelve hours, ay, and more, before she +struck." + +"Forgive me for interrupting," said Richard; "but I don't understand +this matter. Is it supposed that a vessel announces her own destruction +beforehand?" + +"Sometimes," said Trevethick, gravely. "A ship is as well known here--if +she belongs to this part of the coast--as a house is known in the +Midlands. Well, if she's doomed, Madge--and it ain't only Madge +neither--will see her days before she comes to her end. This _Firefly,_ +for example, belonged to Polwheel, and had been away for weeks." + +"But still she was expected home?" interrogated Richard. + +"Ay, that's it," said Solomon, once more nodding approval. "The old +woman had that in her mind." + +"Why so?" argued Trevethick. "What was the _Firefly_ to her that she +should think she saw her drive into the bay, and break to pieces against +the rock out yonder? And why should she tell her vision to Harry?" + +"That certainly seems strange, indeed," said Richard, "as showing she +attached importance to the affair herself. It was a most curious +coincidence, to say the least of it. But what is this Flying Dutchman, +of which you also spoke? I did not know he ever came so far out of his +proper latitude as this." + +"He's seen before great storms, however," said Trevethick; "you ask the +coast-guard men, and hear what _they_ say. There's many a craft has put +out to her from Gethin, and come quite close, so that a man might almost +reach her with a boat-hook, and then, all of a sudden, there is nothing +to be seen but the big waves." + +John Trevethick had more to say to the same effect, to which Richard +listened with attentive courtesy; while at the same time he held to the +same skeptical view entertained by Solomon. Thus he won the good opinion +of both men; and of that of the girl he felt already assured. He +scarcely ever addressed himself to Harry, and as much as possible +avoided gazing at her. If the idea of his paying any serious attention +to her had ever been put into her father's mind, the intelligence that +he had been the friend and guest of Carew's had been probably sufficient +to dissipate it: the social position which that fact implied seemed to +make it out of the question that he should be Harry's suitor. It only +remained for him to disabuse Solomon of the same notion. This was at +first no easy task; but the stubbornness with which his rival resisted +his attempts at conciliation gave way by degrees, and at last vanished. +To have been able to make common cause with him upon this question of +local superstition was a great point gained. Solomon had a hard head, +and prided himself upon his freedom from such weaknesses; and he hailed +an ally in a battle-field on which he had contended at odds, five nights +out of every seven, for years. Harry, as we have seen, shared her +father's sentiments in the matter; and it was a great stroke of policy +in Richard to have espoused the other side. He would, of course, have +much preferred to agree with her--to have embraced any view which had +the attraction of her advocacy; but it now gave him genuine pleasure to +find his opposition exciting her to petulance. She was not petulant with +Solomon, but left her father to tilt with him after his own fashion. + +From the superstitions of the coast they fought their way to those of +the mines. Old Trevethick believed in "Knockers" and "Buccas," spirits +who indicate the position of good lodes by blows with invisible picks; +and, as these had more immediate connection with his own affairs than +the nautical phenomena, he clung to his creed with even greater tenacity +than before. So fierce was their contention that it was with difficulty +that Richard could put in an inquiry as to whence these spirits came who +thus interested themselves in the success of human ventures. + +"I know nothing of that," said Trevethick, frankly, "any more than I +know where that wind comes from that is shaking yonder pane; I only know +that it is there." + +"Nay, father, but _I_ know," said Harry, with a little blush at her own +erudition: "the Buccas are the ghosts of the old Jews who crucified our +Lord, and were sent as slaves by the Roman emperor to work the Cornish +mines." + +"Very like," said Trevethick, approvingly, although probably without any +clear conception of the historical picture thus presented to him. "It's +the least they could do in the spirit, after having done so much +mischief in the flesh." + +The contradiction involved in this exemplary remark, combined with the +absurdity of repentance taking the form of interest in mining +speculations, was almost too much for Richard's sense of humor; but he +only nodded with gravity, as became a man who was imbibing information, +and inquired further, whether, in addition to these favorers of +industry, there were any spirits who worked ill to miners. + +"Well, I can't say as there are," said the landlord, with the air of a +man who can afford to give a point in an argument; "but there's a many +things not of this world that happen underground, leastway in _our_ +mines, for Sol there is from the north, and it mayn't be the same in +those parts." + +"It certainly is not," interrupted Solomon, taking his pipe out of his +mouth to intensify the positiveness of his position. + +"I say," continued Trevethick, reddening, "that down in Cornwall here +there is scarce a mine without its spirit o' some sort. At Wheal Vor, +for example, a man and his son were once blown to pieces while blasting; +and, nothing being left of them but fragments of flesh, the engine-man +put 'em into the furnace with his shovel; and now the pit is full of +little black dogs. I've seen one of 'em myself." + +Solomon laughed aloud. + +Richard was expecting an explosion of wrath. The old man turned toward +him quietly, and observed with tender gravity: "And in a certain mine, +which Sol and I are both acquainted with, a white rabbit always shows +itself before any accident which proves fatal to man. It was seen on the +day that Sol's father sacrificed his life for mine." Then he told the +story which Richard had already heard from Harry's lips, while Solomon +smoked in silence, and Harry looked hard at the fire, as though--as +Richard thought--to avoid meeting the glance of her father's hereditary +benefactor. + +"You are right to remember such a noble deed as long as you live," said +Richard, when the old man had done. "My own life," added he, in a lower +tone, "was once preserved by one whom I shall love and honor as long as +I have breath." + +He saw the color glow on the young girl's cheek, and the fire-light +shine with a new brilliance in her eyes. Neither Trevethick nor Solomon +had caught his observation; at the moment it was made the former was +stretching out his great hand to the latter, moved by that memory of +twenty years ago, and, perhaps, in token of forgiveness for his recent +skepticism. + +"Then there's the Dead Hand at Wheal Danes, father," observed Harry, in +somewhat hasty resumption of the general subject. "That's as curious as +any, and more terrible." + +"Wheal Danes!" said Solomon. "Why, how comes that about, when nobody can +never have been killed there? It's been disused ever since the Roman +time, I thought?" + +"Yes, yes; so it has," answered Trevethick, impatiently. + +"But I thought you told me about it yourself, father?" persisted Harry. +"How you saw the Thing, with a flame at the finger-tops, going up and +down where the ladders used to be, and heard voices calling from the +pit." + +"Not I, wench--not I. That was only what was told me by other +folks.--Take another glass of your own sherry before supper, Sir; and +after that we will have a bowl of punch." + +The hospitalities of Mr. Trevethick were, in fact, profuse, and his +manner toward Richard most conciliatory. + +"We'll be glad to see you, Sol and I, in our little parlor, whenever you +feel in want of company," were his last words at parting for the night. +And, "Ay, ay, that's so," had been Solomon's indorsement. + +Harry had said nothing; but the tender pressure of his hand, when he +wished her good-night, had not gone unreturned, and was an invitation +more welcome than words. The events of the day, the conversation of the +evening, had given him plenty of matter for reflection; but the touch of +those soft fingers was more potent, and the dreams evoked by it +swallowed up all soberer thoughts. He sat up for hours that night, +picturing to himself a future altogether new to his imagination; and +when he went to bed it was not to rest. His excited brain was fed with a +nightmare vision. He thought that he was once more with Harry on the +castled rock; his lips were pressed to hers; his arm was around her +waist, just as they had been; but, instead of his slipping alone over +the precipice, they fell together; and as they did so--not without a +wild delight mingling with his despair--she was suddenly plucked away +from him, and, as he sank headlong down, down, he saw that Solomon Coe +had caught her in his arms, and, with her father, was looking down upon +him with savage and relentless glee! + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +SOLOMON'S REMINISCENCES. + + +There are wild places yet in the world, and primitive folk. Even in +England there are localities of which the phrase, "It is a hundred years +behindhand," still holds good; and so it was with Gethin. Its wind-swept +moors, its rock-bound coast, had inhabitants altogether differing from +the men of fields and farms; to Richard, a man of pleasure from the +town, they seemed a foreign race. They were rough in externals, but +kindly and genial at heart; given to hospitality, and, though good at a +bargain, by no means greedy of gain. Above all there were no beggars. +The poorest Gethin man would open a gate for you, or walk a hundred +yards out of his way to show you your road, without asking for, or even +expecting, a coin. They were, however, as delighted as surprised to get +it; and before the open-handed young artist had been a week in the place +he had demoralized it by his largesses. As, however, his smile and his +thanks always accompanied these presents, he was served more for love's +sake than the money's, and enjoyed a popularity which can not be +purchased, and which yet is impossible to be won by one who has nothing +to give. He had the reputation among these simple folks, who knew how to +be frugal themselves, of having a superfluity of wealth; his air and +manner showed he had been always used to be lavish (as indeed he had), +and nourished this delusion, which extended, though upon other grounds, +to the tenants of the little inn. + +John Trevethick and his friend Solomon would not have been much +impressed with the expenditure of a few pounds by an improvident youth; +but the former was well aware that the guests of Carew of Crompton were +almost without exception very wealthy men, and he judged of Richard's +social position accordingly. He had no idea that his landscape-painting +was any thing else than an amusement--as it was practiced by half the +young ladies and gentlemen who visited Gethin in the summer months; he +took him for an amateur; and if he had seen his sketches, and been a +judge of art, he would have been only fortified in his conclusion. He +liked the young fellow upon his own account, though not so much as his +handsome face and pleasant manners, combined with his desire to please, +caused others to do; for Mr. Trevethick was not at all impressionable in +such matters. Richard hated him in his heart for the scanty crop of +regard he seemed to get out of him, notwithstanding all his pains; he +had never made so continued an effort to make himself agreeable and with +so small a result; but his self-love would have been more deeply wounded +had he known that his own exertions would not have even gained him what +they did, had they not been seconded by a hidden ally in the landlord's +breast. Richard's desire to conciliate was fully reciprocated by +Trevethick, who wished above all things to make friends with the friend +of Parson Whymper; only conciliation was so much out of his line. The +old man and the young had absolutely nothing in common except their love +for Harry. + +Upon the other hand, John Trevethick and Solomon Coe were cast almost in +the same mould. Notwithstanding the former's superstition he was +intelligent and shrewd enough in practical matters, and had, indeed, +quite a genius for mechanics. Deprived of his underground occupation by +the catastrophe with which we are acquainted, he had set his wits to +work at home on the matters with which he had hitherto but physically +concerned himself; and the labor of his head had proved more lucrative +than that of his hand. He had invented several improvements in the +working machinery of the mine which had so nearly proved his tomb; these +had been adopted, with considerable profit to himself, in other places; +and the money thus acquired he had not frittered away (as is usual in +such cases) in speculative investments. In the interim between his +giving up his trade and his reaping the fruits of his inventions he had +tasted the bitterness of poverty, and that had made him very cautious. +But he had a small share in Dunloppel, which seemed likely to turn out +very profitable; and he had built the inn, the returns from which were +more than sufficient to support him--indeed, it was rumored that John +Trevethick had been laying by a pretty penny, and could hold his head +much higher if he pleased. His pleasures were certainly not expensive, +for they consisted in fancy iron-working, the results of which brought +him in a considerable sum; and in occasionally getting drunk, which, +being a publican, he could accomplish at the most reasonable figure. He +was a hard unlovable man, and interesting only as statistics may be said +to be as compared with literature--in a hard, practical way. If +superstitious, he was by no means religious; and, though honest, he was +grasping. He took time to resolve upon a matter; but, when once his +resolution was fixed, his will was iron, and his heart was stone. It was +certainly curious that one of Trevethick's character should have +entertained so long and freshly his sentiment of gratitude even to a man +that had saved his life at the expense of his own; but even this may +have had its roots in egotism. Had the person saved been his wife or his +daughter the feeling would not perhaps have been so enduring; and in +carrying it out, as he fully purposed to do, by bestowing Harry's hand +upon Solomon, he was certainly not uninfluenced by the fact that the +latter was, pecuniarily speaking, an excellent match. + +Like himself, his intended son-in-law was the architect of his own +fortunes; but he had built them up in a different way. His youth had +been spent in the coal-mines of the north; and, though no lucky stroke +of the pick can there make one rich, as it can in other underground +localities, his strength and skill had met with their full reward. And +what he had gained he had not wasted. Pound after pound he had laid by, +until enough had been saved for investment; and it was Solomon's boast +in after-years that he had never got less than ten per cent. for any of +it. It was all ventured on underground speculations, some of them +hazardous enough--but all had prospered; and here John Trevethick's +judgment, though the old man himself had not the courage to follow it, +had been of great advantage to him. Every thing he touched turned, if +not to gold, at least to tin or copper; and before the lode ceased to +yield Solomon had sold his shares at a good premium, and placed the +proceeds in another pit. He had sown, as it were, his money in the +earth, and reaped a golden harvest. And now Dunloppel, his last +venture, seemed likely to prove his best: and it was another strand in +the strong bond between himself and Trevethick that the latter had also +a share in that undertaking. There are some men with whom a common +pecuniary interest is the most binding tie of sympathy of which their +nature is capable; and never had the landlord of the _Gethin Castle_ +been more closely attached to his guest and son-in-law elect than at +this time, when Richard Yorke proposed to himself to part them; as +though a gilded summer skiff should thrust itself between two laden +coal-barges, and bid them budge. + +It was at least a week before Solomon Coe could be induced to open his +lips before Richard, beyond the utterance of a few pithy sentences; not +that the smouldering embers of jealousy had been fanned in the mean +time--for Richard had been prudence itself in his behavior to Harry--but +because the miner could not comprehend the young fellow, and therefore +distrusted him. The light and airy manners, which were as natural to +Richard as was John Trevethick's ponderous cunning or his own +self-satisfied reticence, seemed to Solomon mere affectation, and even +his appearance effeminate and dandified; but when he saw that he wore no +other air when conversing with the pitmen of Dunloppel--an expedition +undertaken with himself at Richard's special invitation--and marked how +actively he climbed the tall, steep ladders, and how fearlessly he +trusted himself to the rope, he acquitted him of such artful fopperies. +Of Richard's intelligence he had formed a good opinion from the time +when the latter had enlisted himself upon his side in the argument +concerning superstition; and it flattered his vanity to find so sensible +and accomplished a young fellow deferring to his opinion upon all +practical points, and apparently desirous of obtaining his views upon +them. + +There was one subject, the experience of his early years, upon which +Solomon was never averse to descant, could he once be got to talk at +all; and it was a certain token--as one, at least, of the company well +knew--that his prejudice against Richard was quite surmounted when +Solomon began to unfold to him, over their punch in the bar parlor, the +annals of his underground career. Often had he done so to Harry--like +another Othello (and almost as swarthy) narrating his adventures to his +Desdemona--but never had she been so pleased to listen as now, when she +needed but to seem to hear, and, without the penalty of reply, could +feed her eyes upon young Richard's listening face. It is hard when, in +the race for woman's favor, one has to waste one's breath in making the +running for one's rival. + +And yet the talk of Solomon Coe was well worth listening to. He told of +the great war which is always being waged by man beneath the earth +against the powers of Water, and Fire, and Foul Air, and of the daring +deeds he had seen wrought against them. He told of coal-pits that had +been on fire from time immemorial, above which no snow would lie, by +reason of the heat beneath, and where the grass of the meadows was +always green. He told of others which had been suddenly inundated by a +neighboring river, or by the waters from old workings, let in by a +single unlucky blow, whereby scores and scores of strong men were +overwhelmed, whose corpses floated about for months in the dark drowned +pit before their fellows above-ground could get at them. + +His speech was somewhat sullen and hesitating, and what he said was +interrupted by whiffs of smoke and sips of liquor; but the nature of the +subject was so absorbing that it needed no gifts of eloquence. It +interested Richard in spite of himself; and Solomon was not indifferent +to the flattery which the young artist's attention conveyed, and +scarcely needed the entreaties of Trevethick to persuade him to throw +off his native reticence. What he forgot, and had mentioned in former +narrations, the landlord supplemented; and when "Sol" became technical +and obscure the other performed the part of chorus or explainer. If the +former had been some gifted animal, and the latter its proprietor, he +could not have taken a greater pride in the exhibition of its talent +than did the landlord in these narrations. Now he would look at Richard, +and nod and wink, as though to bespeak his special attention to what was +coming; and now he would wave his pipe, like a dumb orchestra playing +slow music, to express the tremendous nature of a situation. Perhaps he +was genuinely impressed by these thrice-told tales--perhaps he was +endeavoring, by a feigned admiration for Sol's experiences and exploits, +to justify his choice of a son-in-law not altogether suited to his +Harry. To do the _raconteur_ justice, he was by no means so egotistic as +his aider and abettor, and Trevethick would express his regrets to +Richard that it was so hard to get Sol to dismiss generalities and talk +about himself. "It's on account of Harry being here, you see," explained +he behind his horny hand, but in a tone perfectly audible to the other +tenants of the bar parlor; "or else he would tell you how the timbering +of the pit once fell upon him, so as nothing was free but his head and +his left hand; and yet he never lost his wits in all his agony, but told +the men where to saw and what to do; but he don't like to boast before +the 'gal.'" + +Then Richard, taking the hint, inquired of Solomon whether any incident +particularly striking had ever happened to himself during his +underground experience; and Solomon replied, with affected carelessness; +"No, not as I know on; nothing particular." + +Then Trevethick broke in with, "What! not when you was shut up in the +seam at Dunston?" + +"Oh yes, to be sure," said Sol, as though the recollection of the +circumstance had only just occurred to him; "there was _that_, +certainly; but it was when I was quite a boy. I was not quite seventeen +when Dunston Colliery was drowned. The Gatton poured right in upon it, +and they have not got the water out of it in places to this day. It was +always said that the pit was being worked too near the river; but that +was little thought about by those as was most concerned, and it never +disturbed the head of a lad like me, of course. It was in the afternoon +of the 12th of December, a date as I am not likely to forget, when the +thing happened. Two mates--one old man and a middle-aged one--and myself +were at work in a heading together, when suddenly we heard a noise like +thunder. 'That's never blasting,' says one. 'The Lord have mercy on us,' +cries the other; 'it's the river come in at last!' For, as I say, the +risk was quite well known, though it was considered small, and made a +frequent jest of. Nothing that ever I heard was equal to that noise; the +waves in Gethin caverns here, during storm, are a whisper to it; the +whole pit seemed to be roaring in upon us. We all ran up the gallery, +which, fortunately for us, had a great slope, and crouched down at the +end of it. We heard the water pouring in and filling all the workings +beneath us, and then pouring in and filling ours. It reached our feet, +and left us but a very limited space, in which the air was compressed, +when the noise of the inundation ceased. There was a singing in our +ears, so that we could scarcely hear one another speak. We knew that the +whole mine had become a lake by that time, and that it would take months +to drain her, if she was ever drained. We knew that we were buried alive +hundreds of feet beneath the earth; and yet we did not quite lose heart. +There was this gleam of hope: supposing that the next gallery, which was +on a higher level than our own, was not also flooded, we could be got at +through the seam. We did not know the fact that it was more than sixty +feet of solid coal, and would have taken under ordinary circumstances at +least four weeks to dig through; we only knew that, if a door of escape +was to open any where, it must open there. We kept tapping with the +heels of our boots at equal intervals against this wall." + +"The miner's signal," explained the landlord, with a wave of his pipe. + +"We felt that if we were once heard, and if hard work could do it, that +our mates would save us yet; and we encouraged one another as well as we +could. But presently the oil in our lamps gave out, and we were left in +darkness; and then our hope grew faint indeed. We had knocked for +four-and-twenty hours unintermittingly without any reply. We did not +cease, however, to discuss the possibilities of escape. We knew that all +was being done for us above-ground that could be done; that the surveys +of the mine were well executed; and that it was known exactly where we +were, if we were alive at all. There were more than a hundred men +employed in the lower workings, and it was a certainty that not one of +them could have escaped death; the attention, therefore, of the +engineers would be concentrated upon those parts of the mine that might +possibly be left above water." + +"On the second night of our imprisonment we heard a distinct reply to +our signal; the old man who was of our company began to weep for joy, +though he was doomed, as it turned out, poor soul! never to see the +light. 'We shall be saved,' he said; 'do not fear.' We knocked again, +and again the reply was heard--they had found us out, and would never +relax their efforts to save us. 'God bless them!' said we all. We laid +our ears close to the rock, and presently heard the strokes of the pick, +but not very distinctly. When the other said he was afraid the rock was +thick, the old man cried out: 'No, it was not that; it was because we +were dull of hearing.' The fact was, that the seam was not only thick, +but very hard. It was strange, indeed, though sounds are easily +transmitted through rocks of considerable thickness, how our feeble taps +had been heard at all. Day after day, and each day a black night, went +on; every hour was to be the last of our captivity, according to the old +man; as for me, I was almost worn out, and heavy with sleep, but he was +in constant motion, knocking and listening. Then suddenly we heard a +splash in the water beneath us--he had lost his balance, slid down the +inclined plane, and been drowned. He never stirred a limb nor uttered a +cry. His fate discouraged and alarmed us two survivors exceedingly. If +help was coming, we now felt it would never come in time. We dug into +the shale with the handles of our lamps and with our fingers, to make +our position more secure. We did not venture to speak of our late +companion's fate to one another. Horror overwhelmed us, so enfeebled had +we become through famine and fatigue. We had devoured our leather belts, +and even crumbled the rotten wood of the timber-props in water, and +eaten that; but we were now consumed by thirst, which we dared no longer +quench. We were afraid to venture down as before for the water in which +the old man had sunk to death; and it was that which had kept us alive." + +"Don't forget about how you made a bucket of your boots, Sol," suggested +Trevethick, gravely. + +"Yes, at last we tied a string to a boot, and got the water up that +way," continued Solomon; "but our stomachs turned against it." + +"It was not so good as my punch," observed the landlord, +parenthetically, and emptying his steaming glass. + +"More dark days came and went, though, of course, we could not tell how +many; then, all of a sudden, we heard a human voice, inquiring: 'How +many are you?' 'We are three,' was our reply. We had not the courage +even then to own that one of us had already been taken; death seemed +still so near to us. The aperture which had thus let in the world upon +us was also very small." + +"And what was it you asked for first?" interrupted the landlord, with a +nod at Richard, as much as to say: "Listen now; this is curious." + +"What we wanted was light. 'Light above all things!' was our cry. But +our deliverers could give us but little of that, for they had scarcely +any themselves. They had been working in a narrow gallery, by means of +five inclined driftways, at each of which only one man could ply his +pick at a time, and where light and air could only be procured +artificially. The coal was carried out in baskets as fast as it was hewn +out: the atmosphere in which they thus toiled like giants, naked to the +waist, was almost suffocating; yet, under these conditions, they had +literally effected in four days, to save our lives, what it would have +taken them four weeks to do, had they been working by the piece for +wages. They had even been compelled to put up ventilators, and their +lamps would only burn when close to these. They gave us broth through a +tin pipe; but almost another day elapsed before the hole was large +enough for them to carry us through it in their arms." + +"And there was nobody else saved, was there?" inquired the landlord, +with a triumphant look. + +"There was not," said Solomon, expressing his tobacco smoke very slowly. +"Out of a hundred and thirteen men who had been caught by the flood in +Dunston, we two were the sole survivors." + +Many other stories of the like sort had Solomon to tell, and for not +one of them, was he indebted to his imagination. His experience of life +had been remarkable, and it had impressed itself upon his character. His +will was as strong as that of Trevethick, but he had less of caution; +and he was at the same time both plodding and audacious. + +It would not be well, thought Richard occasionally, to have either of +these men for an enemy; and he was right. Unhappily, it was impossible +to win Harry without a quarrel with, at least, one of them, and rather +than lose her he was prepared to defy them both. If he could but have +lifted a corner of the curtain that veils the future--well, even then, +so mad was he by this time with the love of her, that he would almost +have defied them still. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +SPRING-TIDE. + + +There is a beauty in woman that takes the stranger, and another the +changeful charm of which wins its way deeper and deeper daily into the +heart of man; but in the person of Harry Trevethick these two beauties +were combined. Richard thought he had never seen any face half so fair +as that which shone upon him through the mist on the first day when he +came to Gethin; and when he had dwelt there for weeks he was of the same +opinion still. Harry was innocent, tender-hearted, and gay, and so far +the expression of her features told you truth; but it also told you more +than that, which you must needs believe, though it was not the fact. Her +face was not the index of her mind in all respects; it was rather like +the exquisite and costly dial-plate of a time-piece the works of which +are indifferent. Her air was spiritual; her voice thrilled your being +with its sweet tone; her eyes were full of earnest tenderness; but she +was weak of purpose, vacillating rather than impulsive, credulous, and +given (not from choice, but fear) to dissimulation. That last fault +Richard willingly forgave her, since it worked to his advantage; and to +the others he would have been more than human had he not been blind. For +Harry loved him. She had never said so; he had never asked her to say +so; but it was taken for granted on both sides. They were thrown much +together, for Dunloppel--a treasure-house, which proved richer and +richer the more it yielded--monopolized the attention of both Trevethick +and Solomon; they were in high good-humor, and not at all disposed for +quarrel or suspicion. Harry had always been the mistress of her own +movements, and she went, as usual, whither she liked, and Richard went +with her. + +The spring was advancing, and brought its soft hues even to the barren +moors of Gethin, and bathed its gray rocks in sunshine. There was much +to see that was worth seeing, and who so fit as Harry to point out these +objects of attraction with which she had been familiar from her +childhood? They strolled along the beach to Polwheel, and she snowed him +how the harbor there had been silted up through the wrath of the +mermaids, or "merry maids," as she called them, still (under favorable +circumstances) sometimes seen sitting on the slate cliff ledges beneath +the clear blue sea. Far from ridiculing her superstitions, he led her on +to talk of them; he did not much mind what she talked about so long as +he could look at her and listen. + +"But why were the Polwheel mermaids so cruel, Harry? I always imagine +them bright and beautiful beings, with golden hair almost as long as +yours, and with nothing to do but to comb it." + +"That is so, when they are let alone," said Harry, simply; "but even the +weakest creatures love revenge, and will get it if they can." + +"And quite right too," interrupted Richard; "but for fear of that the +strong would be more uncivil even than they are." + +"Well, a mermaid was once cruelly treated by a Polwheel man--he fell in +love with her, and deserted her--and then her sisters choked up the +harbor bar." + +"But how did he come to court the mermaid? That must have been +difficult; though, if I saw you sitting under water yonder, I should +certainly dive, and try." + +"You would have no breath to make me pretty speeches then," said Harry, +demurely. "This mermaid was, however, a changed child. A Polwheel woman +was bathing her infant in the pool yonder beneath that arched rock, when +it suddenly gave a cry of joy, and leaped from her arms into the sea. +She thought it was drowned, but it came up the next instant more +beautiful and bright than ever. She did not herself know but that it was +her own child, but there were old folks in the town who knew that it was +in reality a mermaid's changeling. She grew up to be a lovely woman, and +the Squire of Polwheel at that time--for his race has died out +since--fell in love with her; he treated her very ill, and she died +broken-hearted, at Gethin, and was buried in our church-yard, where I +can show you the tomb." + +"And did no punishment overtake the scoundrel Squire?" + +"Yes. After a great revel one night, he was returning home by the sands, +and in the moonlight beheld a beautiful lady sitting by this same pool. +She was so like his dead love to look at that he was frightened at +first, but she smiled and beckoned to him, and then, clasping him in her +arms, leaped into the sea, and drowned him; and in the storm that arose +that night the merry maids filled up the harbor." + +"That was hard upon Polwheel," observed Richard, "though the Squire only +got what he deserved. He must have been a bad lot." + +"But the mermaid was very foolish to believe him," added Harry--"very." + +They visited the Fairy Bower, did these young people--the only spot +about Gethin where trees grew; a beautiful ravine, with a fall of water, +and a caverned cell beside it, where a solitary hermit was said to have +dwelt. Notwithstanding which celibate association, it had a wishing-well +besides, into which a maiden had but to drop a pin, and wish her wish, +and straightway the face of her future husband was mirrored in the +water. Through its clear depths you might see the bottom of the pool +quite paved with pins. + +"And does the charm always work?" asked Richard, laughing. "Try it +to-day." + +"No, no," answered Harry, gravely; "one must be quite alone for that, +and beneath the moonlight." + +On Morven Point, a grand old promontory, which pushed out many a yard to +meet the encroaching waves, and battled with long before they reached +the main land, they sat and watched the sunsets; looked down upon the +busy hive of men that worked upon the slate quarry beneath, or gazed +upon the ships that tacked and wore to make Turlock Haven. There was a +tower on this place, half ruined and with broken steps, up which they +climbed together on one occasion, and stood supporting one another upon +its dizzy top. There lay around them a splendid prospect of sea and +land, but they were looking into one another's eyes, and yet they did +not speak of that which was nearest to their hearts. It was a topic to +be avoided as long as possible. They only enjoyed these blissful +opportunities--they had only been permitted to thus stroll out together +alone and unsuspected--upon the tacit understanding that no such thing +as love could exist between them. If Harry had not plighted faith to +Solomon, her engagement to him tacitly existed nevertheless, and it was +under its aegis alone that they had been protected and indulged. It was +a part of the character of the young girl to persuade herself that she +was doing no harm so long as it was possible to entertain that delusion; +and it was all one to Richard what their love was called so long as it +_was_ love. Else, as they stood alone together in the noonday stillness, +his arm around her waist, as it had not been since that first afternoon +upon the castled rock, he must needs have told her why the heart that +pressed so close against her side was beating high. Just then, however, +he dared not. Suppose that, by any possibility, he had mistaken her +sentiments; suppose, that is, an extorted promise, or fear of her +father's anger, or what not, should compel her to deny his suit, and +cleave to Solomon; suppose even that her simplicity was such--and it was +in some things marvelously great--that she had accepted his affection as +that of a brother--a friend of her father's and of "Sol's"--but no; he +felt certain that she loved him; suppose, at all events, for whatever +reason, she was once again to reprove him for yielding to the temptation +of her lips, he felt that such a rebuke must of necessity finish all. +She could not forgive him twice, unless she gave him license to offend +forever. He dared not, therefore, speak directly of that which both were +thinking of; and yet he could not altogether ignore so sweet a subject. + +"That is the moor yonder, Harry, over which I first came to Gethin--how +long ago!" + +"Has the time, then, hung so very heavy on your hands?" asked she, +seriously. + +"No, Harry, no; on the contrary, I have never been so happy; but when +one has a new experience, however charming it may be, it seems to +dwindle down one's past to nothing. I have had two lifetimes, as it +seems to me--one elsewhere, and one here; and yet it is but six weeks +since I met you first, Harry, out yonder, gleaming like a sunbeam +through the fog." + +"I remember it well," said Harry, with a slight shiver. + +"But not to sigh about it, dear, I trust? You are not afraid of me +_now_, as you were then? Do you recollect how scared you were when I +called you back that day?" + +"Yes, well," answered the young girl, earnestly. "I had a reason for +being scared, though you would laugh at me if I told you what it was." + +"Do I ever laugh at you, Harry, when you would have me serious?" asked +Richard, reproachfully. "Come, tell me why you shrank from me--as you +can not to-day, dear, for, see, I have got you close--and why your large +eyes looked so wild and strange that I half thought you mad? Did you +take me for a ghost?" + +"No; but I had just seen what is far worse than any ghost. Did you not +mark how pale I got that same night? I thought I should have fainted +when I was asked" (it was Solomon who had put the question, but +Solomon's name was never mentioned between these two young people) "if I +had ever seen a spectre ship. I had seen one that very day--only a few +minutes before I met _you_--and on this very cliff." + +"Well, and what then?" said Richard, smiling. "Neither your father, nor +any one in whom you have an interest, goes to sea. The Flying Dutchman +did not concern you, I reckon, even if he did pay you a call." + +"You do not understand," said Harry, seriously; "it was not that at all. +But when the mists rise over Turlock sands, as they did that day, a +black, square-rigged vessel glides across them, which bodes ill to those +who see her; and _I_ saw her as plain as I see _you_." + +"But not so near," said Richard, fondly. + +"She was coming from Turlock to the quarry yonder--" + +"To fetch slates," interrupted the other--"nothing more likely." + +"Nay, not she; no craft would have attempted that in such weather; and, +besides, there was not a soul on board of her. She was sailing against +what little wind there was, and against the tide." + +"But even if this was so, Harry, what of it? What harm has come of it?" + +"Nothing as yet; nor was I greatly frightened at the time. That omen +bodes unhappiness to him or her who sees it, and I was already unhappy." + +"Because I was not here to comfort you, Harry. Well, that is remedied." + +She shook her head, and did not return the reassuring pressure of his +hand. "Listen!" she said. "This misery comes through the person whom he +who has seen the vision shall next meet; and I thought I knew who I +should meet on my way home--one from whom"--she sank her voice to a +whisper--"I already expected misery." + +"You mean--" began Richard, eagerly. + +"No matter whom I mean. It was not he who met me; that was _you_." + +The hand which he held in his was cold as ice; her face was pale; and +her limbs trembled under her. + +"This is folly, Harry dear. Am I likely to do you harm, to make you +miserable?" + +"I do not know," said she. "I sometimes think you are." + +He put the long hair back from her forehead, and gazed into her eyes, +which were now fast filling with tears. "I love you, Harry, with all my +heart," sighed he--"you know I do. And, though you are sometimes cold, +and at others seem as though you purposely avoided me, I think you love +_me_--just a little--too. Better, at all events, than the man with whom +you yourself have just confessed you expect nothing but misery." + +"Hush, hush!" moaned she. "If I said that, it was very wrong." + +"It was the truth, Harry. How could it be otherwise? He is not a lover +meet for such as you; he is twice your age, and rough and rude of speech +even as a suitor. Do you think he will be more tender when he is a +husband? He is no mate for you, Harry, nor you for him." + +Again she shook her head, with a slow mournful movement, as though less +in dissent from his statement than in despair of remedy. + +"What!" cried he, "because his father was your father's friend, does +that give him the right to be your husband?" + +The young girl answered only with her sobs. + +"Now tell me, darling--did you ever promise to be this man's wife in +words?" + +"Yes--no--I am not sure. Oh yes, I must be his; my father has set his +mind upon it. Nay, do not smile at that; you don't know what my father +is. He is not one to cross;" and, as if at the very thought of her stern +parent's wrath, she lifted up her head from Richard's breast, and looked +around in fear. + +"But suppose I win him to my side, sweet Harry?" + +"That you could never do," sighed she. "I tell you you don't know him." + +"Nay; but I think I do, dear; and, if I could show him that it was to +his own advantage to have me for his son-in-law, in place of--" + +"You would not persuade him," interrupted the young girl, firmly--"not +even if you were Carew of Crompton's heir." + +The words she had used were meant to express exhaustless wealth--for +with such was the owner of Gethin still credited in that far-away corner +of his possession--but they startled and offended Richard. "I may not be +Carew's heir," said he, haughtily; "but I have some power at Crompton, +and I can exert it in your father's favor." + +Harry shook her head. "He wants for nothing," she said, "that you can +give him. He is wealthier than you imagine. He has two thousand pounds +in notes, for which he has no use; they lie in the strong-box in my +room. But there, I promised not to speak of that." + +"I am not a burglar in disguise," said Richard, smiling, "and would make +your father richer rather than rob him. But why should he keep so large +a sum by him?" + +"I do not know; but there it is, locked with a letter padlock which he +made himself. No human being can open it, he says, who does not know the +secret." + +Richard was silent. Something else than love was occupying his thoughts, +though his fingers were making marriage rings for themselves of Harry's +golden hair. It is like entertaining angels unawares to find after one +has fallen in love that it is with an heiress. + +"Dear Harry," said he at last, "I think I shall take you from your +father's willing hands; I have good hope of it, and better since I have +heard you so despairing; but, at all events, you will be mine. Let me +hear those sweet lips say so. Promise me, promise me, my darling, that +you will be my wife." + +He caught and clasped her close, and she did not repulse him. + +"I dare not, Richard--I dare not promise you," she murmured. + +"But if your father gives me leave?" whispered he, his lips to her warm +cheek. + +She uttered a soft cry of passionate joy that told him more than a +hundred phrases of assent how dear he was to her, and hid her face upon +his breast. + +Oh happy hour, so bright, and yet so brief! Oh golden noon, already on +the verge of eve and blackest night! + +How often in the after-time did that fair and sunny scene recur to them, +a bitter memory; how often was that first kiss of love renewed by cruel +fancy and in mocking dreams, its sweetness changed to gall! + +Better for one--better, perhaps, for both--if, clasped in one another's +arms, they had fallen from that tall tower's top, and then and there had +ended life and love together! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +WORKING ON A PIVOT. + + +Never had Richard been in such high spirits as on the evening of that +day on which Harry had made confession to him of her love, and had +promised to be his wife should her father's consent be gained. It was +true that she had been far from sanguine upon the latter point; but +Richard had his reasons for being of a different opinion. It would be +better, every way, if he could obtain Trevethick's good-will; not that +he at all shared in the girl's dread of his anger, but because it really +seemed that if he married her from her father's roof he should be +fulfilling his mother's injunctions in making alliance with an heiress. +What with his two thousand pounds in gold, and his inn, and his lucky +mine, it was plain that the old man would have no despicable sum to +leave behind him; and yet, to do Richard justice, this only formed an +additional incentive to a project upon which, at all events, he had long +set his heart. He had resolved at all hazards to make the girl his wife. +His love for her was as deep as it was passionate; and now that he was +assured from her own lips of its being returned, his heart was filled +with joy, and spoke out of its abundance. It had been hitherto his habit +in that family circle round the bar-parlor fire to play the part of +listener rather than of talker. He had mainly confined himself to the +exhibition of an attentive interest in Solomon's stories, or in his +host's sagacious observations with respect to the investment of capital, +such as: "One couldn't be too cautious where one put one's money;" and, +"Where the interest was high the risk was great, and where it was low it +was not worth while to let it leave one's hand." Next to the subject of +local superstition, "investment" was the favorite subject of debate +between Trevethick and "Sol;" and Richard, whose ignorance insured his +impartiality, had been the judicious scale-holder between them. But +upon the present occasion it was the young artist who led the talk and +chose the matter. He told them of the splendors of Crompton and of the +marvelous prodigality of its owner, and they listened with greedy ears. +To vulgar natures, the topic of mere wealth is ever an attractive one, +and in the present instance there was an additional whet to appetite in +the connection of Carew with Gethin. He was naturally an object of +curiosity to his tenant Trevethick, and never before had the old man had +the opportunity of hearing at first hand of the eccentricities of the +Squire. In relating them Richard took good care to show by implication +on what intimate terms he stood with him, and hinted at the obligation +under which he had put him by throwing his park gate open so +opportunely. The impression which he left upon his audience, and desired +to leave, was, that Carew was indebted to him for having saved his life. + +"Then it is likely the Squire would do any thing for you that you chose +to ask him?" observed Trevethick, with the thought of his own debt to +Solomon's father doubtless in his mind. + +"Well, he certainly ought to do so," answered Richard, carelessly; "but, +on the other hand, it is not very probable that I shall put him to the +test." + +"Just so," returned Trevethick, sucking at his pipe; "you're independent +of the likes of him." + +"Altogether," was Richard's reply. + +The old man spoke no more, but sat in a cloud of smoke and thought for +the rest of the evening. Even when "Sol" rose up to go--Harry having +retired long since, for they kept very early hours at the Gethin +Castle--the landlord did not, as usual, accompany him, but mixed himself +another glass of his favorite liquor. As for Richard, it was not his +custom to seek his bed until after midnight; so Trevethick and he were +left to one another's company. It was an opportunity to which the latter +had been looking forward for many a day, but which he had never desired +so keenly as at that moment. + +"Are you likely to be at Crompton soon again?" inquired the landlord, +pursuing the subject of the evening's talk. + +"I have no intention of going there at present," returned Richard. "The +fact is, Mr. Trevethick, between ourselves, I am but a poor man in +comparison with many of those I meet there, and their ways and habits +are too expensive for me." + +"Ay! gambling and such like, I suppose?" observed the landlord, +cunningly. "It is 'Light come light go' with the money of that sort of +folk, I reckon." + +"Just so; and though my money comes light enough--that is, I have not to +earn it, since my mother makes me an allowance--I don't choose to risk +it at the card-table." + +"Quite right, quite right, young gentleman," answered the other, +approvingly. "But there are some prudent gentry even at Crompton, I +suppose. Parson Whymper, for instance, he don't gamble, do he?" + +"Certainly not; he is much too sagacious a man, even if he were rich +enough, to play; but for him, indeed, some say the Squire would have +come to the end of his tether before this. He manages every thing at +Crompton, as you know." + +"And yet Carew don't want money?" said the landlord, musing. + +"Well, I have been his guest," returned Richard, smiling; "and it is +scarcely fair of me to speak of his embarrassments. He does not +certainly want it so much but that he can still afford to indulge his +whims, Mr. Trevethick, if that's what you mean." + +"That's just what I did mean," said the old man, frankly. "Six months +ago or so I made a certain proposition to the Squire, which would have +been exceedingly to his advantage to accept--" + +"And not to yours?" interrupted Richard, slyly. + +"Nay, I don't say that, Sir," answered the other. "But it was one that +he ought to have been glad to accept in any case, and which it was +downright madness in him to refuse, if he wanted cash. It was a chance, +too, I will venture to say, that will never offer itself from any other +quarter. Mr. Whymper acknowledged that himself." + +"I know all about the matter, Mr. Trevethick: the Squire behaved like +the dog in the manger to you. He won't work the mine himself, nor yet +let you work it." + +"For mercy's sake, be quiet!" cried the landlord, earnestly, and looking +cautiously about him. "If you know all about it, you need not let others +know. What mine are you talking about? Give it a name--but speak it +under your breath, man." The old man leaned forward with a white moist +face, and peered into Richard's eyes as though he would read his soul. + +"Wheal Danes was the name of the place, if I remember right," said +Richard. "Carew has a notion that the Romans did not use it up, and that +it only wants capital to make it a paying concern. It is one of his mad +ideas, doubtless." + +Mr. John Trevethick was not by nature a quick appreciator of sarcasm, +but he could not misunderstand the irony expressed in Richard's words. + +"And is that what you came down to Gethin about?" inquired he, with a +sort of grim despair, which had nevertheless a comical effect. + +Richard could only trust himself to nod his head assentingly. + +"Well," cried the other, striking the table with his fist, "if I didn't +think you was as deep as the devil the very first day that I set eyes on +you! So you are Parson Whymper's man, are you?" And here, in default of +language to express his sense of the deception that, as he supposed, had +been practiced on him, Mr. Trevethick uttered an execration terrible +enough for a Cornish giant. + +"I am not Mr. Whymper's man at all," observed Richard, coolly. "Mr. +Whymper is my man--or at least he will be one day or another." + +"How so?" inquired the landlord, his eyes at their full stretch, his +mouth agape, and his neglected pipe in his right hand. "Who, in the +Fiend's name, are you?" + +"I am the only son and heir of Carew of Crompton," answered the young +man, deliberately. + +"You? Why, Carew never had a son," exclaimed Trevethick, incredulously; +"leastways, not a lawful one. He was married once to a wench of the name +of Hardcastle, 'tis true; but that was put aside." + +"I tell you I am Carew's lawful son, nevertheless," persisted Richard. +"My mother was privately married to him. Ask Parson Whymper, and he +will tell you the same. It is true that my father has not acknowledged +me, but I shall have my rights some day--and Wheal Danes along with the +rest." + +The news of the young man's paternity must have been sufficiently +startling to him who thus received it for the first time, and would, +under any other circumstances, have doubtless excited his phlegmatic +nature to the utmost; but what concerns ourselves in even a slight +degree is, with some of us, more absorbing than the most vital interests +of another; and thus it was with Trevethick. The ambitious pretensions +of his lodger sank into insignificance--notwithstanding that, for the +moment, he believed in them; for how, unless he was what he professed to +be, could he know so much?--before the disappointment which had befallen +himself in the overthrow of a long-cherished scheme. + +"Why, Mr. Whymper wrote me with his own hand," growled he, "that in his +judgment the mine was worthless, and that he had done all he could to +persuade the Squire to sell. And yet you come down here to gauge and +spy." + +"All stratagems are fair in war and business," answered the young man, +smiling. "Come, Mr. Trevethick; whatever reasons may have brought me +here, I assure you, upon my honor, that they do not weigh with me now, +in comparison with the great regard I feel for you and yours. If you +will be frank with me, I will also be so with you; and let me say this +at the outset, that nothing which may drop from your lips shall be made +use of to prejudice your interests. I have gathered this much for +myself, that Wheal--" + +"Hush, Sir! for any sake, hush!" implored the landlord, earnestly, and +holding up his huge hand for silence. "Do not give it a name again; +there is some one moving above stairs." + +"It is only Solomon," observed Richard, quietly. + +"I don't want Sol nor any other man alive to hear what we are talking +about, Mr. Yorke," answered Trevethick, hoarsely. "You have gathered for +yourself, you were about to say, that the mine is rich, and well worth +what I have offered for it." + +"And a good deal more," interrupted Richard. "Perhaps a hundred times, +perhaps a thousand times as much. We don't make so close a secret of a +matter without our reasons. We don't see Dead Hands, with flames of fire +at the finger-tips, going up and down ladders that don't exist, without +the most excellent reasons, Mr. Trevethick. What we wish no eye to see, +nay, no ear to hear spoken of, is probably a subject of considerable +private importance to ourselves. Come, we are friends here together; I +say again, let us be frank." + +Trevethick was silent for a little; he felt a lump rise in his throat, +as though nature itself forbade him to disclose the secret he had kept +so long and so jealously guarded. "I have known it for these fifty +years," he began, in a half-choking voice. "I found it out as a mere +lad, when I went down into the old mine one day for sport, with some +schoolmates. The vein lies in the lowest part of the old workings, at a +depth that we think nothing of nowadays, though it was too deep for the +old masters of the pit. I remember, as though it was yesterday, how my +heart leaped within me when my torch shone upon it, and how I fled away, +lest my school-fellows should see it also. I came back the next day +alone, to certify my great discovery. It is a good vein, if ever there +was one. The copper there may be worth tens of thousands, hundreds of +thousands, millions!" Never had the numeration table been invested with +such significance. Trevethick's giant frame shook with emotion; his eyes +literally glared with greed. + +"You have been there since?" observed Richard, interrogatively. + +"Often, often," answered the other, hoarsely; "I could not keep away. +But nobody else has been there. The place is dark and perilous; there +are rats, and bats, and eerie creatures all about it. And folks are +afraid, because of the Dead Hand and the Flame." + +"Your hand and torch?" + +"Yes. I did my best to keep the place my own; my thoughts were never +absent from it for a day. And when I had earned a little money I put it +by, and more to that, and more to that again, till I had got enough to +make a bid for the lease of the old mine. But Carew was under age; so +that fell through. I bided my time, and bid again; not much--not enough, +as I fondly thought, to excite suspicion--but still what would seem a +good price for a disused pit. Then I bid more and more; but Carew will +neither sell nor let; and my money grows and grows in vain. I tell you I +have laid by a fortune only to pour into his hand. It is ready for him +to-night; there would be no haggling, no asking for time--it would be +paid him in hard cash. How long, thought I, will this madman balk me +with his whim? He will die some day in his cups, or break his neck in +hunting, and I shall surely come in with my offer to his heir, and have +my way at last, and win my prize. But now, after all my patience and my +pains, I am overmatched by a Parson and a Boy." He spoke with uncommon +heat and passion--not complainingly. His face was dark, and his tone +violent, and even menacing. There was no mistake about his having +accepted his companion's invitation to be frank. + +"Mr. Trevethick," said Richard, gravely, "your disappointment would be +natural enough, if your long-cherished plan had really failed; but you +have misunderstood me altogether. I am grateful to you for confiding to +me the whole of what I had already guessed in part; and you shall have +no reason to repent your confidence. Your secret is safer now than it +has ever been; for from my lips Mr. Whymper shall never have his +suspicions with respect to Wheal Danes confirmed. I have been too long +your guest, I feel myself too much the friend of you and yours, to act +in any way to your disadvantage." + +Trevethick looked at him inquiringly, suspicion and disfavor glowing in +his dusky face. "But if your story is true, young gentleman, this mine +will be your own some day?" + +"It may, or it may not be, Mr. Trevethick. My father's intentions are +not to be counted upon, as you must be well aware, for twenty-four +hours. But if ever Wheal Danes is mine--" Richard hesitated a moment, +while the landlord devoured him with his eyes. + +"Well," cried he, impatiently, "what then?" + +"I am willing to make over to you, as soon as I come of age, by deed, +all interest that I may have in it--on one condition." + +"Make over Wheal Danes to me by deed! What! at my own price?" + +"For nothing; you shall have it for a free gift." + +"But the condition? What is it that you want of me that is not money?" + +"I want permission from you, Mr. Trevethick, to wed, that is--for I +would not speak of love without your leave--to woo your daughter." + +"To wed my daughter!" cried Trevethick, starting from his seat; "my +Harry!" + +"I say provided that my suit is not displeasing to her," answered +Richard, not without a tremor in his voice, for the old man's face was +terrible to look upon. Hatred and Wrath were struggling there with +Avarice, and had the upper hand. + +He rocked himself to and fro, then answered, in a stifled voice, "My +daughter's hand is already promised, young man." + +"It may be so, Mr. Trevethick, but not by her, I think; and that her +heart has not been given to the man you have designed for her is +certain. You may see that for yourself." + +"I tell you I have passed my word to Solomon Coe that she shall be his +wife," returned the other, gloomily, "and I am not one to go back from a +bargain." + +"One can only promise what is in one's power," urged Richard; "your +daughter's heart is not yours to give. In backing this man's suit you +have already redeemed your word to him. If he has failed to win her +affections--and I think he has--let me try my chance. I am a fitter +match for her in years; I am a gentleman, and therefore fitter for her, +for she is a true lady. I love her a thousand times as much as he. As +for Wheal Danes, I would give you twenty such, if I had them, for the +leave I ask for, and the end I hope for." + +It was curious to mark how the mere mention of the mine by name affected +the old man; his wrath, which seemed on the very point of explosion, was +checked and smoothed at once, like raging waves by oil; his brow, +indeed, was still dark and frowning, but he resumed his seat, and +listened, or seemed to listen, to Richard's impassioned pleading. His +genuine feeling made the young fellow eloquent, and gave a tender charm +to his always handsome face and winning tones. + +Perhaps even the unsympathetic Trevethick was really somewhat touched; +at all events, he did not interrupt him, but when he had quite finished +took out his watch, and said, in a softened tone: "The hour is late, Mr. +Yorke, and you have given me much to think about, to which I can not +reply just now. Your communication has taken me altogether by surprise. +I will answer neither 'Yes' nor 'No' at present. Good-night, Sir." He +nodded, which was his usual salute at parting; but upon the young man's +eagerly stretching out his hand, he took it readily enough, and gave it +such a squeeze with his giant fingers as made Richard wince. Then, +smiling grimly, he retired. + +As his heavy step toiled up stairs Richard perceived a slip of paper on +the floor, which had apparently fluttered out of the old man's +watch-case. Upon it were written the three letters, B, N, Z. As he held +it in his hand he heard the landlord's tread returning with unusual +haste, and had only just time to replace the paper, face downward, on +the sanded floor, before the other reappeared. + +"I have dropped a memorandum, somewhere," said he. "It is of no great +consequence, but--Oh, here it is!" He picked it up, and replaced it in +the hollow of his great silver watch. + +Richard, who was sitting where he had left him, looked up with a glance +of careless inquiry. "Good-night again, Mr. Trevethick." + +"Good-night, Sir." And again the landlord smiled in his grim fashion. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +BY MOONLIGHT. + + +Richard sat over the fire, revolving his late conversation with +Trevethick in his mind, and picturing to himself what would probably +come of it. Although the declaration of his love for Harry had been thus +suddenly made, it had not been made unadvisedly. Though he had not +expected the opportunity for stating it would have offered itself so +soon, he had planned his whole argument out beforehand, with Wheal Danes +for its pivot. And, upon the whole, he felt satisfied with its effect +upon his host. The latter had not surprised him (except by his +frankness) in his disclosure respecting the rich promise of the mine. +Richard's own observation, aided by the clew which Parson Whymper's few +chance sentences had given him, had convinced him that Wheal Danes was a +most coveted object in the landlord's eyes; and had it happened to have +fallen into his own hands, he did really suspect enough to have had it +searched for ore from top to bottom. Trevethick had therefore lost +nothing by his revelation (as his sagacity had doubtless foreseen), +while he had made a very favorable impression upon Richard by his +candor. Cornish giants, thought the latter, might be rude and brutal, +but duplicity was foreign to their character; it was not Blunderbore, +but Jack the Giant-killer, who dug pitfalls, and pretended to swallow +what he only put in a bag. + +Trevethick had certainly shown strong disfavor to the young man's suit, +backed though it was by such great pretensions; and it was evident that +but for his hold upon him with respect to the mine, Richard would not +have been listened to so patiently. However, his mouth had not been +peremptorily closed at once (as he had expected it would have been), +which was a great point gained, and the longer the old man took to think +about the matter the more likely was self-interest to gain the day with +him. Supposing Richard's representations to have been correct, he was +certainly "a better match" for Harry than Solomon was; and he had no +apprehension of their being refuted. Trevethick would in all probability +write to Mr. Whymper to inquire into the truth of them--but what then? +He would certainly make no reference to the mine; and as to Richard +being Carew's lawful son, had not the chaplain himself (whom he could +count on as a friend to say all that was to his advantage besides) +admitted that, in his eyes, he was born in honest wedlock? At all +events, there would be ample excuse for his having taken such a view of +the case; while, as to his prospects, he had frankly confessed that he +was, for the present, unacknowledged by the Squire. So long, in fact, as +he could keep up the pretense of influence, either present or +contingent, at Crompton, he felt his position with Trevethick tolerably +secure. In all this scheme of dark deceit his love for Harry was +interwoven like a golden thread, and amidst all his plots and plans her +glorious face would suddenly rise unbidden, and charm him from them. He +had long since resolved to win her, but the late avowal of her love for +him, and now his partial success to gain her father's favor, seemed to +have made her his own already. How beautiful she had looked that day +upon the tower, with the sunlight on her hair! How fresh and guileless +were her ways! Her very weaknesses were lovable, and the cause of love. +How touching was her simple faith in omens, and how pleasant to combat +it, his arm about her dainty waist, as though to protect her from the +shadow of harm! How pitiful her fear of her gruff father, and of this +Cornish Solomon; and how sweet to calm it, kissing her tears away! Once +more his loving arms embraced her--once more his lips touched her warm +cheeks--when a sudden noise awakened him from his dream of bliss. + +The parlor fire had long gone out. It was warm for the time of year; but +had it been otherwise he would not have replenished it. The candles, +too, had burned out, and the moon-beams were streaming through the +window; but had it been dark he would scarce have been aware of it. The +house had long ago been hushed in repose, and yet Richard felt certain +that he had heard a movement in the passage. + +A stealthy step, yet not that of thief or burglar; a fairy footfall, +rather, which was music to his ear. His heart leaped up to tell him that +on the other side of the door was Harry Trevethick. He held his breath, +and trembled--not for fear. Was it possible that, knowing he was sitting +there alone, she had come down of her own choice to bear him company? +Had her father told her something--some glad tidings which she could not +keep from her lover even for a night? Or, filled with sweet dreams of +him, as he of her, had she risen in her sleep, and been drawn +involuntarily toward him by the loadstone of love? But--hark! The bolt +that fastened the house-door was softly drawn, and the latch gently +lifted. What _could_ that mean? Why was she thus going forth alone, and +clandestinely, at midnight? His heart beat faster than ever. For an +instant all that he had read or heard from his wild companions, and what +he had himself believed until he came to Gethin, of the wiles and +inconstancy of woman, flashed upon his mind. Had he, bred in the town, +and familiar with all the ways of vice, been flattered and hoodwinked by +a country wanton? Impossible. For, though there were no virtue in the +world, he felt assured that Harry loved him, and him alone. She must be +walking in her sleep. Softly, but very swiftly, he left the parlor, and +hurried to the front-door. It was closed, but unfastened. He opened it, +and looked out. All was as light as day, and yet so different. Every +object in the street, every stone in the cottage opposite, stood out +distinct and clear, but bathed in a pale and ghostly atmosphere. The +distant murmur of the sea came to him like the sigh of one just freed +from pain. Nothing else was to be heard; no human tread disturbed the +midnight stillness; but along the winding road that led to Turlock he +caught the far-off flutter of a woman's dress. She was going at rapid +speed, and the next moment had turned the corner, but not before he had +recognized his Harry; and, closing the inn door softly behind him, he +started after her like an arrow from the bow. + +The scene of this pursuit was strange and weird enough, had Richard +possessed eyes for any thing but the object of it. The sky was without a +cloud, and the sea--which showed on its cold blue surface a broad and +shining path where the moon-beams lay--without a ripple. On shore there +was even less of motion. The bramble that threw its slender shadow on +the road moved not a twig. Nature, green and pale, seemed to be cast in +an enchanted sleep, and even to suspend her breathing. From the point +Richard had reached he could see the road stretching for a full mile, +like a white ribbon, save in the middle, where it dipped between high +banks. It led to Turlock only, but at this place a foot-path struck +across the fields to the Fairies' Bower. To his astonishment, though +indeed he had scarcely capacity enough for further wonder, Harry took +this path; he saw her climb the stile, and then for the first time look +round; he sank under the hedge, to hide himself; and when he cautiously +looked forth again the girl had vanished. But he knew whither she was +going now. He had assisted her across that very stile but a few days +ago; he had walked with her through the hazel copse, and skirted the +clear trout-stream by her side; and he could follow her now at utmost +speed, and with less caution, for the path was green and noiseless. He +could hear his heart beat--not from want of breath--as though in accord +with the silver treble of the stream, as he sped along. Through the +scanty foliage of the dell he saw her light dress gleam across the +wooden bridge, but he himself stopped beside it, peering through the +lattice of the branches upon her as she stood on the green bank of the +Wishing-Well. + +Never had moon-beams shone upon a sight more fair. Harry was attired as +she had been on the previous evening, except that she wore a shawl, +which also served her as head-gear, like a hood. This she now +unfastened, and taking out the pin that had joined it together, held it +above the well, which showed, as in a mirror, her leaning face and +curving form, her wealth of hair, her frightened yet hopeful eyes, and +the rise and fall of her bosom, filled with anxiety and superstitious +awe. She had come to test her future--to foresee her fate--at Gethin +Wishing-Well. For an instant she poised the pin, her lips at the same +time murmuring some simple charm--then dropped it into the well's clear +depths, and watched it fall. As she did so, another figure seemed to +glide upon the liquid mirror, at the sight of which she clasped her +hands and trembled. Superstitious as she was, Harry had only half +expected that her foolish curiosity would be actually gratified. Moved +by the avowal of Richard's love that morning, the obstacles to which +seemed to her so formidable, she had wished to see her future husband, +to know how fate would decide between him she loved and him whom her +father had chosen for her, and yet she was terrified now that that +which she had desired was vouchsafed her. She scarcely dared to look +upon yonder shadowy form, although its presence seemed to assure her of +the fulfillment of her dearest wish. It was the counterfeit presentment +of Richard Yorke himself; bareheaded, just as she had seen him last in +the bar parlor, but with heightened color, an eager smile, and a loving +gratitude in his eyes, which seemed to thank her for having thus +summoned him before her. The figure was at right angles from her own, +but the face was turned toward her. She gazed upon it intently, looking +for it to faint and fade, since its mission had been accomplished. She +even drew back a little, as though to express content, yet there was the +vision still, a glorious picture in its fair round frame of moss and +greenery. Supposing it should remain there (her pale face flushed at the +thought) indelibly and forever, to tell the secret of her heart to all +the world! Then a whisper, that seemed to tremble beneath its freight of +love, whispered, "Harry! Harry!" and she looked up, and saw the +substance of the shadow, her lover, standing upon the little wooden +bridge! + +Though Folly be near kin to Vice, she does not acknowledge the +relationship, and, to do Harry Trevethick justice, she would never have +made a midnight assignation with Richard in the Fairies' Bower. She was +more alarmed and shocked at the too literal fulfillment of her wish than +pleased to see him there. She shed tears for very shame. Whatever +reserve she had hitherto maintained, with respect to her affection for +him, had now, she perceived, been swept away by her own act. The scene +to which he had just been an unsuspected witness was more than +equivalent to a mere declaration of love: it was a leap-year offer of +her hand and heart. She had no strong-hold of Duty left to which to +betake herself, nor even a halting-place, such as coy maidens love to +linger at a little before they murmur, "I am yours." + +There was nothing left her but revilings. She poured upon him a torrent +of contumely, reproaching him for his baseness, his cowardice, his +treachery in tracking her hither, like a spy, to overhear a confession +that should have been sacred with him of all men. Whatever that +confession might have been--and, to say truth, so utterly possessed had +she been by her passionate hopes, her loving yearnings, that she knew +not what she had merely felt, what uttered aloud--she now retracted it; +she had no tenderness for eaves-droppers, for deceivers, for--she did +not know what she was saying--for wicked young men. Above all things it +seemed necessary to be in a passion; to be as irritated and bitter +against him as possible. The copiousness of her vocabulary of abuse +surprised herself, and she did not shrink from tautology. She only +stopped at last for want of breath, and even then, as though she knew +how dangerous was silence, she bemoaned herself with sobs and sighs. + +Then Richard, all tenderness and submission, explained his presence +there; showed how little he was to blame in the matter, and, indeed, how +there was neither blame nor shame to be attached to either of them; +spoke of his late interview with her father, gilding it with brightest +hopes, and cited the marvelous attributes of the Wishing-Well itself in +support of his position. He felt himself already her affianced husband; +the question of their union had become only one of time. She was +listening to him now, and had suffered him to kiss her tears away, when +suddenly she started from his embrace with a muffled cry of terror. Some +movement of beast or bird in the copse had made a rustling in the +underwood, but her fears gave it a human shape. What if Sol should have +followed them thither, as Richard had followed _her!_ What if her father +should have heard her leave his roof, as Richard had, or should miss her +from it--and--oh shame!--_miss him!_ "Home! home!" she cried. "Let me +go home." And she looked so wild with fright that he durst not hinder +her. Hardly could he keep pace with her along the winding path, with +such frantic speed she ran. At the stile she forbade him to accompany +her farther. + +"What! leave you to walk alone, and at such an hour, my darling?" It was +nearly two o'clock. + +"Why not?" she cried, turning upon him fiercely. "I am afraid of none +but you, and of those whom I should love, but of whom you make me +afraid." Then up the white road she glided like a ghost. + +Richard watched her with anxious eyes as long as he could, then sat upon +the stile, a prey to apprehensions. To what dangers might he not have +already exposed her by his inconsiderate pursuit! Suppose some eye had +seen them on their way, or should meet her now on her return! Suppose +her own fears should prove true, and her father had already discovered +their absence! His thoughts were loyally occupied with Harry alone; but +the peril to himself was considerable. It was impossible that he could +satisfactorily explain his companionship with the inn-keeper's daughter +at such a place and hour. The truth would never be believed, even if it +could be related. She had got home by this time; but had she done so +unobserved? Otherwise, it was more than probable that he should find two +Cornish giants waiting, if not "to grind his bones to make their bread," +at least to break them with their cudgels. In their eyes he would seem +to have been guilty of a deliberate seduction, the one of his daughter, +the other of his destined bride. Yet, not to return to Gethin in such a +case would be worse than cowardice, since his absence would be sure to +be associated with Harry's midnight expedition. He had hitherto only +despised this Trevethick and his friend, but now, since he feared them, +he began to hate them. Bodily discomfort combined with his mental +disquietude. For the first time he felt the keenness of the moonlit air, +and shivered in it, notwithstanding the hasty strides which he now was +taking homeward. Upon the hill-top he paused, and glanced about him. All +was as it had been when he set out; there was no sign of change nor +movement. The inn, with its drawn-down blinds, seemed itself asleep. The +front-door had been left ajar, doubtless by Harry; he pushed his way in, +and silently shut it to, and shot the bolt; then he took off his boots, +and walked softly up stairs in his stockinged feet. He knew that there +was at least one person in that house who was listening with beating +heart for every noise. + +The ways of clandestine love have been justly described as "full of +cares and troubles, of fears and jealousies, of impatient waiting, +tediousness of delay, and sufferance of affronts, and amazements of +discovery;" and though Richard Yorke had never read those words of our +great English divine, he had already begun to exemplify them, and was +doomed to prove them to the uttermost. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +RICHARD BURNS HIS BOATS. + + +It was strange enough that day after day and week after week went by +without John Trevethick making any reference to the application his +guest had made for his daughter's hand. His silence certainly seemed to +favor it; and the more so since, notwithstanding what he knew, he put no +obstacles in the way of the young people's meeting and enjoying each +other's society as heretofore. Perhaps he had too strong a confidence in +Harry's sense of duty, or in the somewhat more than filial fear in which +she stood of him. Perhaps Richard's prudent and undemonstrative behavior +toward the girl in the presence of others deceived him. But, at all +events, the summer came and still found Richard under the same roof with +Harry, and more like one of the family than ever. Tourists of the young +man's own position in life, and even of the same profession, began to +visit Gethin, and of course "put up" at the _Castle_, but he found +nothing so attractive in their company as to withdraw him from that +homely coterie in the bar parlor for a single evening. He was always +made welcome there by both his host and Solomon; and without doubt, so +far as the former was concerned, a less sanguine man than the young +landscape-painter might have considered that his suit was tacitly +acceded to. + +Even Harry herself--to whom her father's conduct was surprising +enough--had come at last to this conclusion. Only one thing militated +against this pleasant view of affairs--it was certain that the old man +had not yet opened his lips to "Sol" upon the matter. It was clear that +the miner still considered himself in the light of Harry's accepted +suitor. As a lover, he was fortunately phlegmatic, and did not demand +those little tributes of affection in the shape of smiles and whispers, +secret glances, silent pressures, which his position might have exacted; +but he would now and then pay her a blundering compliment in a manner +that could not be misinterpreted, or even make some direct allusion to +their future settlement in life, which embarrassed her still more. The +young girl, as we have hinted, was by no means incapable of +dissimulation, but she naturally revolted against having to support such +a _role_ as this, and would have even run the risk of precipitating what +might have been a catastrophe by undeceiving him. But Richard bade her +have patience. He had strong reasons, if they were not good ones, for +being well satisfied with the present state of affairs. In love, +notwithstanding much savage writing to the contrary, it is the woman who +suffers; it is she who is the small trader, who can least afford to +wait, while man is the capitalist. Richard saw no immediate necessity +for pressing the matter of his marriage, upon which his heart was, +nevertheless, as deeply set as ever. He would not (to do him justice) +have been parted from his Harry now for all the wealth of Carew. But he +was not parted from her, and he did not wish to risk even a temporary +separation by any act of impetuosity. Living was cheap as well as +pleasant at the _Gethin Castle_, and it was of importance to husband his +funds--to reserve as much of his resources as he could for the expenses +of his honey-moon. So far, and no farther, went his plans for the +future. He knew that his mother would not refuse to offer them a home, +even if his wife should come to him empty-handed; and the more he +humored the old man, and abstained from demanding a decision, when it +was clear the other preferred to procrastinate, the better favor he +would have with him, and consequently the better chance of gaining a +dowry with his daughter. Even if he should press matters, it was +probable, he reasoned, that Trevethick had no decisive reply to give +him. He had doubtless written to Mr. Whymper, and learned all that +Richard had already divulged to him--and no more; that is to say, that +he was, though an unacknowledged offspring of the Squire, in a very +different position, at all events, toward him than that of a mere +natural son. Trevethick could not have heard less--that is, less to his +advantage--or he certainly would not have kept silence for so long. + +Such was the state of affairs at Gethin. Harry with her two suitors; her +father with his two expectant sons-in-law, each of whom had more or less +of reason for his expectation. Though Richard might be satisfied with +it, it was clear it could not last forever--nor for long. The day on +which the change took place, though it was in no wise remarkable in +other respects, he never forgot: every incident connected with it, +though disregarded at the time, impressed itself upon his mind, to be +subsequently dwelt upon a thousand times. It might have been marked in +the hitherto sunny calendar of his life as the "Last day of Thoughtless +Gayety. Here Love and Pleasure end." + +It was fine weather, and there were more tourists at the inn than could +be accommodated, so Richard had given up his private sitting-room to +their temporary use. This, however, did not throw him more in Harry's +society than usual, since their presence naturally much occupied her +time. He had not, indeed, seen her since the mid-day meal which he had +taken in the bar parlor; but she had promised, if she could get away, to +call for him at a certain spot where he had gone to sketch--the +church-yard on the hill. The attraction of the castled rock was such +that few visitors sought the former spot, notwithstanding its +picturesque and wild position. How the church maintained itself on that +elevated and unsheltered hill, despite such winds as swept it in the +winter, was almost a miracle: but there it stood--as it had done for +centuries--gray, solitary, sublime. It was of considerable size, but +small in comparison with its God's-acre, which was of vast extent, and +only sparsely occupied by graves. The bare and rocky moor was almost +valueless; it is as easy for one duly qualified to consecrate a square +mile as an acre; and the materials of the low stone wall that marked its +limits had been close at hand. In one or two spots only did the dead lie +thickly; where shipwrecked mariners--the very names of whom were unknown +to those who buried them--were interred; and where the victims of the +Plague reposed by scores. Even Gethin had not escaped the ravages of +that fell scourge; and, what was very singular, had suffered from it +twice over; for, on the occasion of an ordinary burial having taken +place many generations after the first calamity, in the same spot, the +disease had broken forth afresh, and scattered broadcast in the little +hamlet ancient death. The particulars of the catastrophe, so +characteristic of this home of antique legend and hoary ruin, were +engraven on a stone above the spot, which had never since been +disturbed. + +In a lone corner, as though seeking in its humility to be as distant +from the sacred edifice as possible, was a quaint old cross. It was +probably not so old by half a dozen centuries as the grave-mounds on the +rock where the ruined castle stood, but it seemed even older, because +there were words cut in its stone in a tongue that was no longer known +to man. Seated on the low wall beside it, Richard was transferring to +his sketch-book this relic of the past in his usual intermittent +manner--now gazing out upon the far-stretching sea, here blue and +bright, there shadowed by a passing cloud; now down into the village, +which stood on a lower hill, with a ravine between. He had seen the +post-cart come and go--for it came in and went out simultaneously at +that out-of-the-way hamlet, where there was no one to write +complainingly to the papers concerning the inefficiency of the mail +service--and it was almost time for Harry to come and fetch him, as she +had appointed. But presently the reason for her absence made itself +apparent in the person of her father. It was not unusual for old +Trevethick, at the close of the day, to call at the cottage in the +ravine, which the guide to the ruin inhabited in the summer months, and +see how business was doing in that quarter. If he had no eye for the +picturesque, he had a very sharp one for the shillings which were made +out of it; and Richard was not surprised to see the landlord descending +the opposite hill. "This will keep Harry at home; confound him!" +muttered the young man to himself, and then resumed his occupation. As +there was now no one to watch for, he worked with more assiduity, and +with such engrossment in his subject that he was first made conscious +that he was not alone by the sudden presence of a shadow on his +sketch-book. He looked up, not a little startled, and there was John +Trevethick standing beside him, his huge form black against the sun. + +"You may well be frightened, young gentleman," were his first ominous +words; "it is only a guilty conscience that starts at a shadow." + +Richard _had_ a guilty conscience; and yet the remark that was thus +addressed to him, unconciliatory, if not directly hostile, as it was, +rather reassured him than otherwise. + +Trevethick's presence there, for he had never made pretense of seeking +Richard's society for its own sake--was of evil augury; his tone and +manner were morose and threatening; his swarthy face was full of pent-up +wrath; and yet it was obvious to the other that the secret was yet safe, +the divulging of which he had most cause to fear. Had it been otherwise +there would have been no mere thunder-cloud, but a tornado. "The post +has brought some ill news from Crompton," was what flashed across the +young man's brain; and the thought, though sufficiently uncomfortable, +was a relief compared with that he had first entertained, and which had +driven the color from his cheeks. + +"I have no cause to be frightened, that I know of, either of you or any +other man, Mr. Trevethick," observed Richard, haughtily. + +"I hear you say so," was the other's grim reply; "but I shall be better +pleased to hear you prove it." + +"Prove what?" + +"Two things--that you are not a bastard, nor a pauper." + +Richard leaped down from the wall with a fierce oath; and for a moment +it really seemed that he would have flung himself against his gigantic +opponent, like a fretful wave against a rock of granite. + +Trevethick uttered an exclamation of contempt. "Pick up your +sketch-book, young man, or one of those pretty pictures will be spoiled +by which you gain your bread. You've acted the fine gentleman at Gethin +very well, but the play is over now." + +"I don't understand you, Mr. Trevethick. If you must needs be insolent, +at all events, be explicit. You have miscalled me by two names--Bastard +and Pauper. Who has put those lies into your mouth, the taste of which +you seem to relish so?" + +Trevethick reached forth his huge hand, and seized the other's shoulder +with a gripe of steel. It seemed to compress bone and sinew as in a +vice; the arm between them was as a bar of iron. Richard felt powerless +as a child, and could have cried like a child--not from pain, though he +was in great pain, but from vexation and rage. It was maddening to find +himself thus physically subjugated by one whom he so utterly despised. + +"Keep a civil tongue in your head, cock-sparrow," growled the giant, +"lest I wring your neck. You're a nice one to talk of lying; you, with +your tales of son and heirship to the Squire, and your offers of +copper-mines for the asking! Who told me how I had been fooled? Why, +Carew himself! You thought I should write to the parson, eh?" + +Richard certainly had thought that he would have written to the parson, +but he strove to look as calm and free from disappointment as he could, +as he replied: "It was quite indifferent to me to whom you wrote, Mr. +Trevethick. There was only one account to give of my affairs; and it was +the same I had already given to you. I told you that my father did not +choose to acknowledge me for the present, and I have no doubt that your +questioning him upon the matter has made him very bitter against me; the +more so because he is well aware that he is fighting against the truth; +he knows that he was married to my mother in a lawful way, and that I am +the issue of that marriage. It is true that technical objections have +been raised against it, but his own conscience warns him that they are +worthless. Mr. Whymper will tell you the same." + +"Never you mind Mr. Whymper," said the landlord, gruffly, but at the +same time relaxing his grasp upon the young man's shoulder; "the parson +needs all his cleverness to take care of himself in this matter, and +will have no helping hand to spare for you. The Squire is in a pretty +temper with you both, I promise you. Here's his letter, if you'd like to +see what he says of you in black and white; not that there's much white +in it, egad!" + +It was a custom of the Squire of Crompton, unconsciously plagiarized +from the Great Napoleon, to let all letters addressed to him in an +unfamiliar hand answer themselves. They were not destroyed, but lay for +weeks or months unopened, until the fancy seized him to examine their +contents. He made, it was true, a gallant exception in the case of those +whose superscription seemed to promise a lady correspondent; but that +had not been the case with the communication from Trevethick, and hence +the long interval that had elapsed before it was attended to. +Trevethick's business letters had hitherto, as was the case with all +tenants of Crompton estate, been addressed to the chaplain only, so that +he was unaware of this peculiarity of Carew, and had naturally construed +his silence into a tacit admission of the truth of Richard's statement. + +If force of language and bitterness of tone could have made up for his +previous neglect, the Squire's letter was an apology in itself. It was +short, but sharp and decisive. "The grain of truth," he wrote, "among +the bushel of lies that this young gentleman has told you is, that he +was once a guest under my roof--I forget whether for two nights or +three. He will never be there again--neither now nor after I am in my +box" (this was the Squire's playful way of alluding to the rites of +sepulture). "He has no more claim upon me than any other of my +bastards--of whom I have more than I know of--and in fact less, for I +may have deceived their mothers, whereas his played a trick on me. As to +his expectations from me, I can only tell you this much, that I expect +he will come to be hanged; as for interest, whatever he may have with my +son of a she-dog of a chaplain, he has none with me; and as for money, +so far as I know, he is a pauper, and likely to remain so as long as he +lives." There were other sentences spurted from the volcano of the +Squire's wrath, but to the same effect. + +"A nice letter of recommendation, truly, and from his own father, of the +young gentleman who asked me for my daughter's hand!" growled +Trevethick. "You ought to be thankful to get out of Gethin with whole +bones. If 'Sol' was to come to know of what you asked of me, I would not +answer for even so much as that, I promise you." + +"'Sol' might have known of it had you not chosen to keep it from him, +for reasons best known to yourself," said Richard, quietly. "You have +taken some time to make up your mind between us." + +Trevethick winced; for the promise of the young man's interest with +respect to Wheal Danes had, in fact, been the bait which had tempted him +to temporize so long. He had never meant to give his daughter to +Richard; but he had hoped to reap an advantage, present or future, out +of the implied intention; nor did he know even yet in what relation +Richard stood with Parson Whymper. + +"At all events, it's made up now," answered the landlord, curtly. + +"This letter has caused you to decide against me, then?" + +"That letter? Well, of course it has. Not that there ain't a heap of +other reasons; but that one's enough, I should think, even for you." + +"It is just such a letter as I should have expected Carew to pen," +observed Richard, coolly, "and does not alter the facts of the case as I +stated them to you one whit. That my father is furious with me is clear +enough; that is, because he is in the wrong, and feels it. He is angry, +you see, even with Mr. Whymper, because he knows that his view of my +case is such as I described to you. I confessed from the first that my +interest at Crompton was a contingent one. You are treating me with +great injustice, Mr. Trevethick." + +"What! Have you so much brass left as to say that? You, that have asked +my permission to pay court to my daughter, under the pretense that you +were a fine gentleman, independent at present, and the heir-presumptive +to one of the richest commoners in the kingdom! How durst you do it? You +vagabond! you scoundrel!" + +"You will be sorry for having said those words some day," said Richard, +hoarsely; he was choking with rage, and yet it was necessary to restrain +himself. He felt that this man would presently forbid him his +house--would separate him from his Harry forever; and that would be like +tearing out his heart-strings. Always audacious, there was nothing that +he was not now prepared to say or do to avert this. "I tell you, Mr. +Trevethick, this letter is full of lies, or rather it is written by a +madman. I am not a bastard; I am not a pauper. I have an independence of +my own, though, indeed, it is small compared with my expectations. My +mother makes me a good allowance. I am a gentleman, and I have a right +to be listened to by any man, when I ask leave to be his daughter's +lover." + +"Let us leave alone your gentility, Sir, and your mother's allowances," +sneered the landlord, "since there is no means of gauging either the one +or the other. As for your independent property--I don't believe you have +a hundred pounds in the world; but it is easy enough to prove that I am +mistaken there. Let me see the money down. Show me your three or four +thousand pounds in gold, or notes that I know, for I must needs be +particular with so clever a young gentleman; notes of the Bank of +England, or of the Miners' Bank at Plymouth. Let me hold them in my +hand, and then I shall feel that you are speaking the truth. At present, +I tell you fairly, that if I saw a check of yours, I should look upon it +as so much waste paper until I also saw it honored." + +"Three thousand pounds is a large sum, Mr. Trevethick," said Richard, +thoughtfully. + +"Let us say two, then," returned the landlord, mockingly. "Sell out two +thousand pounds of this independent fortune of yours, that has been +invested in the Deep Sea Cockle Mine, or in debentures of the Railway in +the Air. Let me see but two thousand pounds, Mr. Richard Yorke, and +then--and not before--may you open your lips to me again respecting my +daughter Harry." He turned upon his heel with a bitter laugh; while +Richard, as white as the sketch-book he still held in his hand, remained +speechless. A perilous thought had taken possession of his mind--a +thought that it would have been better for him to have dropped down +there dead than to have entertained, but it grew and grew apace within +him like a foul weed. Had his life of selfish pleasure angered the +long-suffering gods, and, having resolved upon his ruin, were they +already making him mad? He ran after the old man, who did not so much as +turn to look behind him, though he could not but have heard his rapid +steps. "Mr. Trevethick, I will do it," he gasped out. + +"Do what?" said the other, contemptuously, striding on. "Go hang +yourself, or jump off Gethin rock into the sea?" + +"I will get you the money that you speak of--the two thousand pounds. +You shall have it in your hand, and keep it for that matter, if you +please." + +"What?" Unutterable astonishment stared out from the landlord's face. +For the first time since the receipt of Carew's letter he began to +discredit its contents. If this young fellow had really the immediate +command of so large a sum, there was probably much more "behind him." He +must either have a fortune in his own right, or if Carew had settled +such a sum of money on him, he must have had a reason for it--the very +reason Richard had assigned. And if so, Wheal Danes might be his to +dispose of even yet. But Trevethick was not the man to hint a doubt of +his foregone conclusions. "You have not got this money in your pocket, +have you?" said he, with a short dry laugh. + +"No, Sir; but I can get a check for it from my mother, in course of +post." + +"A check!" cried the other, contemptuously, all his suspicions returning +with tenfold force. "I would not give one penny for such a check." + +"I will get it changed myself, Mr. Trevethick, at Plymouth. The post has +gone, but I will write to-morrow, and within the week--" + +"You shall not stay here a week, nor another twenty-four hours," roared +Trevethick. "I have been made a fool of long enough. I will not listen +to another word." + +But he did listen, nevertheless. No longer hampered by vague fears and +difficulties, with which he knew not how to grapple, but with a distinct +plan of operations before him, Richard's eloquence was irresistible. +Deceit, if not habitual with him, had been practiced too often to lack +the gloss of truth from his ready tongue. He actually had a scheme for +procuring the sum in question, and when he possessed confidence himself, +it was rarely, indeed, that he failed to inspire it in others. For the +second time, the landlord of the _Gethin Castle_ found himself in doubt; +he was staggered by the positiveness of the young man's assertions, and +by the force and flow of his glowing words. In spite of himself, he +began once more to think that he might have been mistaken in condemning +him as an impostor, after all; as Richard had said, Carew _was_ scarcely +sane, and when excited by wrath, a downright madman. His resolves, too, +were as untrustworthy and fickle as the winds. Trevethick felt tolerably +convinced that the money would, at all events, be forthcoming; and the +sum--large in itself--seemed the earnest of much more. Last, but not +least, there were the possibilities in connection with the mine. If he +broke altogether with Richard, and turned him out of his house outright, +might not his first act be to reveal to Parson Whymper, in revenge, all +that he knew about Wheal Danes! + +"Well, well, you shall stay at Gethin, then, till your check comes, +young gentleman," said he, in a tone that was meant to be conciliatory. +"I don't wish to be uncivil to any man, and certainly not to one who has +been my guest so long. But you will keep yourself _to_ yourself, +if you please, in the mean time. The bar parlor will no longer be open +to you, until you have proved your right to be there. And I don't mean +to promise any thing certain by that, neither; but what with your fast +talking and fine speaking I'm all in a buzz." + +Honest John Trevethick did not, indeed, know What to think, what to +believe, or what to propose to himself for the future. His brain, +unaccustomed to much reflection, and dulled by pretty frequent +potations, was fairly muddled. Most heartily did he wish that this young +landscape-painter had never set foot in Gethin; but yet he could not +make up his mind to summarily eject him. Upon the whole, he was almost +as glad to temporize in the matter as Richard was himself. + +In point of fact, Richard Yorke had won the battle, and was for the +present master of the field; but what a struggle it had been, and at +what a loss he had obtained the victory, you might have read in his +white face and haggard eyes. As to whether it would be possible to hold +the advantage he had gained was a problem he had yet to solve. He had +committed himself to a policy which might--nay, very probably +would--succeed; but if it should fail, there would be no escape from +utter ruin. He had burned his boats, and broken down the bridge behind +him. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +ON THE BRINK. + + +For four more days, Richard Yorke continued at the _Gethin Castle_--to +outward appearance, in the same relation with the landlord and his +family as before, but in reality on a totally different footing. +Trevethick had not found it practicable to exclude his late guest from +the bar parlor; he could not do so without entering into an explanation +with its other tenants, which he was not prepared for, or without +devising some excuse far beyond his powers. Notwithstanding his bluff +ways, he could tell a lie without moving a muscle; but he was incapable +of any such ambitious flight of deceit as the present state of affairs +demanded. He had, indeed, no aptitude for social diplomacy of any kind, +and suffered his change of feeling toward the young landscape-painter to +appear so plainly that even the phlegmatic Solomon observed it. He was +rather pleased than otherwise to do so. He had acquiesced in the +hospitality with which Richard had been treated, but without the +slightest sympathy with it; and, in fact, he had no sympathies save +those which were connected with his personal interests. It was evident +enough that his father-in-law elect had had some reasons of his +own--probably in relation to the property he held under Carew--for +conciliating this young gentleman; and "Sol" had taken it for granted +they were good, that is, substantial, ones. If these reasons no longer +existed, the sooner this young gentleman was got rid of the better. It +was true he had behaved himself very civilly; but his presence among +them had been, on the whole, oppressive. "Sol" rather chafed at +Richard's social superiority, though it was certainly never intruded, +and, at all events, he preferred the society of his own class, among +whom he felt himself qualified to take the lead. But the idea of +jealousy had never entered into his mind. In his eyes Richard was a mere +boy, whose years, as well as his position in life, precluded him from +any serious intentions with respect to Harry, whom, moreover, Solomon +regarded as his betrothed. If he had been married to her, he would +certainly have forbidden her "gadding about" so much with this young +fellow; but at present she was under her father's rule, and the old man +knew very well what he was about. He was glad that there now seemed a +prospect, to judge from the latter's manner, that the lad's intimacy +with Harry, and the family generally, was about to end; but it might +have lasted six months longer without "Sol's" opening his mouth about +it, so prudently had Richard played his cards--so irreproachably behaved +"before folk." + +Solomon went, as usual, daily to look after affairs at Dunloppel, but +Trevethick remained within doors, under pretense that the influx of +guests, which was in fact considerable, demanded his presence. He took +care that Richard and Harry should have no opportunity of meeting alone +throughout the day; while in the evening he sat in almost total silence, +sucking his pipe, and frowning gloomily--a wet blanket upon the little +company, and the source of well-grounded terror to his daughter Harry. + +Richard had told her how the matter stood; protested that he could get +the money; and argued that when that was done, her father could have no +excuse for forbidding his suit. But she knew the old man better than he, +and trembled. + +On the fifth day Richard received a letter, inclosing a check for two +thousand pounds upon a London bank, from his mother, and, with an air of +quiet triumph, showed it to his host. + +"That is worth nothing here," observed Trevethick, coldly; "for all I +know, the bank may not exist, or she may have no account there." But it +was plain he was surprised, and disappointed. + +"Notice has been sent to Plymouth, as I am here informed," said Richard; +"so that I can get the check changed there, if you are still +dissatisfied; which, you must pardon me for saying, I do not think you +really are. Come, take my hand, and allow that you have behaved +ungenerously. You're a man of your word, I know. This proves to you I am +at least no pauper. I claim the right which you agreed to grant on that +condition, to ask your daughter's hand, and demand of you to leave her, +at all events, to grant it if she pleases. I affirm, once more, the +truth of all that I have told you as regards myself. I am Carew's only +son, begotten in lawful wedlock. He will acknowledge as much himself +some day, even though he should delay it to his dying hour. If ever I +come to possess it (and I think I shall), Wheal Danes shall be yours, +without the payment of a shilling. Even now, I do not offer myself +empty-handed. This is the sum that you yourself agreed I should show +myself possessed of; but there is more where this comes from. I ask +again, then, give me my fair chance with Harry: let her choose between +me and this man Coe." + +This was a wily speech; for Richard was recapitulating the very +arguments which were presenting themselves to the old man's mind. True, +he had promised his daughter to Solomon, and would much rather have had +him for a son-in-law; but there were unquestionably great advantages in +the position of this other claimant. Trevethick was not quite the slave +to gratitude which he had professed himself to be, with respect to Coe's +father. He did feel sincerely grateful; but he had himself exaggerated +the feeling, with the very intention of making Harry understand that her +fate was fixed. He had not been blind to the fact, that from the first +she had never regarded "Sol" with favor as a suitor, and it was still +possible to break off the match without disgrace, upon the ground of her +disinclination to it. Above all, perhaps, he was actuated by the +apprehension that Richard, if refused a hearing, would disclose the +secret of Wheal Danes, and wreck the scheme upon which his heart had +been set for near half a century. One word from him would divert the +unsuspected wealth, over which he had so long gloated in anticipation, +into another's hand. But he did not like the young man better for the +precious knowledge which he alone shared with him; far otherwise; he +hated him for it, and, without being a murderer in his heart, would have +gladly welcomed the news that his mouth was closed forever by death. + +"I wish such or such a one was in heaven," is a common expression, the +meaning of which is of still more general acceptation. The idea, in +fact, has doubtless flitted across the minds of most of us, though few, +let us hope, would help to realize it; for, notwithstanding its +agreeable form, it is not a benevolent aspiration. The reception of the +individual in question into the realms of bliss has less interest with +us than his removal from the earth's surface, and, consequently, from +our path upon it. We may be very civil toward this person, and we often +are; but we seldom desire him for a son-in-law. John Trevethick did not. +But still less did he desire his open enmity; the longer, at all events, +the declaration of war could be deferred the better. + +"Come," urged Richard; "I am only demanding the redemption of your +promise--one," added he, precipitately, "that it lies in your own power +to redeem." + +"The conditions, Mr. Yorke, have not yet been fulfilled," said +Trevethick, pointing to the check. "I must see that money in +bank-notes." + +He had not the least doubt of the genuineness of the document; but his +objection would at least give him the respite of another day or two, and +a respite seemed almost a reprieve. + +"As you will," answered Richard, with a faint smile. "It is a matter of +perfect indifference to me, and only costs me a journey to Plymouth. If +you will be so good as to let me have some vehicle to take me as far as +Turlock, I will pack my carpet-bag and start at once." + +The landlord nodded, and withdrew without a word. + +Left to himself, the smile faded from Richard's face, and was succeeded +by a look of the utmost dejection and disappointment. All had been going +so well up to that very last moment, and now all remained to be done, +just as though nothing had been done at all. The dangerous path that he +had marked out for himself had to be trodden from first to last, at the +very moment when he had seemed to have reached his journey's end by a +safe short-cut. He knew that it was the smallest grain of suspicion, if +not the mere desire to procrastinate, that had turned the scale in +Trevethick's mind, and imposed this task upon him. The genuineness of +the check had been _almost_ taken for granted--entire success had been +missed, as it were, by a hair's-breadth. And now he was as far from it +as ever. Had he been but a little more earnest, or a little more +careless in his own manner, all might have been well. The obstacle that +intervened between him and his desire still stood there, though only by +an accident, as though, after he had fairly blown it into the air, it +had resettled itself precisely in the same spot. + +Richard felt like some offender against the law who had been foiled in +an ingenious scheme by the stupidity rather than the sagacity of him he +would have defrauded; or, rather, like one who has been brought to +justice by misadventure--through some blunder which Fate itself had +suggested to his prosecutor. He was filled with bitterness and +mortification, and also with fear. This miscarriage now imposed a +necessity upon him, which he had contemplated, indeed, but never looked +fairly in the face; he had always hoped it might be evaded. The only +alternative that presented itself was to give up his Harry; this swept +across his mind for a single instant--a black shadow that seemed to +plunge his whole being in night--then left it firmly set upon its +perilous purpose. + +He did not seek to see her before he left; he could not trust himself so +far even as to turn his head and wave her a good-by, as he started from +the inn door, although he felt that she was watching him from an upper +window. He was afraid of the anxiety that consumed him being visible to +those loving eyes. She knew upon what errand he was going, but not the +dangers of it. But he spoke cheerfully to Trevethick, who stood beneath +the porch with moody brow, and testily found fault with horse and +harness. + +"The master's in a queer temper to-day, Sir," was the driver's remark, +as they slowly climbed the hill out of the village. + +"So it seems," answered Richard, absently. + +The road they traveled was the same on which he had pursued Harry on +that eventful night, now months ago; every object recalled her to +him--the ruined tower on the promontory, the Fairies' Bower in the glen; +but they suggested less of love than of the peril that, for love's sake, +he was about to undergo. When they reached the point where he had met +her first, on the margin of the moor, now bright with gorse and heather, +and with its gray rocks sparkling in the sun, an overwhelming melancholy +seized him. Was it possible that the omen which had alarmed her simple +mind was really in the course of fulfillment? Was he, indeed, fated to +be the cause of misfortune to her he loved so well? If evil should +befall him, it was only too certain that it would include her in its +consequences. + +"You seem a cup too low, Mr. Yorke," said the driver, wondering at the +young man's unusual silence; for his habit was to be brisk and lively +with every body. + +"We'll remedy that when we get to Turlock," answered Richard, +good-naturedly, "by taking a glass of what you will together." + +Accordingly, when they reached the little town, and while the +post-horses were getting ready which were to take him on the next stage +of his journey, Richard called for some liquor. + +"Here's your good health, Sir," said the man, and added, in a roguish +whisper, "and our young missus's too, Sir." + +"By all means," said Richard, coolly. "But why couple hers with mine?" + +"Well, Sir, it do come natural like, somehow," said the man, becoming +suddenly stolid, on perceiving that his remark was by no means relished. +"I suppose it's seeing you so much about together; but I meant no +offense." + +"I am sure of that," said Richard. It was on the tip of his tongue to +pursue the subject, but he restrained himself. If he had already given +occasion for gossip, he did not wish to provide fresh fuel for it in his +absence from Gethin. + +When a mile or two away from Turlock he produced the check which was the +apparent cause of his irksome journey, and tearing it into minute +fragments, scattered them out of the window. + +Upon the second day he arrived at Plymouth, but too late for +banking-hours, and drove to an hotel. He had had little to eat upon his +journey, yet he now sent his dinner away almost untasted; on the other +hand, though it was unusual with him to take much wine, he drank a +bottle of Champagne and some sherry, then lit a cigar, and strolled out +of doors. It was a beautiful evening; and he sauntered on the Hoe, +gazing upon that glorious prospect of sea and shore which it affords, +without paying regard to any thing, although all was as new as fair. His +mind, however, took in every object mechanically, and often presented +them to him again in after-years, just as it did that summer scene upon +the ruined tower. Was it laying in provision for itself against the +time, now drawing so nigh, when his physical eyes should have no more of +such fair sights to feed upon? Or was the circumstance only such as +attends all great changes and crises of our lives; for is not every +feature of the face of Nature, upon the eve of any vital event, thus +engraven on our recollection? Do we not note the daisies on the lawn +forever, when for one instant we look out upon it from the darkened room +wherein our loved one lies a-dying? + +It presently grew too late for the ordinary signs and tokens of life; +but Richard still paced to and fro, and gazed upon the darkening waters; +he saw the light leap out upon them from the distant Eddystone, and from +the craft in harbor, and from the houses that were built upon its +margin: blue and red, and white and yellow. + +There was one large vessel a great way off that he had not hitherto +observed, but which now became conspicuous by its green light. Richard, +vaguely interested in this exceptional beacon, inquired of a +miserable-looking man, who had in vain been offering his services as +cicerone, what it signified. + +"Well, Sir, them colors as the ships show all mean something different; +the red is from the floating powder-magazine, and the yellow is--" + +"I said the _green_ light," broke in Richard, with his usual impatience +of prolixity. "What is that vessel _there_, I say?" + +"Oh, that's the convict ship, Sir; they say she is waiting until after +the 'sizes, to take the drab-jackets to Portland." + +Richard nodded, and threw the man a shilling; then walked hastily away +into the town. The night was mild, but his teeth chattered, and he shook +in every limb. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE MINERS' BANK. + + +As, though Richard had fasted long, he could not eat, so, though he was +fatigued with the travel of the last two days, he could not sleep. He +turned from side to side upon his pillow throughout the weary night, and +strove to lose himself, and shut out thought, in vain, even for an +instant. He got up and paced the room; and, when the streaks of dawn +began to show themselves, drew up the blind, and looked forth. It was a +very different scene from that he had been accustomed to contemplate at +Gethin. In place of the waste of ocean, specked by a sail or two, whose +presence only served to intensify its solitary grandeur, the +thick-peopled city lay before him. But as yet there were no tokens of +waking life; the streets were empty, the windows shrouded, and a steady +drizzle of rain was falling, which gave promise of a wretched day. Even +when the morning advanced, it was difficult to make out the individual +buildings; but he had had the Miners' Bank pointed out to him on the +previous day, and he thought he recognized it now. It was there that the +business which he had proposed to himself was to be effected, and he +gazed at it with interest. The wisest of us are simple in some things, +and though so knowing in the ways of the world--that is, of _his_ +world--Richard knew nothing of banks whatever, and wondered whether he +would have any difficulty in carrying out his object. He could not +foresee any; it seemed to him that the banking folks would be glad to +oblige him in the matter in question, since, if there was any advantage, +it would be on their side. But there were six hours yet before he could +perform this business, and since sleep was denied him, how was he to +pass the time? There was a large book upon the drawers, which he had not +hitherto observed, with the royal arms stamped upon it, and the name of +the hotel inscribed beneath them. It did not look like a devotional +work, but it was the New Testament--a work that was very literally new +to Richard Yorke. He had seen it, of course, often; was acquainted by +hearsay with its contents, and had joked about them. It is the easiest +book in the world to make jokes upon, which, perhaps, accounts for its +being so favorite a subject of ridicule with foolish persons. Shakspeare +is also easy to make fun of, but the _soupcon_ of blasphemy is in that +case wanting, which, to many, forms the chief charm of witty converse. +Richard looked at it as a dog looks at a stick; but he took it up, and +opened it at random. "Having no hope, and without God in the world." + +He was not a believer in sortilege. If the text he had chanced upon had +been ever so applicable to his own condition, it would have made but +little impression upon him, and this was not very pertinent in its +application. He was by no means without hope. He had come to Plymouth +full of hope, though disappointed at its not having been already +exchanged for certainty. He had good hope of inspiring John Trevethick +with confidence in his social position, and consequently of obtaining +his consent to marry the woman who had now become indispensable to his +happiness. He had even some hope of yet inheriting a portion of his +father's great estate. He could not be accused of spiritual ambition. +Any other sort of hope than that of being in a position to enjoy himself +thoroughly had never entered into his mind. Just now, however, he was +far from enjoying himself; he was a prey to anxiety, and any opportunity +of forgetting it was welcome to him. Not without an effort to be +interested, therefore, he reflected upon these words, which seemed +rather to have been spoken in his ear aloud than merely to have caught +his eye. He had already shut the book with contemptuous impatience, but +he found himself, nevertheless, repeating: "Having no hope, and without +God in the world," and pondering upon their meaning. He wondered at +himself for taking the trouble to do so; but if he didn't do that, his +thoughts would, he knew, be even less pleasantly occupied; so he let +them slip into this novel channel. How _could_ a man be without God in +the world, if God was every where? as he had somewhere seen or heard +stated, and which he believed to be the fact. It was one of the +objections against the Bible, was his peevish reflection, that it was +self-contradictory in its assertions, and unmistakably distinct only in +its denunciations of wrath. Here was a case in point, and one which +might justly be "taken up" by a fellow, if it was worth while. As for +himself, he was no skeptic. Exeter Hall might have clasped him to her +breast (and would) upon that ground. He was accustomed to use the name +of the Creator whenever he wished to be particularly decisive; but for +any other purpose he had never named it with his lips. Even as a child, +his mother had never taught him to do so. She had never spoken to him on +religious subjects except in humorous connection with the Heads of the +two Churches to which her first husband had belonged--Emanuel Swedenborg +and Joanna Southcott. If the expression "without God in the world" meant +the living in it without the practice of religion, it certainly did have +an application to himself, but also to every one else with whom he was +acquainted. Of course he had known people who went to church--young men +of his own age, whom their parents compelled to do so, and who envied +him the liberty he enjoyed in that respect; and the poor folks at Gethin +went to chapel. But, even, there, shrewd fellows like Trevethick and +Solomon did not trouble themselves to do so. True, Harry went! But then +women, unless they were uncommonly clever, like his own mother, always +did go to hear the parsons. Parsons, as a rule, were hypocrites. He had +met one or two of them in town under circumstances that showed they had +really no more "nonsense about them" than other people, but in the +pulpit they were bound to cant. Look at Mr. Whymper, for instance--the +best specimen of them, by-the-by, he had ever known--who could doubt +that his mind was wholly set upon the main chance? To what slights and +insolences did he submit himself for the sake of feathering his own +nest; and how he had counted upon that fat living, of which the Squire +had so cruelly disappointed him! Talk of religion! why, there was Carew +himself, with thirty thousand a year, and did not spend a shilling of it +on religion! True, he kept a chaplain, but only as a check upon his +steward, to manage his estate for him. If there was really any thing in +it, would not a rich man like him have put aside a portion of his +wealth, by way of insurance--insurance against fire?--and here Richard +chuckled to himself. + +It was all rubbish, these texts and things. He would dress himself, and +go out and take a walk, although it was so early. He had already heard +sounds in the house, as though somebody was astir; so he rang the bell. +It was answered by a sleepy and disheveled personage, whom he scarcely +recognized for the sleek "night chamberlain," whose duty it was to watch +while others slept, and who had given him a bed-candle not many hours +before. + +"What! still up, my man?" said Richard, gayly. + +"Yes, Sir. The morning mail has but just come in; we had a passenger by +it. I put him in the room under you; but he seemed a quiet one, and I +didn't think he'd 'a disturbed you." + +"He did not," said Richard. "I have been awake all night, and never so +much as heard him. Can I have some hot water?" + +"Not yet, Sir, I'm afraid; there's no fire alight at present. I can get +you some brandy-and-soda, Sir." + +"No, no," answered Richard, smiling; "I sha'n't want that; and as for +the hot water, I can do without it; but, now you're here, just tell me, +for I am quite a stranger to your town, isn't that high roof yonder," +and he pointed to the object in question, "the Miners' Bank?" + +"Yessir, that's it. Ah, if the morning was but a little finer, you would +have a lovely view from this here window--half the town and a good slice +of the harbor! There's a splendid building out to the left there, if the +clouds would but lift a little. That's the County Jail, Sir." + +"Indeed," said Richard, carelessly, and turned away. "Just take my boots +down with you, as I shall want them as soon as you can get them +cleaned." + +The man did as he was bid. Directly he had left the room, Richard pulled +down the window-blind, and staggered to a chair. Perhaps want of food +and sleep had weakened him; but he sat down, looking very pale and +haggard, like one who has received a sudden shock. Why should one man +have answered him last night, "the convict ship," and now this fellow +have pointed out the jail? It was only a coincidence, of course; but if +there was ever such a thing as an evil augury, he had surely experienced +it on those two occasions. "This is what comes of burying one's self at +Gethin," thought he, smiling faintly at his own folly. "If I staid there +much longer, I should begin to believe in mermaids and the Flying +Dutchman." Jail! Why, if the very worst should happen, the matter would +only require to be explained; he was in no real peril from the law, +after all. Indeed, the very revelation which he most dreaded would only, +by exposing the true state of affairs, precipitate his happiness. +Trevethick would then be as eager as himself to hasten Harry's marriage. + +Thus he reasoned until something of equanimity returned to him. Then he +attired himself, buttoning his frock-coat carefully over his chest, and +went down stairs. As he reached the next landing, a gentleman emerged +from the room immediately beneath his own, like himself, fully dressed, +and carrying his hat and great-coat. He was a small stout man, with +bushy red whiskers, a good-natured face, and little twinkling black +eyes. With a civil bow he made way for Richard to pass him, and then +followed him down stairs into the coffee-room. It was a huge apartment, +and quite empty except for their two selves. Most persons meeting in +such a Sahara would have exchanged a salutation; and Richard, gregarious +by nature besides, being eager to divert his thoughts, at once entered +into conversation. + +"You are the gentleman who arrived by the mail this morning, I +conclude," said he, "otherwise you would scarcely keep such early +hours." + +"Just so, Sir," answered the other, smiling. "I thought it was not worth +while to go to bed, but just gave myself a wash and brush up; and here I +am, sharp-set for breakfast." + +It was plain this man was not a gentleman, but Richard cared very little +about that. He would have talked to the waiter, in default of any other +companion. + +"Well, I have been to bed," said Richard, smiling, "though something I +took at dinner disagreed with me, and kept me awake all night. Do you +mean to say you are not going to take any horizontal refreshment at +all?" + +"Well, no; I had some sleep in the coach, and a very little of that +article does for me. If you eat and drink enough, as I do, it is +astonishing how well you can get on without rest." + +"Indeed," said Richard. "I should like to see the substitutes you take +for what I have always found an indispensable necessity. Suppose we have +breakfast together, and you shall order it." + +"But not pay for it," stipulated the stout gentleman, in a tone that you +might take as either jest or earnest. "We'll go shares in that, eh?" + +"Unless you will allow me to be your host, we will certainly go shares," +said Richard, wondering to himself whether in all Gethin so great a boor +as this could be found above-ground or beneath it, or making his +business on the waters, but rather amused nevertheless. + +"I don't like misunderstandings," explained the little man, "nor yet +obligations. It's not that I grudge my money, or have not as much of it +as I want, thank Heaven!" + +"Then you've got more than any body else I know," said Richard, +laughing; "and I am acquainted with some rich men too." + +"I dare say, Sir; you are a rich man yourself, I hope. You look like a +young gentleman with plenty of money in your pocket." + +At any other time Richard would not have been displeased by such an +observation, which was, moreover, a perfectly just one. He looked from +head to heel like a young man of fortune, and had been brought up as +idly and uselessly as any such; but now he blushed and felt +uncomfortable; and his fingers, in spite of himself, sought that +breast-pocket which he had so carefully buttoned up, as though his +companion's observation had had a literal and material meaning. + +"Do you know Plymouth?" asked he of the stranger, by way of turning the +conversation. + +"Perfectly. Indeed, I live here; but I did not wish to arrive at home at +such an unseasonable hour as the coach comes in. If, as a resident, I +can be of any service to you, pray command me. But you don't eat, Sir." + +Richard, indeed, was only playing with a piece of toast, while eggs and +ham and marmalade were disappearing with marvelous rapidity down the +throat of his companion. + +"I am not like you," he answered. "Want of sleep produces want of +appetite with me. With respect to Plymouth, you are very good to offer +me your hospitality, but--" + +"Services, Sir--services while in the town, I said," observed the little +man. "Let us have no misunderstanding, nor yet obligation; that's my +motto. Now, what can I do for you, short of that?" + +"Well, I shall not greatly tax your prudence," rejoined Richard, this +time laughing heartily, "though you must certainly be either a Scotchman +or a lawyer, to be so anxious to act 'without prejudice.' The only +information I have to ask of you is, at what time the bank opens; for I +have got some business to do there, which I want to effect as soon as +possible, and then be off." + +"The bank! Well, there's more than one bank in Plymouth," observed the +little man, scraping up the last shreds of marmalade on his plate. "They +open at different hours." + +"The Miners' Company is the one I want to go to." + +"That opens at nine, Sir. It's on my way home, and I shall be glad to +show it you." + +"Thank you; but it was pointed out to me last night," said Richard, +stiffly; for he preferred to effect the business which he had on hand +alone. "It is still raining. What do you say to a cigar in the +smoking-room?" + +"With pleasure, when I have just written three words to tell my people +of my arrival," answered the stranger; "however, I can do that as well +there as here." + +And so eager did he seem for Richard's society that he had pen and paper +brought into the hotel divan, and from thence dispatched his note. + +"Take one of my cigars," said Richard, good-naturedly, offering his +case. + +"No, no," replied the little man, shaking his head, and looking very +grave; "you know my motto, Sir." + +"A cigar," urged Richard, "is one of those things that one can accept +even from a stranger without that sense of obligation from which you +shrink so sensitively. Seriously, my good Sir, I shall feel offended if +you refuse me this small favor." + +"Sooner than that shall be, Sir, I'll take your cigar," said the little +man. He held it up to the light, and sniffed at it with great zest. +"This is no common brand, I reckon." + +"Well, it is better than you will get out of the waiter's box, I dare +say," answered Richard, smiling; for his cigars, like every thing else +he had about him, were of the best. + +"Now I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll put this in my pocket, if you'll +allow me, young gentleman, for a treat when I get home. After an early +morning breakfast, I generally prefer a pipe;" and he produced one +accordingly from his pocket. + +The room was melancholy to the last degree, being lit only from a +sky-light; relics of the last night's dissipation, in the shape of empty +glasses and ends of cigars, were still upon the small round tables; +while a two-days-old newspaper was the only literature of which the +apartment could boast. + +"This place and hour would be dull enough, Sir, without your society," +observed Richard, genially. "I don't think I was ever up so early in my +life before, nor in such a den of a place." + +"It's reckoned a good inn, too, is the _George and Vulture_; but the +life of a hotel, you see, don't begin till later on in the day." + +"That's a pity," said Richard, laughing, "as I sha'n't have the +opportunity of seeing it at its best. I hope to be away by 9.30, or 10 +at latest." + +"Ah," said the little man, "indeed!" His words were meaningless enough, +but there was really a genuine air of interest in his tone. He was a +vulgar fellow, no doubt; but Richard rather liked him, mainly because it +was evident that the other was captivated by him. He had laid himself +out to please John Trevethick and his friend Solomon for the last six +months, without success, yet here was a man who had evidently +appreciated him at once. If he was but a bagman, or something of that +sort, it was only the more creditable to his own powers of pleasing; and +his vanity--and Richard was as vain of his social attractions as a +girl--was flattered accordingly. In his solitude and wretchedness, too, +the society of this stranger had been very welcome. + +"I am sorry," said Richard, when they had passed some hours together, +and it was getting near nine o'clock, "that I am obliged to leave +Plymouth so soon. It would have given me great pleasure if you could +have come and dined with me; though, indeed, I fear I have already +detained you from your family. It was the act of a good Samaritan to +keep me company so long, and I thank you heartily." + +"Don't mention it, Sir--don't mention it," said the little man, quite +huskily. "I have only done my duty." + +This courteous sentiment made Richard laugh. "Your duty to your +neighbor, eh?" said he. "Well, I must now wish you good-by;" and he held +out his hand with a frank smile. "Perhaps we may meet again some day." + +"Perhaps so, Sir," said the other, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, +and accompanying him into the hall. + +At the hotel door Richard called a fly, as it was now raining heavily. +"Shall I take you as far as the bank," said he, "since your road home +lies that way? or is even that little service contrary to your motto?" + +"I have got to see to my luggage," answered the other, evasively. + +"Well, good-by, then." + +"Good-by." + +The vehicle rattled down a street or two, then stopped before a building +of some pretension, with a tall portico and a flight of stone steps +before it. Another fly drove up at the same moment, but it did not +attract Richard's attention, which was concentrated upon the business he +had in hand, and made his heart beat very fast. He pushed his way +through the huge swinging door, and found himself in a vast room, with a +large circular counter, at which clerks were standing, each behind a +little rail. He had never been inside a bank before, and he looked +around him curiously. On the left was an opaque glass door, with +"Manager's Room" painted on it; on the right was an elevated desk, from +which every part of the apartment could be commanded; the clerk who sat +there looked down at him for an instant as he entered, but at once +resumed his occupation. Every body was busy with pen and ledger; men +were thronging in and out like bees, giving or receiving sheaves of +bank-notes, or heaps of gold and silver. Richard waited until there was +a vacant place at the counter, then stepped up with: "I want to +exchange some Bank of England notes, please, for your own notes." + +"Next desk, Sir," said the man, not even looking up, but pointing with +the feather of his quill pen, then scratching away again as though he +would have overtaken the lost time. + +There was a singing in Richard's ear as he repeated his request, and +fumbled in his breast-pocket for the notes; then a silence seemed to +fall upon the place, which a moment before had been so alive and noisy. +Every pen seemed to stop; the ring of the gold, the rustle of paper, +ceased; only the tick of the great clock over the centre door was heard. +"Thief, thief! thief, thief!" were the words it said. + +"How much is there?" inquired the clerk, taking the bundle of notes from +Richard's hand; and his voice sounded as though it was uttered in an +empty room. + +"Two thousand pounds," said Richard. "Is there any difficulty about it? +If so, I can take them elsewhere." + +But the clerk had got them already, and was beginning to put down the +number of each in a great ledger. Richard had not calculated upon this +course of procedure, and had his reasons for objecting to it. + +"80,431, 80,432, 80,433," read out the clerk aloud, and every soul in +the room seemed listening to him. + +"That will do," said another voice close to Richard's ear, and a light +touch was laid upon his arm. Scarlet to the very temples, he looked up, +and there stood the little red-whiskered man from whom he had parted not +ten minutes before. A very grave expression was now in those twinkling +black eyes. "I have a warrant for your apprehension, young man, upon a +charge of theft," said he. + +"Of theft!" said Richard, angrily. "What nonsense is this?" + +"Those notes are stolen," said the little man. "Your name is Richard +Yorke, is it not?" + +"What's that to you?" said Richard. "I decline--" + +Here the door of the manager's room was opened, and out strode Solomon +Coe, with a look of cruel triumph on his harsh features. "That's your +man, right enough," said he. "He'd wheedle the devil, if once you let +him talk. Be off with him!" + +The next moment Richard's wrists were seized, and he was hurried out +between two men--his late acquaintance of the hotel and a +policeman--down the bank steps, and into a fly that stood there in +waiting. + +"To the County Jail!" cried Solomon, as he entered the vehicle after +them. Then he turned to the red-whiskered man, and inquired fiercely, +why he hadn't put the darbies on the scoundrel. + +"Never you mind that," was the sharp reply. "I'm responsible for the +young gentleman's safe-keeping, and that's enough." + +"Young gentleman! I am sure the young gentleman ought to be much obliged +to you," replied Solomon, contemptuously. "Young felon, you mean." + +"Nobody's a felon until after trial and conviction," observed the little +man, decisively. "Let's have no misunderstanding and no obligation, Mr. +Coe; that's my motto." + +Here the wheels began to rumble, and a shadow fell over the vehicle and +those it held: they were passing under the archway of the jail. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +LEAVING THE WORLD. + + +What wondrous and surpassing change may be in store for us when the soul +and body have parted company none can guess; but of all the changes of +which man has experience in this world, there is probably none so great +and overwhelming as that which he undergoes when, for the first time, he +passes the material barrier that separates guilt from innocence, and +finds himself in the clutches of the criminal law. To be no longer a +free man is a position which only one who has lost his freedom is able +to realize; the shock, of course, is greater or less according to his +antecedents. The habitual breaker of the law is aware that sooner or +later to the "stone jug" he must come; his friends have been there, and +laughed and joked about it, as Eton boys who have been "swished" make +merry with the block and rod, and affect to despise them; the situation +is, in idea at least, familiar to him; yet even he, perhaps, feels a +sinking of the heart when the door of the prison-cell clangs upon him +for the first time, and shuts him from the world. The common liberty to +go where we will is estimated, while we have it, at nothing; but, once +denied, it becomes the most precious boon in life. How infinitely more +poignant, then, must be the feelings of one thus unhappily +circumstanced, to whom the idea of such a catastrophe has never +occurred; who has always looked upon the law from the vantage-ground of +a good social position, and acquiesced in its working with complacence, +as in something which could have no personal relation to himself! + +Thus it was with Richard Yorke when, for the first time, he found +himself a prisoner in the hands of Mr. Dodge, the detective, and his +blue-coated assistant. For the time he felt utterly unmanned, and might +have even fainted, or burst into tears, but for the consciousness that +Solomon Coe was sitting opposite to him. The presence of that gentleman +acted as a cordial upon him; the idea that he owed his miserable +position to that despised boor wounded him to the quick, but at the same +time gave him an outward show of calmness: he could not have broken down +before that man, though he had been standing beneath the gallows-tree. +Despondency would have utterly possessed him but for hate and rage--hate +of his rival and all who might be concerned in this catastrophe, and +rage at the arrest itself. For, though he had not the consciousness of +innocence to support him, he had no sense of guilt. He had had no +intention of absolutely stealing Trevethick's money; and yet he foresaw +how difficult it would be to clear himself of that grave charge. He also +looked back, and perceived for the first time the magnitude of the folly +which he had committed. He felt no shame for it as a crime--he had not +principle enough for that; but he recognized the extent of the +imprudence, and its mad audacity; yet he was mad and audacious still. He +had been brought up as much his own master as any youth in England, no +matter how rich or nobly born; he had never known control, nor even +(except during those few days at Crompton) what it was to control +himself; and he could not realize the fact that he might actually come +to share the fate of common thieves; to wear a prison garb; to be shut +up within stone walls for months or even years; no longer a man, but a +convict, known only by his number from other jail-birds. He did not +think it could even come to his standing in the felon's dock, subject to +the curious gaze of a hundred eyes, the indifferent regard of the stern +judge, the--In the midst of these bitter thoughts, which were indeed +disputations with his fears, the fly had stopped at the jail gate, and +Mr. Dodge, with a cheerful air, observed: "We must get out here, if you +please, Mr. Yorke." + +Richard hesitated; he was mistrustful of his very limbs, so severely had +the sight of those stone walls shaken him. + +"Your young friend does not seem much to like the idea of lodging here," +said Solomon, with a brutal laugh. + +"That is fortunate," answered the detective, dryly, "since he will not +have to do so. In my profession, Mr. Coe, we hold it a mean trick to +kick a man when he is down.--This way, Sir, if you please." For, at the +sound of Solomon's voice, Richard was up and out in a moment. "It is +merely a form that you have to go through before we go before the beak." + +"A form?" asked Richard, hoarsely; "what form?" + +"We shall have to search you, Sir; that's all." + +"That's all," echoed Solomon, with a grin. + +Richard's face changed from white to red, from red to white, by turns. + +"Mr. Coe will stay where he is," said Dodge, peremptorily, as he led the +way into a little room that opened from the gate-keeper's parlor. + +"I thank you for that, Mr. Dodge," said Richard, gratefully. + +"Not at all, Sir. If you have any thing of a compromising nature about +you--revolvers or such like--that's my business and the beak's, not +his.--Officer do your duty." + +Richard was searched accordingly. He had no revolver; but what +astonished himself more than it did the searcher was that a cigar was +found loose in his breast-pocket. + +"Why, this must be the one that I gave to you this morning, Mr. Dodge." + +"Just so, Sir. I put it back again as we came along. You know my motto. +When you come to be your own master again--which I hope'll be soon--then +I'll smoke it with you with pleasure; they'll keep it for you very +careful, you may depend upon it, and baccar is a thing as don't spoil. +That's a pretty bit of jewelry now--_that_ is." Mr. Dodge's remark +referred to a gold locket, with the word "Harry" outside it, written in +diamonds; and within a portrait of her, which he had executed himself. +"That's a token of some favorite brother, I dare say?" + +"Yes," said Richard. "Might I keep that, if you please; or, at all +events, might I ask that it should not be shown to the man in yonder +room? It's my own, Mr. Dodge," added he, earnestly, "upon my word and +honor." + +"No doubt, Sir; no doubt. There's no charge against you except as to +these notes. I must put it down on the list, because that's the law; but +you can keep it, and welcome, so far as I am concerned; though I am +afraid the Cross Key folks will not be so very easy with you." + +"The Cross Key folks?" + +"Well, Mr. Yorke, it's no use to hide from you that you will be sent to +Cross Key; that's the nearest jail to Gethin, I believe. I am afraid the +beak will be for committing you; the sum is so large, and the case so +clear, that I doubt whether he'll entertain the question of bail. You +have no friends in Plymouth, either, you told me." + +"None," said Richard, sadly; "unless," he added, in a whisper, "I can +count you as one." + +"Officer, just fetch a glass of water," said Dodge; "the prisoner says +he feels faint.--Look here, young gentleman," continued he, earnestly, +as soon as they were alone, "this is no use; I can do nothing for you +whatever, except wish you luck, which I do most heartily. I am as +helpless as a baby in this matter. I can only give you one piece of good +advice: when the beak asks if you've any thing to say, unless you have +something that will clear you, and can be proved--you know best about +that--say, 'I reserve my defense;' then, as soon as you're committed, +ask to see your solicitor; send for Weasel of Plymouth; your friends +have money, I conclude. Hush! Here's the water, young man; just sip a +little, and you'll soon come round." + +Not another word, either then or afterward, did Mr. Dodge exchange with +his prisoner. Perhaps he began to think he had acted contrary to the +motto which was his guide in life in the good-will he had already shown +him. Perhaps he resented the favorable impression that the attractions +and geniality of his acquaintance at the hotel had made upon him as +unprofessional. At all events, during their drive from the jail to the +office where the magistrate was sitting--it was not open at the hour +when Richard had been arrested, or he would have been searched +there--Mr. Dodge seemed to have lost all sympathy for his "young +gentleman," chatting with the officer quite carelessly upon matters +connected with their common calling, and even offering Mr. Coe a pinch +from his snuff-box, without extending that courtesy to Yorke. Nay, when +they were just at their journey's end, he had the want of feeling to +look his prisoner straight in the face, and whistle an enlivening air. +The melody was not so popular as it has since become, or perhaps Mr. +Dodge had doubts of his ability to render it with accuracy, but, as if +to inform all whom it might concern what it was that he was executing, +he hummed aloud the fag-end of the tune, keeping time with his fist upon +his knee, "Pop goes the weasel, pop goes the weasel." + +Richard understood, and thanked him with his eyes. He had no need, +however, to be reminded of the good-natured detective's word of advice. +The ignominy which he had just undergone had had the effect of revealing +to him the imminence as well as the full extent of the peril in which he +stood. Henceforward he could think of nothing--not even revenge--save +the means of extricating himself from the toils which every moment +seemed to multiply about him. The time for action was, indeed, but +short; if he was ever (for it already seemed "ever") to be free again, +the means must be taken to deliver him at once. The assizes would be +held at Cross Key--he had heard the Gethin gossips talk of them, little +thinking that they would have any interest for him--in three weeks. +Until then, at all events, he must be a prisoner; beyond that time he +would not, dared not, look. + +Within ten minutes Richard Yorke stood committed to Cross Key Jail. + +He followed his friend's counsel in all respects. But the messenger +dispatched for Mr. Weasel returned with the news that that gentleman was +out of town; he was very busy at that season--there were other folks in +difficulties besides our hero, urgent for his consolation and advice as +to their course of conduct before my Lord the Judge. Mr. Dodge, however, +assured Richard, upon taking leave, that he would dispatch the attorney +after him that very night. + +The road to Cross Key was, for many miles, the same which he had lately +traveled in the reverse direction; yet how different it looked! He had +been in far from good spirits on that occasion, but how infinitely more +miserable was he now! The hills, the rocks, the streams were far more +beautiful than he had ever thought them, but they mocked him with their +beauty. He longed to get out of the vehicle, and feel the springy turf, +the yielding heather, beneath his feet; to lave his hands in the +sparkling brook, to lie on the moss-grown rock, and bask in the blessed +sun. Perhaps he should never see them any more--these simple everyday +beauties, of which he had scarcely taken any account when they were +freely offered for his enjoyment. He looked back on even the day before, +wherein he had certainly been wretched enough, with yearning regret. He +had at least been a free man, and when should he be free again? Ah, +when! He was, as it were, in a prison on wheels, guarded by two jailers. +Escape would have been hopeless, even had it been judicious to make the +attempt. His only consolation was, that Solomon Coe was no longer with +him to jeer at his dejected looks. He had started for Gethin with the +news, doubtless as welcome to Trevethick as to himself, of the +prisoner's committal. What would Harry say when she came to hear of it? +What would she not suffer? Richard cast himself back in his seat, and +groaned aloud. The man at his side exchanged a glance with his +companion. "He is guilty, this young fellow." "Without doubt, he's +booked." They had their little code of signals for such occasions. + +The day drew on, and the soft sweet air of evening began to rise. They +had stopped here and there for refreshments, but Richard had taken +nothing; he had, however, always accompanied his custodians within doors +at the various halting-places. He was afraid of the crowd that might +gather about the vehicle to look at the man that was being taken to +prison. There was nothing to mark him as such, but it seemed to him that +nobody could fail to know it. He welcomed the approach of night. They +still traveled on for hours, since there was no House of Detention at +which he could be placed in safety on the road; at last the wheels +rumbled over the uneven stones of a little country town; they stopped +before a building similar, so far as he could see by the moonlight, to +that to which he had been taken at Plymouth: all jails are alike, +especially to the eyes of the prisoner. A great bell was rung; there was +a parley with the keeper of the gate. The whole scene resembled +something which Richard remembered to have read in a book; he knew not +what, nor where. A door in the wall was opened; they led him up some +stone steps; the door closed behind him with a clang; and its locks +seemed to bite into the stone. + +"This way, prisoner," said a gruff voice. + +Door after door, passage after passage; a labyrinth of stone and iron. +At last he was ushered into a small chamber, unlike any thing he had +ever seen in his life. His sleeping-room at the keeper's lodge at +Crompton was palatial compared with it. The walls were stone; the floor +of a shining brown, so that it looked wet, though it was not so. His +jailer-chamberlain pointed to a low-lying hammock, stretched upon two +straps between the walls. "There, tumble in," he said; "you will have +your bath in the morning. Look alive!" + +Richard obeyed him at once. "Good-night, warder," said he. + +"Night!" grumbled the other; "it's morn-in'. A pretty time to be +knockin' up people at a respectable establishment. If you want any +thin'--broiled bones, or deviled kidneys"--for the man was a wag in his +quaint way--"ring this 'ere bell. As for the other rules and regulations +of her Majesty's jail, you'll learn them at breakfast-time." + +The door slammed behind him. + +How the doors _did_ slam in that place! And Richard was left alone. If, +instead of the metal ewer of water that stood by his bed-head, there had +been a glass of deadliest poison, he would have seized it greedily, and +emptied it to the dregs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE LETTER LOOK. + + +On the day that Richard left Gethin, which was itself an incident to +keep the tongues of its gossips wagging for a good week, another +occurrence took place in that favored neighborhood, and one of even more +absorbing interest--the workings of Dunloppel were suspended. This, of +course, was not a wholly unexpected catastrophe. The new vein, after +giving an exceedingly rich yield for some months, had of late, it was +whispered, evinced signs of exhaustion, although the fact was not known +that for several weeks the undertaking had been carried on at a loss. +Neither Trevethick nor Solomon, who were the principal proprietors, was +the sort of man to play long at a losing game, or to send good money +after bad; so, for the present, the pit was closed. But Solomon believed +in Dunloppel; contrary to his custom, he had not disposed of a single +share when the mine was at a premium, and his stake in it was very +large. + +Only a few minutes after Richard had departed for Plymouth with his +check, Solomon returned to the inn with thoughtful brow. + +Trevethick was moodily smoking his pipe in the porch, still balancing +the rival claims of his sons-in-law elect, and dissatisfied with both of +them. He did not share Solomon's hopes, and he detested losing his money +above every thing. "Well, you've packed off all those fellows, I hope, +that have been eating me out of house and home for these three weeks?" + +"I've closed the mine, if that's what you mean," said Solomon. "But" (he +looked cautiously up at the windows of the inn, which were all open--the +guests were out in search of the picturesque, and Harry was on the +tower, straining her eyes after Richard) "I want to have a word with you +in private, Trevethick." + +"Come into the bar parlor, then," grunted the landlord, for he did not +much relish the idea of a confidential talk with Solomon just then, +since it might have relation to a matter about which he had not fully +made up his mind to give him an answer. + +"Is that young painter fellow out of the way, then?" asked Solomon. "We +have never had a place to ourselves, it seems to me, since _he_ came to +Gethin." + +"Yes, yes, he's far enough off," answered Trevethick, more peevishly +than before, for Sol's remark seemed to foreshadow the very subject he +would fain have avoided talking about. "He's gone to Plymouth, he is, +and won't be back these five days." + +"Umph!" said Sol. If he had said, "I wish he would never come back at +all," he could not have expressed his feelings more clearly. + +"Well," growled Trevethick, when they were in his sanctum, and had shut +the door, "what is it now? Bad news, of course, of some sort." + +It was a habit with Trevethick, as it is with many men of his stamp, to +have a perpetual grievance against Providence--to profess themselves as +never astonished at any bad turn that _It_ may do them--and, besides, he +was on the present occasion desirous of taking up a position of +discontent beforehand, so that the expected topic might not appear to +have produced it. + +"No; it's good news, Trevethick," said Solomon, quietly--"the best of +news, as it seems to me; and I hope to bring you over to the same +opinion." + +"He's got some scheme for marrying Harry out of hand," thought the +harassed landlord. "How the deuce shall I put him off?" + +There was not the slightest excuse for doing so; if Solomon had been of +a less phlegmatic disposition, he might have married her a year ago, +young as she was. "Read this," said he, producing a letter from his +pocket, "and tell me what you think of it. It's old Stratum's report +upon the mine." + +"Ay, ay," said Trevethick, diving into his capacious pocket for his +silver spectacles. As a general rule, he was wont to receive all such +reports with discredit, and to throw cold water upon Sol's more sanguine +views; but it was several minutes before he could get himself into his +normal state of dissatisfied depression, so much relieved was he to find +that his daughter was not to be the topic of the conversation. + +"Here's the plan," continued Solomon, "which accompanied the letter. I +got it just after I dismissed the men; and, upon my life, I'd half a +mind to set them on again. But I thought I'd just have a talk with you +first." + +"Ay," said Trevethick--"well?" He was quite himself again now--crafty, +prudent, reticent; about as unpromising a gentleman to "get on with," +far less get the better of in a bargain, as a Greek Jew. But Solomon was +quite accustomed to him. + +"Stratum feels confident about the continuation of the lode, you see; +and also that the fault is not considerable. We shall not have to sink +fifty feet, he thinks, before we come on the vein again." + +"He _thinks_" said Trevethick, contemptuously. "Is he ready to sink his +own money in it?" + +"It's no good asking him that," said Solomon, coolly, "because he's got +none. But I have always found Stratum pretty correct in his judgment; +and, as for me, I believe in Dunloppel. The question is, shall I go on +with it single-handed, or will you go shares?" + +"If it's so good a thing, why not keep it yourself, Sol?" + +"Because my money is particularly well laid out at present, and I don't +want to shift it." + +"That's just the case with mine," said Trevethick, from behind the plan. + +"I thought you might have five hundred pounds or so lying idle, that's +all," returned the other. "I'd give six per cent. for it just now." + +"Oh, that's another thing. Perhaps I have. I'll see about it." + +"If you could get it me at once, that would be half the battle," urged +Solomon. "There are some good men at the mine whom I should not like to +lose. If I could send round to-night to tell them not to engage, +themselves elsewhere, since they're opening so many new pits just now, +that would be a relief to my mind." + +"Very good; you may do that, then. I'll write for the money to-morrow." + +So blunt, straightforward, and exceedingly unpleasant a man as John +Trevethick was, ought to have been the very incarnation of Truth, +whereas that last observation of his was, to say the least of it, +Jesuitical. There was no occasion to write to any body for what he had +got above stairs, locked up in his private strong-box. But he did not +wish all the world to know that, nor even his _alter ego_, Solomon Coe. + +Trevethick, although a close-fisted fellow, was no miser in the vulgar +sense. He kept this vast sum at hand, partly because he had no +confidence in ordinary securities, and partly because he wished to be in +a position, at a moment's notice, to accomplish his darling scheme. If +Carew should happen to change his mind, it would be because he was in +want of ready money, and he would be in mad haste to get it. His +impatience on such occasions brooked no delay on the score of advantage; +and the man that could offer him what he wanted, as it were, in his open +hand, would be the financier he would favor in preference to a much less +grasping accommodator, who might keep him waiting for a week. It was not +so much the tempting bait of ready money that caught the Squire as the +fact of his wishes being obeyed upon the instant. He had not been used +to wait, and his pride revolted against it; and many a time had a usurer +missed his mark by not understanding with how great a bashaw he had to +deal in the person of Carew of Crompton. Trevethick was aware of this, +and indeed the chaplain had given him a hint to keep the proposed +purchase-money within easy reach, in case the Squire's mood might alter, +or his necessities demand his consent to what Mr. Whymper honestly +believed to be a very advantageous offer. Otherwise, Trevethick was not +one to keep a hoard in his house for the mere pleasure of gloating over +it. He had not looked into his strong-box for months, nor would he have +done so now, but for this unexpected demand upon it. It was safe enough, +he knew, in his daughter's room; and as for its having been opened, that +was an impossibility; the padlock hung in front of it as usual, and it +would have taken a man half a lifetime to have hit upon its open sesame +by trial. He was justly proud of that letter lock, which was his own +contrivance, invented when he was quite a young man, and had been +perforce compelled to turn his attention to mechanics, and he considered +it a marvel of skill. It was characteristic in him that he had never +revealed its secret even to his daughter. Indeed, with the exception of +Harry, nobody at Gethin--save, perhaps, Hannah, when she dusted her +young mistress's room--had ever set eyes upon it, nor, if they had, +would they have understood its meaning. + +It was therefore without the slightest suspicion of its having been +tampered with, that, an hour or two after the conversation just +narrated, Trevethick repaired to his strong-box, with the intention of +taking from it the sum of money required by Solomon. The padlock was +like a little clock, except that it had the letters of the alphabet +round its face instead of figures, and three hands instead of two; this +latter circumstance insured, by its complication, the safety of the +treasure, but at the same time rendered it useless--unless he broke the +box open--to the possessor himself if by any accident he should forget +the letter time at which he had set it; and accordingly Trevethick was +accustomed to carry a memorandum of this about with him; even if he lost +it, it would be no great matter, for what meaning would it convey to any +human being to find a bit of paper with the letters B, N, Z upon it? +Harry, as we have said, was out of the house, so his daughter's room was +untenanted. He went to a cupboard, and took down the box from its usual +shelf, with the same feeling of satisfaction that an old poet recurs to +his first volume of verse; he may have written better things, and things +that have brought him more money, but those spring leaves are dearest to +him of all. So it was with Trevethick's spring lock. He adjusted the +hands, and the padlock sprang open; he lifted the lid, and the box was +empty; the two thousand pounds in Bank of England notes were gone. + +He was a big bull-necked man, of what is called (in the reports of +inquests) "a full habit of body," and the discovery was almost fatal to +him. His face grew purple, the veins in his forehead stood out, and his +well-seasoned head, which liquor could so little affect, went round and +round with him, and sang like a humming-top. He was on the very brink of +a fit, which might have "annihilated space and time" (as far as he was +concerned), "and made two lovers happy." But the star of Richard Yorke +was not in the ascendant. The old man held on by the shelf of the +cupboard, and gradually came to himself. He did not even then comprehend +the whole gravity of the position; the sense of his great loss--not only +of so much wealth, but of that which he had secured with such toil, and +laid by unproductively so long for the accomplishment of his darling +purpose--monopolized his mind. Who _could_ have been the thief? was the +one question with which he concerned himself, and the answer was not +long delayed. It was the coincidence of amount in the sum stolen with +that which Richard had gone to Plymouth to realize, that turned his +suspicions upon the young artist. Why, the scoundrel had fixed upon that +very sum as the test of his possessing an independence for a reason that +was now clear enough: it was the exact limit of what he knew he could +lay his hand upon. But how _did_ he know?--or, rather (for the old man's +thoughts were still fixed upon the mechanical mystery of his loss), how +did he open the padlock? Then there flashed upon his mind that incident +of his having dropped the memorandum out of his watch-case in the bar +parlor in Richard's presence, and the whole affair seemed as clear as +day. It was Richard's intention to change the notes at Plymouth for the +paper of the Miners' Bank, or for gold, and then to exhibit it to him in +its new form as his own property. He did not believe that the young +artist intended to steal it; but he was by no means less furious with +him upon that account--quite otherwise. He piqued himself upon his +caution and long-headedness, and resented every deception practiced upon +him even more than an injury. Moreover, he felt that but for Solomon's +unexpected request for the loan the plan would have succeeded. In all +probability, he would not have discovered his loss until it had been too +late--he would not have known how to refuse the young man leave to +become his daughter's suitor; and once his son-in-law, he could scarcely +have prosecuted him for replacing two thousand pounds' worth of +bank-notes in his strong-box by notes of another kind. Exasperated +beyond all measure as Trevethick was, it did credit to his sagacity that +even at such a moment he did not conceive of Richard Yorke as being a +common thief. But he concluded him to be much worse, and deserving of +far heavier punishment, as a man that would have obtained his daughter +under false pretenses. He went down stairs, taking the box with him, to +seek his friend. Solomon had just returned from the cottage over the +way, where he had been giving orders to one of the best miners to still +hold himself engaged at Dunloppel, and had bidden him tell others the +same. He was in high spirits, and was twirling about in his large hands +Mr. Stratum's diagnosis of the mine. + +"You may put that away and have done with it," said Trevethick, +hoarsely; "I have no money to lend you for that, nor nothing else. This +box held two thousand pounds of mine, but it's all gone now." + +"Two thousand pounds!" exclaimed Solomon, too amazed at the magnitude of +the sum to realize what had happened to it. "Two thousand pounds in a +box!" He had always suspected that the old man kept something in a +stocking-foot, and had often rallied him upon his unnecessary caution +with respect to investments; but this statement of his appeared +incredible. + +"What does it matter if it was twenty thousand, when I tell you it's +gone," said Trevethick, sullenly. "That limb of the devil, Yorke, is off +with every shilling of it." + +"Do you mean to say _he's_ stolen it?" inquired the other, even more +astonished than before. + +"He's taken it to Plymouth with him, that's all." + +Solomon Coe was a man of action, and prompt in emergencies, but for the +moment he was fairly staggered. He had no liking for Richard, but such a +charge as this appeared incredible; it seemed more likely that the old +man had repented of his late offer of the loan of five hundred pounds, +and had invented this monstrous fiction to excuse himself. + +"Where was the box kept?" asked Solomon, dryly. + +For a moment or two Trevethick was silent. + +"It is as I suspected," thought the other; "the old man is making up the +story as he goes on." + +But the fact was that this question had gone to the very root of the +matter, and opened Trevethick's dull eyes wide. In his chagrin at his +loss (though he did believe it would be temporary), and irritation at +his sagacity having been set at naught, he had overlooked the most +serious feature of the whole catastrophe. How had Yorke come to the +knowledge that the strong-box was kept in Harry's room? and under what +circumstances had he obtained access to it? + +"Where's Harry?" exclaimed Trevethick, starting up with a great oath; +for it flashed upon him that she had fled with Richard. "Where's my +daughter?" + +"I saw her in the village just now," said Solomon, "talking to old +Madge. She had been for a stroll out Turlock way, she said. But what's +the use of vexing _her_ about the matter? Women are much best kept in +the dark when one don't want things to be talked about. The more quiet +you keep this story, the more chance you'll have of getting your money +back, you may depend upon it. It was in notes, of course?" + +"Yes, in notes," answered the other, with a vacant look, and drumming on +the table with his right hand. + +"Come, come, Trevethick, you must keep your head," remonstrated Solomon. +"I'll act for you quick enough, if you'll only supply me with the means. +It's a great loss, but it should not paralyze a man. You've got a +memorandum of the numbers of the notes?" + +"Yes, yes; I have somewhere." + +"Well; go and fetch it, while I order out a horse. I can get to Plymouth +before wheels can do it, and shall catch this scoundrel yet. He'll be +going there to change the notes, I reckon?" + +"Yes, yes," said Trevethick; "he'll be at the _George and Vulture_; so +he said." + +"Good," replied Solomon. "I'll get a warrant from old Justice Smallgood +on my way. Rouse up, man, rouse up; you shall have your money back, I +tell you, and see this rascal lagged for life into the bargain." + +"If I could only get him hanged!" answered the old man, fiercely--"if I +could only get _him_ hanged, Sol, I'd let the money go, and welcome!" + +Solomon stared after him, as he left the room and tramped up stairs in +search of the list of notes, with a ludicrous expression of wonder. In +_his_ eyes, no revenge at present seemed worth so extravagant a price. +But Trevethick had his reasons, or thought he had, for this excess of +hate; his slow-moving yet powerful nature resembled the python--it was +exceedingly tenacious when its object was once grasped, and it was apt +to glut itself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +A HARD ALTERNATIVE. + + +Solomon had ridden off, and was half-way to Turlock before Trevethick +felt himself sufficiently collected to summon Hannah, and bid her send +for her young mistress. He could not go in search of her himself and +speak what he had to ask: no bird of the air must carry her reply, no +wind of heaven breathe it, if it was such as he feared. There must be no +"scene" in public to let loose the gossips' tongues. He sat in the bar +parlor, with his huge head leaning on his hands, brooding over his +wrongs, and waiting for her--for the daughter by whose wicked +connivance, as he thought, he had been despoiled of his hard-earned +gains. He did not reproach himself for having thrown her so much with +Richard, in order that the latter might be kept in good-humor, and apt +to forward his plans as to Wheal Danes. He "wondered at their vice, and +not his folly." As to there being any thing beyond a flirtation between +the young people, he did not suspect it; but even as matters were, he +was bitterly enraged against Harry, and would have strangled Richard out +of hand if he could have got near him. It was evident to him that this +fellow had been courting his daughter, though he knew she was plighted +to another, and had wormed out of her the secret of his hoarded wealth. +Six months ago she would not for her life have dared to tell what she +knew he wished to hide; and now this young villain had wound himself so +cunningly about her that she had no will but his, and had even helped +him to rob her own flesh and blood. His heel was on that serpent's head, +however, or would be in a day or two, and _then_--The old man ground his +teeth as though his enemy were between them. + +"Well, father, here I am; Hannah said you wanted me." + +Harry's voice was as calm as she could make it, but her young limbs +trembled, and her face was very pale. + +[Illustration: "SHE DRAGGED UPON HIS ARM."] + +"Come here--nearer!" cried Trevethick, hoarsely, seizing her by the +wrist. "Do you know that you are the only creature but two--but one, I +may say, for gratitude ain't love--that I have ever loved in this +world--that I have worked for you, planned for you, and for you only, +all my life?" + +"Yes, father; and I am very grateful for it," answered she, +submissively. + +"No doubt," sneered the old man; "and the way you show how much you feel +it, the way you show your duty and your love to your father in return, +is to put a thief--a lying, cheating thief--in the road to rob him!" + +"You must be mad, father!" exclaimed Harry, in blank amazement. "I know +no thief!" + +"You know Richard Yorke, you wicked, wanton wench!" interrupted +Trevethick, passionately. "And how could _he_ have heard of yonder box +except through you? Of course you'll lie; a lie or two is nothing to one +like you. But here's the proof. The padlock has been opened, the money +taken. Who did it? Who could have done it, except him, or you?" + +"As I am a living woman, father, as I hope for heaven," answered Harry, +earnestly, "I did not do it, and I do not know who did." + +"You didn't, and you don't! The thing's incredible. Reach here that +Bible." He still held her by the wrist. "You shall swear that, and be +damned forever! What! you never told that villain where my money lay?" + +"I did tell Mr. Yorke that, father. Pray, pray, be patient. It was long +ago; we were talking together about I know not what, and it slipped from +me that you kept money in a strong-box. That was all." + +"All," said the old man, bitterly, and flinging her arm away from him, +the wrist all black and bruised with his angry clutch. "What more, or +worse, could you have told than the one secret I had bid you keep? You +told him the exact sum, too, I'll warrant? Two thousand pounds!" + +"Yes, father, I did. It was very wrong, and I was very sorry directly I +had done it. But I knew the secret would be safe with a gentleman like +Mr. Yorke." + +"A gentleman! A cheat, an impostor, a common rogue!" + +"Oh no, oh no, father!" + +"But I say 'yes.' To-morrow he will have the handcuffs on him! What! +Have you tears for him, and none for me, you slut! Perhaps you _showed_ +him where the box was kept, as well as told him! Did you, _did_ you?" + +There was something in Harry's frightened face that made her father rise +and lock the door. + +"Speak low!" said he, in an awful voice; "you have something to tell me. +Tell it." + +"Only that I love him, father--oh, so much!" pleaded Harry, +passionately. "Indeed, indeed, I could not help it! I tried to love Sol, +because you wished it, but it was no use; I felt that even before +Richard came. We walked every day together for weeks and weeks, and he +was so different from Sol, so bright and pleasant, and he loved me from +the first, he said. He told me, too, that you had listened with favor to +his suit, or, at all events, had not refused to listen--that there was +good hope of your consenting to it, and without that hope he knew he +could not win me. I only promised to be his on that condition. Speak to +me, father; pardon me, father! Don't look at me so. He never meant to +thieve, I am sure of that. You asked of him some warrant of his wealth, +some proof that he could afford to marry me. You would not have done +that had you set your face utterly against him. And I think--I +fear--though Heaven is my witness that I knew nothing of it until now, +that he took this money only to bring it back to you again, and win your +favor. It was an ill deed, if he has really done it, which even yet I do +not credit; but it was done for my sake; then for _my_ sake, father, +pity him, pardon him!" She had thrown herself upon her knees beside the +old man's chair; her long hair had come unfastened, and trailed upon the +sanded floor; her hands were clasped in an agony of supplication. No +pictured Magdalen ever looked more wretched or more beautiful. + +"You have more to tell?" said the old man, harshly. + +She shook her head, and uttered a plaintive moan. + +"Then _I_ have," continued he. "You say you love this man; now _I_ hate +him! I do not regret that he has robbed me, since, by that act, he has +placed himself in my power, and I mean to use it to the uttermost; but +for his cozening me to my face, as he has done so long, and for his +smooth, false ways, and for his impudent tales, which I had half +believed, and for his audacious attempt to pluck you from the hand for +which I had designed you, I _hate_ him. I tell you," cried out the old +man, fiercely, "if this villain had fifty lives, and the law would help +me to them, I would exact them all! If he stood here, I would brain him +with yonder staff; and if my curse could follow him beyond the grave--as +my vengeance shall to the grave's brink--he should perish in eternal +fire! _Hate_ him? I almost hate you for having loved him; and if I +thought you would dare to cross me further by holding to him now, I'd +drive you from my door this very hour. You will never see him more; but +I shall, once. This mouth shall witness against him to the uttermost; +these ears shall hear the judge pronounce on him his righteous doom." + +"No, no," gasped the young girl, faintly. "If you do not hate me yet, I +pray you to unsay those words. When you curse Richard, father, you are +cursing you know not whom." She dragged upon his arm, and brought his +ear down to the level of her mouth, and whispered in it. + +The old man started to his feet, and pushed her from him with a hideous +oath; then made as though he would have unlocked the door and thrown it +wide, to drive her, as he had so lately threatened, from his roof. But +there was a noise of many feet and chattering and laughter in the +passage without, which showed that some of the tourist guests had just +come in. Only a plank intervened between that little knot of giddy +pleasure-seekers, with their jokes and small-talk, and the father and +daughter in their agony. + +"Mercy! mercy!" cried the wretched girl. + +Trevethick clapped his hand upon her little mouth, with, "Hush, fool! +hush!" and she felt thankful that he called her by no worse name. + +"Forgive me--pity--pardon," murmured she. + +"Listen!" said he, in a stem whisper. "Obey me now, you wicked, wanton +slut, or I proclaim your shame before them all; one minute will decide +your fate! Be stubborn, and you shall go forth through yonder door, +discarded, friendless, infamous, to beg your bread, or win it how you +will; be tractable, and even yet you shall have a father and a home. +Make choice, and quickly; and having made it, be you sure of this, that +it shall hold. Do you hear me, trollop?" + +"I hear! I hear!" she murmured, shuddering. "I will obey you now, and +ever." + +"Then marry Solomon Coe--at once--within the month." + +"Oh, father, mercy!" + +His fingers were on the door, and the key grated in the lock. + +"The sea-air makes one famish," said a gay voice outside. + +"It's lucky," laughed another, "for there is sure to be nothing for +dinner but the inevitable ham and eggs." + +In another instant the final barrier between herself and public shame +would have been withdrawn by that relentless hand. + +"I promise--I promise--spare me!" cried the unhappy girl, and fell +fainting on the floor. + +The old man drew a long, deep breath, and wiped his forehead. His +victory had not been lightly won. He lifted his daughter up and carried +her to the sofa; then raised the little clumsy window, rarely opened, +and propped it with a stick, so that the breeze might blow upon her +tear-stained cheek. How white and worn and emptied of all joy it looked! +As he gazed upon her, a touch of pity stole into her father's face. He +poured out a little spirits in a glass, and put it to her lips. "Take a +sup of this, and you'll be better, child." + +She opened her heavy eyes, and shook her head. + +"You said you would have mercy, father, if I promised?" + +"Yes, yes; all shall be forgotten. We will not even speak of it to one +another." + +"And you will pardon _him_? You will not hurt my Richard?" + +"Your Richard!" + +"Yes, for he was mine once. You will not bear witness against him before +the judge? Is he not punished enough in losing me? Am _I_ not punished?" + +"Silence!" exclaimed the old man, in a terrible voice. His hand, +trembling with passion, had struck against the strong-box, and at its +touch his wrath broke out in flame. "That man is dead to you henceforth! +You gave your promise without conditions. Moreover, his fate is in the +hands of the law, and not in mine." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +AN UNEXPECTED GUEST. + + +Six days had come and gone since her lover's departure from Gethin, but +no tidings of him had reached Harry's ears. Solomon had returned on the +second day, and been closeted with her father for some hours, doubtless +in consultation about Richard; but not a word had been spoken of him, in +her presence, by either. She dared not mention him to her father, and +still less could she apply for information to his rival, her now +affianced bridegroom. How much, or how little, her father had disclosed +concerning him to Sol she did not know; but the latter had evidently +closed with the terms which she had in her late strait accepted on her +own part. The bans had been put up in the church upon the hill, and in a +month she would be this man's wife. She had been congratulated upon the +coming event by all the neighbors. Some had slyly hinted--little +guessing the pain they gave to that sore heart--at her late "goings-on" +with that young gentleman-painter; they had almost suspected at one time +that he would have supplanted her old flame; but they were glad to see +matters as they were. Solomon was a steady, sagacious man, as every body +knew, and would get on in the world; and what he gained he would not +waste in foolish ways. Such an old friend of her father's, too. Nothing +could be more fitting and satisfactory in all respects. Solomon, +notoriously a laggard in love, was likened to the tortoise, who had won +the race against the hare. + +To have to listen to all this well-meant twaddle was misery indeed. +Perhaps, upon the whole, good honest dullness does unknowingly inflict +more grievous wounds than the barbed satiric tongue. + +To think, to picture to herself the condition of her lover--deplorable, +she was convinced, from the grim satisfaction upon Solomon's face when +he first came back--was torture. She could not read, for her mind fled +from the page, like breath from a mirror; there was nothing for it but +occupation. She busied herself as she had never done before with the +affairs of the house, which afforded some excuse for escaping from Sol's +attentions, naturally grown somewhat pressing, now that his wedded +happiness was drawing so near. The _Gethin Castle_ was not, however, +very full of guests. It had been wet for a few days, and rain spoils the +harvest of the inn-keeper even more than that of the farmer. One night, +when it was pouring heavily, and such a windfall as a new tourist was +not to have been expected by the most sanguine Boniface, a lady arrived, +alone, and took up her quarters in the very room that Richard had +vacated. Trevethick himself was at the door when she had driven up and +asked with some apparent anxiety whether she could be accommodated. She +was wrapped up, and thickly veiled, but he had observed to his daughter +what a well-spoken woman she was, and an uncommon fine one too, though +her hair was gray. She had inquired whether there were any letters +waiting for her, addressed to Mrs. Gilbert; but there was no letter. + +Harry took in the new arrival's supper with her own hands. It was the +time when she would otherwise have been expected in the bar parlor, to +sit by Solomon's side, and feel his arm creep round her waist, more +hateful than a serpent's fold. A fire had been lit in the sitting-room, +on account of the inclement weather, and Mrs. Gilbert was standing +beside it with her elbow on the mantel-piece. She watched Harry come in +and out, without a word, but the expression of her face was so +searching and attentive that it embarrassed her. Under other +circumstances she would certainly have delegated her duties to Hannah, +but to evade Solomon's society she would have waited on the Sphinx. She +brought in each article one at a time, and when there was nothing more +to bring inquired deferentially whether there was any thing else that +she could do for the lady. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Gilbert, gravely; the voice was soft, but the manner +most earnest and impressive. "I want five minutes' talk with you; can I +have it secure from interruption?" + +"Certainly, madam," answered Harry, trembling, she knew not why. + +"Close the door, girl. Come nearer, and away from the window; we must +not be overheard." + +Harry was constitutionally timid, and it struck her that this poor lady +was not in her right mind. She hesitated. The other seemed to read her +thoughts. + +"I am not mad, child," said she, sorrowfully, "though I have trouble +enough to make me so. You are the daughter of the landlord of this inn, +I think?" + +"Yes, madam." + +"And I am the mother of Richard Yorke." + +She was standing in the same position, and had spoken coldly and as +sternly as such a voice as hers could speak, when something in the young +girl's face caused her whole manner to change. With a sudden impulse she +turned toward her, and held out both her arms; and Harry threw herself +into them with a passionate cry, and sobbed as though her heart would +break. + +"Hush! hush!" whispered the other, tenderly; "we must not weep now, but +act!" + +But the girl still sobbed on, without lifting up her face. Tears had +been strangers to her heated eyes for days, and she had longed in vain +for one sympathizing breast on which to lay her head. "I have been his +ruin," she murmured; "but for me he would never have done wrong. How +you, who are his mother, must hate me!" + +"No, Harry, no!" answered the other, putting aside those rich brown +locks, and gazing upon the fair shut face attentively. "I do not wonder +at his loving you; for such beauty as yours many a man would lose his +soul! I did hate you until now. But you love my Richard truly, as I see; +and we two can not afford to be enemies. We must work together for his +good to avert the ruin of which you speak, for it is imminent. He has +sent me to you, for he can not come himself. He is in prison, Harry!" + +"In prison! O Heaven, have mercy!" + +She sank down on her knees, and covered her face with her hands. + +"Yes, Harry, think of it. Our Richard, so bright, so dear, within prison +walls! He may pass his life there for what he has done for your sake, +unless you help him." + +"Help him? I would die for him!" + +"Calm yourself. Sit down. To grieve is selfish where one can do better; +when all is lost it is time enough for that. All _will_ be lost a +fortnight hence, unless we bestir ourselves. Hush! I hear a step in the +passage. Who is that?" + +"It is Sol, madam--Solomon Coe." + +"The man you are to marry, is it not?" + +A stifled groan was the girl's reply. + +"I can not speak what I have to say here," said the other, thoughtfully. +"Is there no other place? Stay. I can be ill--overfatigued with my +journey--and you will come and tend me in my own room presently. That +can be managed, can't it?" + +"Yes, madam, yes." + +"Then wipe your eyes--be a brave girl. Think of Richard, and not of +yourself--think of him, when yonder boor is clasping the hand that once +rested in his--think of him, when those alien lips press yours at +parting, and be strong! If I were in your place, he would find that I +had not deserted him in his trouble." + +"Desert him, madam? I? Oh, never!" + +"To be weak is to desert him, girl--to let yonder man and your father +suspect that any friend of Richard's is beneath this roof is to desert +him--to weep when there is need to work is to desert him. Did I not tell +you I was his own mother; and yet _I_ shed no tears! Look up, and learn +your lesson from me." + +The faces of the two women were indeed in strong contrast--the younger, +yielding, feeble, despairing; the elder, calm, patient of purpose, and +inflexible. Her cheeks were plump, and radiant with health; her form +erect and composed; her eyes, indeed, betrayed anxiety, but it was from +want of confidence in the person she addressed, not in herself; the +white hair seemed to fitly crown that figure, so full of earnestness and +firmness. + +"I will do my best," cried the young girl, "though I know I am but weak +and foolish. Pity me, and pray for me. I am going to the torture, but I +will be resolute. Tell Hannah--the servant-maid--that you wish me to +attend you in your room. Send for me soon, for mercy's sake! How I long +to know how I can help our Richard!" + +As she left the room Mrs. Gilbert's face grew dark. "A fool! a dolt!" +she muttered, angrily. "How could he risk so much for such a stake! Oh, +Richard! Richard!"--her voice began to falter at that well-loved +name--"was this to have been the end of all my hopes? What fatal issue, +then, may not my fears have end in! my beautiful, bright boy! The only +light my lonely life possessed! to think of you as like yourself, and +then to think of you as you are now!" She looked around her on the +sordid walls, the vulgar ornaments upon the mantel-piece, the wretched +ill-chosen books; then listened to the splash of the rain in the unpaved +street. "And this was Paradise, was it, my poor boy, because this girl +dwelt in it! I ought to have known that there was danger here. His +letters few and short and far between, his patient tarrying in so wild a +place, should have been enough to warn me. But not of this; in no +nightmare dream could I have conceived this unimaginable peril. Ah, me! +ah, me!" She sat down at the untasted meal, and strove to eat. "I must +be strong, for Richard's sake," she murmured. But she soon laid down her +knife and fork to muse again. "This Trevethick is a hard, stern man, I +see. There is no hope in his mercy. The only path of safety is that +which the lawyer pointed out; but will this puling girl have the heart +and head to tread it? Will she not faint, as she nearly did just now, +and lose her wits when my Richard most requires them? And then, and +then?" As if unable to continue such reflections, she rose and rang the +bell, which Hannah answered. + +"Bring me a bed-candle, girl; I will seek my room at once; and please +ask Miss Trevethick to look in upon me before she retires herself, for I +feel far from well." + +"Yes, ma'am." Hannah thought within herself that the new arrival looked +uncommon fresh and well considering her years, and that her young +mistress had far more need of rest and "looking to" than she; but, +nevertheless, she gave the message; and Harry, at her usual time for +going to rest, repaired to the new-comer's room accordingly. + +"Are they gone to bed, those men?" inquired Mrs. Gilbert, anxiously, as +soon as the door was closed. + +"No, madam; my father and Solomon always sit up together now till late." + +"Ay; plotting against my boy, I doubt not. Well, let us, then, +counterplot. Who sleeps on either side of this room?" + +"No one, madam. Both rooms are empty at present; the last visitor, +except yourself, left us this evening." + +"And the servants?" + +"They have retired long ago up stairs." + +"That's well. Sit here, then, close to me, and listen. You know that +Richard is in prison, placed there by your father and that other man on +a false charge. They know as well as I or you that he had no intention +of committing the crime of which he stands accused, and yet they both +mean to swear the contrary." + +"Oh, madam, they will surely not do that!" + +"But I say 'Yes;' they want revenge upon him. I know them better than +you, who have known them all your life; or perhaps you say they will +not, because you hope so. Is it possible," she broke forth, impatiently, +"that in such a strait as this, girl, you can encourage such delusions! +You are like the fool in the Scripture, of whom it is written, that +though thou shouldst bray him among wheat with a pestle, yet will not +his foolishness depart from him." + +"I know I am not like you, madam," answered Harry, piteously. "Richard +has often told me how wise and brave you are; but yet my love for him is +as great as yours can be. Whatever you think fit that I should do to +help him, that shall be done. Trust me; it shall, indeed." + +"That's well said, girl. Be you the hand, and I the head, then, of this +enterprise, and we shall conquer yet. I say again, that if they could, +these men would swear my Richard's life away. They might as well do that +as what they mean to do, and deprive him of his liberty; cast him for +years into prison, and herd with the worst and basest of mankind; to +work under a task-master with irons on. Do you understand, girl, what it +is to which, unless we can hinder them, these wretches would doom him?" + +"Yes, yes, I do," she murmured, shuddering. "It is horrible, most +horrible! God help us!" + +"We must help ourselves," answered Mrs. Gilbert, sternly. + +"Yet God is surely on our side, and for the truth, madam. If they swear +falsely--" + +"You must swear also," interrupted the other, angrily; "you must meet +them with their own weapons, if you would defend the innocent against +them. As it is, the law is with them, and will prove the instrument of +their vengeance. The notes were found upon his person; he strove to +change them, that he might pass their substitutes more easily. He +counted upon your father not missing them from his strong-box until it +was too late. The case is clear against him that he stole them." + +"Great Heaven!" cried Harry, clasping her hands in agony; "and yet he +did not mean to steal them." + +"Of course not; nay more, he did _not_ steal them, for _you gave them to +him_." + +"_I_ gave them to him? Nay, I never did." + +"You did--you did, girl; you acquiesced in his plan for obtaining your +father's consent to your engagement; you undertook to supply him +temporarily with the money requisite to establish his pretensions as a +man of fortune. Or, if you did _not_"--and here her voice assumed an +intense earnestness--"your Richard, the man you pretend to love, will be +a convicted felon--a prisoner for all the summer of his life, and for +the rest an outcast!" + +Harry was silent; her hands were pressed to her forehead, as though to +compel her fevered brain to think without distraction. "I see, I see," +she murmured, presently; "his fate hangs upon my word. 'So help me, +God,' is what I have first to say, and then say _that_!" + +"Why not?" rejoined the other, stoutly. "Will not these men, too, call +God to witness what they know to be a lie? Will not _He_ discern the +motive that prompts _you_--desire to see a wronged man righted, the +innocent set free--and the motive that prompts _them_--malicious hate? +Or do you deem the all-seeing eye of Heaven is purblind? I tell you +this, girl, if I were in _your_ place, and the man I loved stood +_justly_ in such peril, I would swear a score such oaths to set him +free! Yet here, with justice on your side and truth, and Heaven itself, +you hesitate; you shrink from uttering a mere form of words, the spirit +of which is contrary to the letter, and for conscience sake, forsooth, +will let your lover perish! _Your_ lover! yes, but you were never _his_, +although he thinks so. I will go hence, and tell him that you refuse to +speak the thing that alone can save him from life-long wretchedness; I +will go and tell him that the girl for whose sake he has brought this +load of ruin on himself will not so much as lift it with her little +finger! You fair, foul devil, how I hate you!" She drew herself up to +her full height, and regarded the wretched girl with such contemptuous +scorn that even in her abject misery she felt its barb. + +"I have not earned your hate," said Harry, with some degree of firmness, +"if I have earned your scorn; nor is it meet that you should so despise +me, because I fear to anger God." + +"And man," added the other, with bitterness. "You fear your father's +wrath far more than Heaven's." + +That bolt went home: the unhappy girl did indeed stand in greater terror +of her father than of the sin of perjury; and the idea of affirming upon +oath what she had but a few days before so solemnly denied to him was +filling her with consternation and dismay. Still the picture that had +just been drawn of the ruin that would assuredly befall her Richard, +unless she interposed to save him, had more vivid colors even than that +of Trevethick's anger. Let him kill her, if he would, after the trial +was over, but Richard should go free. + +"I will do your bidding, madam," said she, suddenly, "though I perish, +body and soul." + +"You say that now, girl, and it's well and bravely said; but will you +have strength to put your words to proof? When I am gone, and there are +none but Richard's foes about you, will you resist their menaces, their +arguments, their cajolements, and be true as steel?" + +"I will, I will; I swear it," answered Harry, passionately; "they shall +never turn me from it. But suppose they prevent me from leaving Gethin, +from attending at the trial at all?" + +"Well thought of!" answered Mrs. Gilbert, approvingly; "she has some +wits, then, after all, this girl. As for their forbidding you to give +evidence, however, Mr. Weasel, who is Richard's lawyer, will see to +that. You will be subpoenaed as a witness for the defense. You will say, +then, that it was you who opened the strong-box, and took out the notes, +and gave them into Richard's hand." + +"But how could I open the letter padlock?" + +"Good, again!" answered the other; "you have asked the very question for +which I have brought the answer. Now, listen! Have you access to your +father's watch at times when he does not wear it?" + +"Yes; he does not always put it on--never on the day he goes to market, +for instance. He comes back late, you see." + +"Just so; and sometimes, perhaps, not altogether sober. Very good. Now, +you once opened that watch from curiosity, and saw a paper in its case +with B N Z upon it. Those letters formed the secret by which the lock +was opened. You tried it, just in fun at first, and found they did. Do +you understand?" + +"I do," said Harry. + +"You will not forget, then, what you have to say; or shall I +recapitulate it?" + +"There is no need," groaned Harry. "I shall remember it forever, be sure +of that, and on my death-bed most of all." With a wearied look on her +wan face, and a heavy sigh, the young girl rose to go. "Good-night, +madam. We need not speak of this again to-morrow, need we?" + +"Surely not, child. My mission here is done. The rain is falling still, +and that will be a sufficient excuse for my departure. I had a sick +headache to-night--remember that--but it will be better after a night's +sleep." + +"Do you sleep?" asked Harry, simply. "Ah me, I would that _I_ could +sleep!" + +"Of course I do. Is it not necessary for Richard's sake that I should be +well and strong? I could weep all night and fast all day, if I let my +foolish heart have its own will. It is easy enough to grieve at any +time; one has only to think to do that. Sleep, child, sleep, and dream +of him as he will be when you have set him free; then wake to work his +freedom. I will tell him that you will do so. Press your lips to mine, +that I may carry their sweet impress back to him. One moment more. Do +not get your lesson by heart, lest they should doubt you; but hold by +this one sentence, and never swerve from it: 'I gave Richard Yorke the +notes with my own hand.' That is the key which can alone unlock his +prison-door. Good-night, good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +MR. ROBERT BALFOUR. + + +An author of sensitive organization has always a difficulty in treating +the subject of prison life. If he avoids details, the critics do not +ascribe it to delicacy, but to incompetence; if, on the other hand, he +enters into them, they nudge the elbow of the public, and hint that this +particular phase of human experience is his specialty--that he "ought to +know," because he has been "through the mill" himself. This is not kind, +of course; but the expression, "a little more than kin and less than +kind," is exceedingly applicable to the critic in relation to his humble +brother, the author. We will take a middle course, then, and exhibit +only just so much of Cross Key as may be seen in a "justice's visit." + +Twenty years ago, the system of treatment of prisoners before trial +incarcerated in her Majesty's jails was not so uniform as it now is. In +some they were permitted few privileges not enjoyed by the convicts +themselves; in others a considerable difference was made between the two +classes. The establishment at Cross Key leaned to the side of +indulgence. Its inmates who were awaiting their trial were allowed to +wear their own clothes; to write letters to their friends without +supervision (though not without the suspicion of it on their own part); +and to mingle together for some hours in a common room, where that +unbroken silence which pervades all our modern Bastiles, and is perhaps +their most terrible feature, was not insisted upon. In this common room +Richard Yorke was sitting on the afternoon following his incarceration. +The principal meal of the day had been just concluded, and himself and +his fellow-guests were brooding moodily over their troubles. The +platters, the block-tin knives, so rounded that the most determined +self-destroyer could never job himself with them into Hades, and the +metal mugs had been removed, and their places on the narrow deal table +were occupied by a few periodicals of a somewhat depressing character, +though "devoted to the cultivation of quiet cheerfulness," and by a +leaden inkstand much too large to be swallowed. The prisoners--upon the +ground, perhaps, of not needing the wings of liberty for any other +purpose--were expected to furnish (from them) their own pens. There were +but half a dozen of these unfortunates; all, with two exceptions, were +of the same type--that of the ordinary agricultural criminal. Ignorant, +slouching, dogged, they might have fired a rick, or killed a keeper, or +even--sacrilegious but unthinking boors--have shot a great man's +pheasant. They did not make use of their privileges of conversation +beyond a muttered word or two, but stared stupidly at the pictures in +the magazines, wondering (as well they might) at the benevolent faces of +the landlords, clergymen, and all persons in authority therein +portrayed, or perhaps not wondering at them at all, but rather pondering +whether Bet and the children had gone into "the House" or not by this +time, or whether the man in the big wig would be hard upon themselves +next Wednesday three weeks. + +One of these two exceptions was, of course, our hero, who looked, by +contrast with these poor, simple malefactors, like a being from another +world, a fallen angel, but with the evil forces of his new abode already +gathering fast within him. His capacities for ill, indeed, were ten +times theirs; and the dusky glow of his dark eyes evinced that they were +at work, though they did but ineffectually reflect the hell of hate that +was beginning to be lit within him. It flamed against the whole world of +his fellow-creatures, so mad he was with pride and scorn and rage; his +hand should be against every man henceforth, as theirs was now against +him; his motto, like the _exeunt_ exclamation of the mob in the play, +should be: "Fire, burn, slay!" He was like a spoiled child who for the +first time has received a severe punishment--for a wonder, not wholly +deserved--and who wishes, in his vengeful passion, that all mankind +might have one neck in common with his persecutor, that (forgetting he +is no Hercules) his infant arms might throttle it off-hand. The love +which he still felt for Harry and his mother, far from softening him +toward others, rather increased his bitterness of spirit. They, too, +were suffering wrong and ill-treatment, and needed an avenger. His fury +choked him, so that he had eaten nothing of what had been set before +him, and he now sat leaning with his elbows on the bare boards, staring +with heated eyes at the blank wall before him, and feeding on his own +heart. + +"This is your first time in quod, I guess, young gentleman," observed a +quiet voice beside him. + +Richard started. He had thrown one contemptuous glance upon the company +when they first assembled, and had decided that they possessed no more +interest for him than a herd of cattle; buried in his own sombre +thoughts, he had lost consciousness of their very presence, as of that +of the warder, who was pacing up and down the room with monotonous +tread. But now that his attention was thus drawn to his next neighbor, +he saw that he differed somewhat from the rest; not that he was more +intelligent-looking--for, indeed, there was a reckless brutality in his +expression which the others lacked--but there was a certain resolution +and strength of will in his face, which at least told of power. But it +was the tone of voice, which, coming from such a man, though it was a +gruff voice enough in itself, had something conciliatory and winning in +it, that chiefly attracted Richard. Perhaps, too, the phrase "young +gentleman" flattered his vanity. We can not throw off all our weaknesses +at a moment's notice, no matter how stupendous the crisis in our +fortunes, any more than, though our boat be sinking under us, we can +divest ourselves of our clothes with a single shrug; and sympathy and +deferential respect had still their weight with Richard Yorke. Perhaps, +too, his nature had not yet even got quit of its gregariousness, and he +was not sorry to have his acquaintance sought, though by this hang-dog +thief. + +"I have never been in prison before, if that is what you mean," returned +he, civilly. + +He who asked the question was a stout-built, grizzled fellow, of about +fifty years. He was dressed like a well-to-do farmer, but his accent +smacked of London rather than the country; and his hands, Richard +observed, were not so coarse and rough as might be expected in one used +to manual labor, though his limbs and frame were powerful enough for the +most arduous toil. His gray eyes looked keenly at Richard from under +their bushy brows, as he propounded a second inquiry: + +"What are you in for? Forgery or embezzlement, I reckon--which is it?" + +"Neither," answered Richard, laconically, a bitter smile parting his +lips in spite of himself. + +"Well, now, that's curious," observed the other, coolly. "If it was not +that you were sent here with the rest of us, and not shut up by +yourself, I should have guessed 'Murder' outright, for you were looking +all that a minute ago; and since it could not be murder, I thought it +must be one of the other two." + +"I don't know what I am here for," said Richard, gloomily, "except that +the charge is false." + +"Oh, of course," rejoined the other, with a grim chuckle; "it's always +false the first time, and as often afterward as we can get the juries to +believe us. I'm an old hand myself, and my feelings are not easily +wounded; but I have never yet disgraced myself by pleading guilty. It's +throwing a chance away, unless you are a very beautiful young woman who +has put away her baby, and that I never was, nor did." + +"Beauty in distress mollifies the court, does it?" inquired Richard, +willing to be won from his own wretchedness by talk even with a man like +this. + +"Mollifies!--yes, it makes a molly of every body. I have known a judge +shed tears about it, which he is not bound to do unless he has the black +cap on--that always set him going like an onion. Why, I've seen even an +attorney use his pocket-handkerchief because of a pretty face in +trouble; but then she was his client, to be sure. Talking of attorneys, +you'll have Weasel, of course?" + +Richard nodded an affirmative. + +"Quite right. I should have him myself, if there was a shadow of a +chance; but, as it is, it's throwing good money out o' winder. I wish +you better luck, young gentleman, than mine is like to be; not that you +want luck, of course, but only justice." + +Richard did not relish this tone of banter, and he showed it in his +look. + +"Come, come," said the other, good-humoredly, "it is a pity to curdle +such a handsome face as yours with sour thoughts. Let us be friends, for +you may be glad of even a friend like me some dirty day." + +"It is very likely," answered Richard, bitterly. "I see no fine days +ahead, nor yet fine friends." + +"I hope you will see both," answered the other, frankly. "The first time +one finds one's self provided for so extra careful as this," with a +glance at the iron bars across the low-arched windows, "the prospect +always does seem dark. But one learns to look upon the bright side at +last. Is the figure very heavy that you're in for? Excuse my country +manners: I don't mean to be rude, nor do I ask the question from mere +curiosity; but you don't look like one to have come here for a mere +trifle." + +"The amount in question is two thousand pounds." + +"No whistling there!" cried the warder, peremptorily, for the "old hand" +had not been able to repress an expression of emotion at this +announcement. He looked at Richard with an air of self-complacency, such +as a gentleman of the middle classes exhibits on suddenly discovering +that he has been in familiar converse with a person of title, or a small +trader on being brought into unexpected connection with a merchant +prince. The gigantic character of the "operation" had invested this +young man with an increased interest in the stranger's eye. + +"That's a great beginning," said he, admiringly, "and could scarcely +have happened with a poor devil like me. One requires to be born a +gentleman to have such opportunities. Now, I don't mind telling _you_" +here he sank his voice to a whisper, and looked cautiously about him, +"that I was forty years of age before I ever got such a haul as yours. +I've done better since, but it's been up-hill work, for all that." + +"It doesn't seem to have been very hard work," said Richard, with a +meaning glance at the other's hand. + +"Well, no, I can't say as it's been hard; a neat touch is what is wanted +in my profession." + +"Why, you're not a pick--" Richard hesitated from motives of delicacy. + +"A pickpocket? Well, I hope not, Sir, indeed," interrupted the other, +indignantly. + +"Then what _are_ you?" said Richard, bluntly. + +As a coy maiden blushes and hangs her head in silence when asked the +question which she is yet both proud and pleased to answer in the +affirmative, so did Mr. Robert Balfour (for such was the name of our new +acquaintance) pause and in graceful confusion rub his stubble chin with +his closed fist ere he replied: "Well, the fact is, I have been in the +gold and precious stone line these thirty years, and never in the +provinces until this present summer, when I came down here, as a Yankee +pal of mine once put it, 'to open a little jewelry store.'" + +"With a crowbar?" suggested Richard, with a faint smile. + +"Just so," said the other, nodding; "and it so happened that yours +truly, Bob Balfour, was caught in the very act." + +"And what term of punishment do you expect for such a--" + +"Such a misfortune as that?" answered Mr. Balfour, hastening to relieve +Richard's embarrassment. "Well, if I had got the swag, I +should--considering the testimonials that will be handed in--have been a +lifer. But since I did not realize so much as a weddin' _ring_, twenty +years ought to see me through it now." + +Twenty years! Why, this man would be over seventy before he regained his +liberty! + +"Great Heaven!" cried Richard, "can you be cheerful with such a future +before you! and at the end of it, to be turned old and penniless into +the wide world!" + +A genuine pity showed itself in the young man's look and tone. A minute +before he had thought himself the most wretched of human beings; yet +here was one whose fate was even harder, and who met it without +repining. Community of trouble had already touched the heart which he +had thought was turned to stone. + +"Are you sorry for me, young gentleman," inquired the convict, in an +altered voice, "you who have got so much trouble of your own to bear?" + +"I am, indeed," said Richard, frankly. + +"You would not write a letter for me, though, would you?" inquired the +other, wistfully. "I should like to tell--somebody as I've left at +home--where I am gone to; and the fact is, I can't write; I never +learned how to do it." + +A blush came over Bob Balfour's face for the first time; the man was +ashamed of his ignorance, though not of his career of crime. "If it's +too much trouble, say so," added he, gruffly. "Perhaps it was too great +a favor to ask of a gentleman born." + +"Not at all," said Richard, hastily, "if the man will bring us pen and +paper." + +"Hush! the _officer_, if you please," said Balfour. "They like to be +'officered,' these gentry, every one of them. Some friends of mine +always addresses 'em as 'dogs;' but that's a mistake, when they has to +watch you." + +Mr. Robert Balfour spoke a few respectful words to the warder, and the +requisite materials were soon laid upon the table. Richard dipped his +pen in the ink, and waited for directions. "It's only a few words," +muttered Mr. Balfour, apologetically, "to my old mother. Perhaps you +have a mother yourself, young gentleman?" + +"I have." He had written to her guardedly the previous day, before he +left Plymouth, to tell her the same sad news which he was now, as he +supposed, about to repeat for another, and to urge her to repair to +Cross Key at once. + +Mr. Balfour beat softly on the table with his forefinger for a moment, +and then, as though he had found the key-note of the desired +composition, dictated as follows: + + "MY DEAR MOTHER,--When this comes to hand, I shall have took your + advice, and started for the New World. There's a ship a-sailing + from Plymouth in a day or two, and my passage in her is booked. I + didn't like to come back to town again, for fear I should change my + mind, and turn to the old trade. The post is queer and doubtful, + they tell me, in these far-away parts; but you shall hear from me + whenever I have an opportunity. All as is mine is yours, remember; + so, use it. I have no need of money myself, for there's a place + being kept for me, out yonder, in the carpentering line. Hoping + this finds you well, as it leaves me, I am your dutiful son, ROBERT + BALFOUR." + +"Then you don't tell her any thing about what's happened to you?" said +Richard, wonderingly. + +"Why should I? The poor soul's over seventy, and will never see me +again. It's much better that she should have a pretty picture to look at +than such a reality as this; ain't it?" + +"Well, I suppose it is." + +This delicate feeling on the part of Mr. Balfour jarred upon Richard. +_He_ had taken no pains to break the news of his imprisonment to _his_ +mother; on the contrary, he had painted the wretchedness of his +position, with a view to set forth the urgent necessity for help, in its +most sombre colors. Of course there was a great difference in the two +cases, an immense difference; but still he resented this exhibition of +natural piety, as contrasting unpleasantly with his own conduct. + +The other, however, had no suspicion of this. His thoughts, just then, +were far away; and the subject of them gave an unwonted softness to his +tone as he observed: "I thank you for this, kindly, young gentleman. +Here's the address--Earl Street, Spitalfields. It's her own house; and +she will have enough, and to spare, while she lives, thank the Lord! +Well, that's done with; and if Bob Balfour can do you a good turn for +it, he will. Hello, you're wanted." + +"Richard Yorke!" repeated the warder, loudly. "Can't you hear?" + +Richard had heard well enough; but the idea that it was his mother who +had come to see him had for the moment unmanned him; he well knew how +proud she had been of him; and how was he to meet her now, disgraced, +disheartened, in prison, a reputed thief! But the next instant he +reflected that her arrival could not be possibly looked for for some +days; perhaps it was Trevethick, who had, in the mean time, learned all, +and was come to announce his willingness to withdraw from the +prosecution; perhaps Harry herself was with him; perhaps-- + +But there was no time for further prognostication; a second warder was +at the door, beckoning impatiently, and Richard rose at once. The dull +faces of the rest were all raised toward him with a malign aspect; they +feared that some good news was come for him, that they were about to +lose a companion in misfortune. Only one held out his hand, with a "Good +luck to you, young gentleman; though I never see you again, I shall not +forget you." + +"Silence there!" cried the officer in charge, as Richard passed out into +the stone passage. "You ought to know our ways better than that, +Balfour." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +ATTORNEY AND CLIENT. + + +In a hall of stone stood a room of glass, and in that room the inmates +of Cross Key Jail were permitted to have access to their legal advisers. +They were not lost sight of by the jealous guardians of the place, one +of whom perambulated the hall throughout the interview; but though he +could see all that passed, he could hear nothing. Mr. Weasel of Plymouth +was very well known at Cross Key as being a frequent visitor to that +transparent apartment, and those prisoners whom he favored with his +attentions were justly held in high estimation by the warders, as +gentlemen who, though in difficulties, had at least some considerable +command of ready money. He was waiting now, with his hat on (which he +always wore, to increase his very limited stature), in this chamber of +audience; and so withered up he looked, and such a sharp, shrunk face he +had, that Richard, seeing him in the glass case, might have thought him +some dried specimen of humanity, not alive at all, had he not chanced to +be in the act of taking snuff; and even that was ghostly too, since it +produced the pantomimic action of sneezing without its accompanying +sound. + +"Mr. Richard Yorke, I believe?" said he, as soon as they were shut up +within the walls of glass, "I am glad to make your acquaintance, Sir, +though I wish, for your sake, that it happened in another place. You'll +excuse my not offering you my hand." + +Richard drew back his extended arm and turned crimson. + +"Don't be offended, Sir," said the lawyer; "but the fact is, the +authorities here don't like it. There are some parties in this place who +employ very queer legal advisers; and in shaking hands, a file or a +gimlet, and a bit of tobacco, are as likely to pass as not. That warder +can see every thing, my dear young Sir; but he can no more hear what we +say than he can understand what a couple of bumble-bees are murmuring +about who are barred up in a double window. We can therefore converse +with one another as much without reserve as we please, or rather"--and +here the little man's eyes twinkled significantly--"as _you_ please. +What I hear from a client in this ridiculous place is never revealed +beyond it, except so far as it may serve his interests. If Mr. Dodge (to +whose favor, as I understand, I owe this introduction) has told you any +thing concerning me, he will, I am sure, have advised you to be quite +frank and candid." + +"There was no necessity for such a warning, Mr. Weasel, in my case, I do +assure you," answered Richard, earnestly. "I have nothing to conceal +from you with respect to the circumstances of my position: they are +unfortunate, and doubtless very suspicious; but I am as innocent of this +disgraceful charge--" + +"Hush, hush! my dear Sir; this will never do. It is mere waste of time, +though it might have been much worse. Good Heavens! suppose you had been +guilty, and told me _that_! you would have placed me in the most +embarrassing situation, as your professional adviser, it is possible for +the human mind to conceive. What I want to know is _your_ story, so far +as these two thousand pounds found in your possession are concerned. +Whether it is true or not, does not matter a button. I want to know +whether it _seems_ true; whether it will seem true to a judge and jury. +You have thought the matter over, of course; you have gone through it in +your own mind from beginning to end--now please to go over it to me." + +The little man whipped out a note-book, leaned forward in his chair, and +looked all eye and ear, like a terrier watching at a rat-hole. + +After a moment's pause, Richard stated his case pretty much as we are +already acquainted with it; the little lawyer interrupting him now and +then by a gesture, but never by a word, in order that he might set down +a point or a memorandum. + +"Very good," said Mr. Weasel, when he had quite finished. "That's your +story, is it?" + +"It's the truth, Sir." + +"Hush! my dear young Sir. We shall have enough of that--the truth, the +whole truth, and nothing but the truth--a fortnight hence. What you and +I have to consider are the probabilities. Why did you go to Plymouth, +more than any other place, to change these notes?" + +"Because I had heard there was a Miners' Bank there, and Trevethick had +mentioned the notes of that company as being as good, in his opinion, as +those of the Bank of England. I thought it would be easier to get the +Mining notes in exchange for those of the Bank of England, than others +of the same bank." + +"The check which you showed this Trevethick was not, then, a _bona fide_ +piece of paper, eh?" + +"It was not," said Richard, casting down his eyes. + +"Very good," answered the lawyer, so cheerfully that you would have +thought his client had cleared himself of the least suspicion upon +_that_ score, at all events. "Now, where did you get it?" + +"My mother sent me a blank check, at my request, and I filled it in." + +"That check is destroyed, you say--you burned it, of course?" + +"No; I tore it up, and threw it out of the window of the carriage." + +"The devil you did!" said Mr. Weasel, in perturbation. "That is not the +way to destroy checks. Had your mother an account at the bank on which +it was drawn?" + +"Of course." said Richard, simply. + +"There is nothing 'of course,' Mr. Yorke, in this matter," answered the +lawyer, gravely. "Are you quite sure?" + +"Quite. She has always had an account there; though to no such amount as +two thousand pounds." + +"It is a large sum," muttered the lawyer, thoughtfully, "but still they +have not lost one penny of it. In case things went against you, Mr. +Yorke, would an appeal to the prosecutor be likely to be of service?" + +"Certainly not," answered Richard, hastily. "I would not accept mercy at +his hands; besides, it is not a question of mercy." + +"It may come to that," observed the other, gravely. "We must not deceive +ourselves, Mr. Yorke." + +"Good Heavens! do you believe, then, that I took this money with intent +to steal it?" + +"What my belief is is of no consequence, one way or the other; but my +opinion is that the jury will take that view, if they hear your story as +you tell it. The fact is, you have left out the most important incident +of all: the whole case will hinge upon the young lady's having given you +these notes with her own hand. It is evident, of course, that she +sympathized with you in your scheme," pursued the lawyer, rapidly, and +holding up his finger to forbid the protest that was already rising to +Richard's lip: "nothing could be more natural, though most imprudent and +ill judged, than her behavior. She had no more idea of stealing the +money than you had; how should she, since it was in a manner her own, +she being her father's sole heiress. You and I see that clearly enough, +but to a jury used to mere matters of fact, motive has little +significance unless put into action. What we want, and what we must +have, is evidence that you got these notes, not only for this girl's +sake, but from her fingers. Nobody can hurt _her_, you know. Trevethick +could never prosecute his own daughter; indeed, the whole affair +dwindles down to a lover's stratagem, and there is no need for +prosecuting any body, if we can only put Harry Trevethick into the +witness-box. Now can we, Mr. Yorke, or can we not? that's the question." + +Richard was silent; the lawyer's argument struck him with its full +force. He had no scruples on the matter for his own part, but he feared +that Harry might entertain them--they would be only too much in keeping +with her credulous and superstitious nature. + +"If I could talk to her alone for five minutes," muttered Richard, +uneasily. + +"That is impossible," said Mr. Weasel, with decision. "We can only play +with such cards as we hold. I could go to Gethin myself, though it would +be most inconvenient at this busy time, and refresh this young woman's +memory; but it is a delicate task, and would be looked upon by the other +side with some suspicion. Now, is there no judicious friend that can be +thoroughly depended upon--a female friend, if possible, since the affair +may require tact and sympathy--to effect this little negotiation? Think, +my good Sir, think." + +"Why, there is my mother herself!" ejaculated Richard, suddenly. "She is +the wisest of women, and the very one to conduct this matter, if +properly instructed." + +"Is she, now, is she?" said the lawyer, cheerily. "Come, come, that's +well, and I begin to see a little light. Let her go down to Gethin, +where, as I conclude, she is not known, and see Miss Trevethick herself. +I should like to see her beforehand, however; indeed, that is absolutely +necessary." + +"In my note to her, yesterday, I asked her to call at your office in +Plymouth on her way hither," stammered Richard. "I thought it +better--that is, in the first instance--that she should hear from you +how matters stood." + +Mr. Weasel took a copious pinch of snuff, and shut his eyes, as though +he were going to sneeze. Whenever a client got upon an embarrassing +topic Mr. Weasel took snuff, to obviate the necessity of looking him in +the face; while, in case of any compromising disclosure, Mr. Weasel +sneezed, to obviate hearing it. + +"In a case of this kind, Mr. Yorke, not a moment is to be lost. I should +advise your mother's going direct to Gethin from my house, and making +sure of this young lady's evidence. There is even a possibility--I don't +say it is probable, but there is just a chance, you see--that she may be +subpoenaed _by the other side_." + +"Just so," assented Richard, so naively that a smile flitted across the +little lawyer's face. + +"Under these circumstances, then, this is what we will do, my dear young +Sir: Mrs. Yorke will go to the _Gethin Castle_ as a guest, and, as I +shall venture to suggest, under another name; she will then find an +opportunity of speaking to Miss Trevethick without awakening her +father's suspicions; and when she comes to Cross Key, she will have, I +trust, some good news to bring you, something to talk about (although +you must be very careful and guarded, mind that, for you will not be +left alone together, as we are) besides mere regrets and lamentations; +don't you see, don't you see?" + +Richard saw exceedingly well, and felt more grateful to the lawyer for +devising such an arrangement than he would like to have confessed; +nevertheless, he did thank him heartily. + +"Not at all, not at all, my dear young Sir," drawing on one of his +gloves, in signal of departure. "In a case like this, we must consult +feelings as well as array our facts; we must bring heart and head to +bear together. Speaking of head reminds me, by-the-by, of the subject of +counsel. I propose to instruct Mr. Smoothbore, who leads upon this +circuit; I gather from your letter that there will be no difficulty with +respect to funds." + +"Whatever may be necessary, Mr. Weasel, for my defense will be, you may +rest assured, forthcoming. My mother--" + +The smile disappeared from the lawyer's face with electrical rapidity. +"Pardon me, my young friend," said he; "but as a professional man, I +only deal with principals in these matters. The word forthcoming is a +little vague. Counsel are paid beforehand, you must remember." + +We must not be angry with Mr. Weasel, who was really a good sort of man +after his kind. He was naturally cautious, and if he had been the most +trustful of mankind his experience would have taught him prudence. He +did like to see his money down; and really, as to Mr. Yorke, all he knew +of his pecuniary position was with relation to that blank check, the +history of which was not of a nature to inspire confidence. + +"I was about to observe," said Richard, haughtily, "that my mother would +satisfy all claims; but, in the mean time, there were over a hundred +pounds in notes and gold which were found upon me when I was searched at +Plymouth. If you doubt me, you have only to make inquiries." + +"My dear young Sir," returned the lawyer, earnestly, "this is not +courteous, this is not kind. I never doubted you from the first moment +that I saw you; no one with any knowledge of mankind could do so. +Professional etiquette compelled me to remark that I could treat with +principals only, that is all. Let me see," added he, consulting his +note-book, "have I any thing more to say? Yes, yes. With respect to this +young lady, Miss Harry Trevethick--I did not like to interrupt you at +the time, but I see I have made a memorandum--is she pretty?" + +"She is very, very beautiful," said Richard, earnestly, the remembrance +of her beauty giving a tenderness to his tone. + +"That's capital!" nodded the lawyer. "Old Bantam is our judge this +session, and he likes a pretty face. So do we all, for the matter of +that, I hope. You are young and good-looking yourself, too; Smoothbore +will make something of _that_, you may depend upon it. 'Gracious +Heavens, is the iron arm of the law to sunder these happy lovers for a +mere indiscretion, and make their bright young lives a blank forever?' +He'll give them something like that, Sir, in a voice broken by emotion, +and bring you off with flying colors." + +"I don't care about the colors, if he only brings me off," said Richard, +grimly. + +"A very natural remark, my dear young Sir, for one in your present +situation; but three weeks hence, as I both hope and believe, you will +not be so easily satisfied; the more we have, the more we want, you +know--except in the matter of time. I have very little to spare of it +just now, and must therefore take my leave." + +Mr. Weasel had put on his other glove and his hat, and, with a cheerful +nod, had actually placed his fingers on the door-handle, when he +suddenly turned round, and said: "By-the-by, I had almost forgotten a +little form of words, which in your case I am sure will be _but_ a form, +and yet I do not like to omit it. I never leave a client in your +position without asking him the question; so you must excuse me, my +young friend, and not be offended." + +"I am not in a position to be very sensitive about what is said to me," +answered Richard, bitterly. "Pray ask whatever you please." + +Mr. Weasel looked cautiously round, to see that the warder was not too +near, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Is this little affair your +first, my dear young Sir? I mean," added he, "have you ever been in +trouble with the law before?" + +"Certainly not," replied Richard, smiling. + +"I had anticipated your answer," said the little lawyer, gayly; "but I +thought it right to make quite certain. Because, if the affair should +happen to reach a stage where the question of 'character' is mooted +(though it won't get so far as _that_, I trust, in our case), one +doesn't like to be taken altogether by surprise, do you see? You have +been a landscape-painter, you say. A most innocent and charming +occupation, I am sure, and one which Smoothbore will make the very most +of. The case altogether will afford him such opportunities that he +really ought to do it cheap. And you've never been any thing else, have +you? never had any other calling, or obtained your livelihood by any +other than quite legal and permissible means--eh? What, what? You have +not been quite frank and candid with me, my dear Sir, I fear." + +"It is really not of much consequence," said Richard, hesitating. + +"You must allow me to be the judge of that, Mr. Yorke," said the other, +gravely, taking off his hat once more and one of his gloves. "Imagine +yourself a good Catholic, if you please, with Father Weasel for your +priest." + +The confession lasted for some minutes. + +"I think you will admit that what I have told you has not much bearing +upon the matter in hand," said Richard, when he had finished. + +"None at all, none at all--that is, I hope not," answered the other, +thoughtfully. "But what an interesting revelation it is! What a nice +point as to whether the matter is an offense against the law or not! How +prettily Smoothbore would treat the subject, if it chanced to come in +his way!" He looked at Richard with admiration. "You're a most +remarkable young man, Sir; I wish that circumstances permitted of my +shaking you by the hand. Good-morning, my dear Sir. You may depend upon +my not permitting the grass to grow under my feet. When your mother +comes she will have good news for you. Good-morning." + +The warder took possession of Richard, while Mr. Weasel, followed by the +young man's longing eyes, was ushered to the opposite door, on the other +side of which was liberty. But the lawyer's mind was still within the +prison walls, though his legs were free, and walking up the street of +the little town toward his inn. + +"Now, that is really a most remarkable young man," he murmured to +himself. "A most ingenious young fellow, upon my word. The idea of his +having invented a new crime! Why, bless my heart, it's quite an +epoch--quite an epoch!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE IRON CAGE. + + +So long as Richard had had Mr. Weasel to bear him company, half his +troubles--so elastic was his nature, and so apt for social +intercourse--seemed to have been removed; but now that that brisk, +confident voice was heard no more, and the stone passages only echoed to +the tread of the warder and himself, his spirits sank even lower than +they had been before. Alone in his comfortless cell, he went over the +lawyer's talk anew, and it was strange how the sparks of comfort died +out of it. It was clear that in the first instance his companion had +taken a gloomy view of his case, that he looked upon Richard's own story +with utter disbelief, and was convinced it would not hold water before a +jury. His remark about the money having been recovered must have had +reference to a possible mitigation of the sentence, and therefore took +conviction for granted. Nor, upon reconsideration of the case with +calmness--the calm of loneliness and despair--was, Richard himself +admitted, any other conclusion to be arrived at by a stranger. Those who +were acquainted with his rash and impulsive character and reckless ways +would understand that he had no serious intention of robbing +Trevethick--except, that is, of his daughter; even Trevethick himself +must be aware of that; though, with that same exception before his eyes, +it was more than doubtful whether he would acknowledge it. Smarting with +the sense of the deceit that Richard had practiced (almost with success) +upon him, he might conceal his real impression of the affair, and treat +it as a common felony. Taking the brutality of Solomon's manner to him +when he was arrested as an index of his prosecutor's purpose, he felt +that this was what would happen; and if so, what chance would he have +against such evidence? Would the judge and jury be persuaded to believe +that he had acted with the romantic folly that had in reality possessed +him? And if not, to what protracted wretchedness might he not be doomed! + +His old hopes, in short, lay dead within him, and he felt that his late +adviser had been right in suggesting the evidence of Harry Trevethick as +the only means to secure his acquittal. He did not look beyond _that_ +for an hour. Life for the next three weeks would have but one event for +him--his trial and its result. The little attorney, whom he had seen but +once, the suasive barrister, of whom he had only heard, were from +henceforth the two persons upon earth who had the most interest for him +of all mankind. If _they_ failed him, all was lost. If they succeeded, +all, or what had now become his all, was gained. He thought of Harry +only as the being upon whose testimony his fate depended; he did not +picture her to himself in any other character, though perhaps he would +have refused to part with her even at the price of that liberty which +had become so precious in his eyes. She would surely not refuse to say +the half-dozen words which were the "open sesame" that alone could set +him free! He thought of his mother, not so much as such--the truest and +most unselfish friend he had--as the person best qualified to win Harry +over to speak those words. He was no longer ashamed to see her; his +heart was so full of anxious fear that there was no room for shame; but +he was glad that the lawyer had recommended her to visit Gethin before +coming to Cross Key. What he thirsted for was hope, a gleam of sunshine, +a whisper of good news. If his mother had not that to give him, let her +stay away. He did not wish his heart to be melted within him by regrets +and tears; if there was no hope, let it harden on, till it was as hard +as adamant, for the hour, that, however long delayed, must come at +last--of vengeance! He thought of Solomon Coe as one of a dominant race +thinks of the slave who has become his master, and was his murderer in +his heart ten times a day. He thought of him as the man who would marry +Trevethick's daughter, his own Harry, while he (Richard) rotted in jail. + +Such were the bitter reflections, creeping fears, and meagre hopes which +consumed him when he was alone, that is to say, for five-sixths of the +day and all the weary night. In the society of Balfour he found, if not +solace, at least some respite from his gnawing cares. The importance +which this man had attached to the recovery of stolen goods as +mitigating the punishment of crime, and to good looks in the case of a +female witness or prisoner, corroborated as it had been by the judicial +experience of Mr. Weasel, gave him confidence in the convict's +intelligence; or, at least, in his judgment with respect to the matter +on which Richard's thoughts were solely concentrated. He was never weary +of asking this man's opinion on this point and on that of his own case, +the details of which he fully confided to him. Balfour, on his part, +gave him his best advice, and whatever comfort he could. He did not +resent, nor even seem to be aware of the fact, that the position in +which he stood himself awoke no corresponding sympathy in Richard. He +had taken a fancy to this young fellow, so different from any companion +that he had ever known; was flattered by his confidence; and felt that +enthusiasm toward him which friendship, when it exists between two +persons of widely different grades, sometimes begets in the inferior. + +A week passed on, and then, at the same time and place as before, +Richard was summoned from his fellow-prisoners. He turned pale in spite +of himself, as he rose from the table to meet for the first time, since +disgrace had overwhelmed him, his mother's face. + +"Don't give way, my young master," whispered Balfour, good-naturedly, +"for that will only make the old woman fret." + +Richard nodded, and followed the warder, who on this occasion led the +way through a different door. "It ain't Mr. Weasel this time," said the +latter, in answer to his look of surprise; "it's a private friend, and +therefore we can't let you have the glass box." He ushered him into what +would have been a stone courtyard, except that it had a roof also of +stone. In the middle of this, running right across it, was a sort of +cage of iron, or rather a passage some six feet broad, shut in on either +side by high iron rails; within this paced an officer of the prison; and +on the other side of it stood a female figure, whom Richard at once +recognized as his mother. It was with this iron cage between them, and +in the presence of an official, that prisoners in Cross Key Jail were +alone permitted to receive the visits of their friends and kinsfolk. It +was no wonder that in an interview under such restrictions, Mr. Weasel +should have recommended caution. + +To do Richard justice, however, that was not the reflection that now +passed through his mind. For all his selfish thoughts and calculations, +he had really yearned to cast himself on his mother's breast, and feel +once more her loving arms around him; to whisper in her ever-ready ear +his sorrow for the past, his anxieties for the future; and when he saw +that this was not to be, the heart that he would have poured out before +her seemed to sink and shrink within him. In this material obstacle +between them he seemed to behold a type of the dread doom that was +impending over him--separation from humanity, exclusion from the world +without, a life-long entombment within stone walls. He put his hand and +arm through the bars, mechanically, to touch his mother's fingers, and +when he found he could not reach them, he burst into tears. It was only +by a great effort that Mrs. Yorke could maintain her self-control; but +she, nevertheless, did do so. Her face was calm, and her eyes, though +full of tenderness and pity, were tearless; only her low, soft voice +gave token of the woe within her in its tremulous and faltering tones. + +"Dear Richard," it said, "my own dear Richard, take heart; a few days +hence, and you will be folded in your mother's arms; not to stray from +them again, I trust, my boy, my boy!" She pressed her forehead with its +fine white hair against the cruel bars, and seemed to devour him with +her loving eyes. "All will yet be well," she continued; "your innocence +can not fail to be established, and this dreadful time will be forgotten +like an evil dream." + +"Have you been to Gethin, mother?" + +"Yes, dear; I only came from thence this morning. Harry sent you her +best love. Your faith in her, she bade me tell you, is not misplaced; +_she will be in the witness-box, for certain_." This last sentence was +uttered in the French tongue, and very rapidly. + +"I am very sorry, ma'am," interrupted the official, who had retired to +the further extremity of the cage, "but my orders are to prohibit +conversation between prisoners and their friends in a foreign language." + +"I will take care not to transgress again," said Mrs. Yorke, with a +sweet smile; "your consideration for us I am sure demands all +obedience." + +"Has Mr. Weasel made his arrangements, mother?" + +"Yes, all; the subpoena will be sent to Gethin to morrow. He is most +confident as to the result." + +"And what does Mr. Smoothbore say? Have you seen _him_?" + +"No, dear, no. But the matter on which I went to Gethin having been +satisfactorily arranged, we may consider that is all settled. Your +counsel has no doubt of being able to establish your innocence, +notwithstanding the malice of your enemies." + +"But what is he like, this Smoothbore?" + +"Well, the fact is, Richard, we have not got him, but another man, Mr. +Balais--quite his equal, Mr. Weasel assures me, in all respects." + +"Not got him!" cried Richard, impatiently. "Why, Weasel told me +Smoothbore led the circuit. Why have we not secured him?" + +"He has been retained by the other side," answered Mrs. Yorke, in a tone +that she in vain endeavored to render cheerful. "To say the truth, +Richard, the prosecutor is exhibiting the utmost vindictiveness, and +straining every nerve for a conviction. Money, which he was said to be +so fond of, is now no object with him, or at least he spares none. But +he can not bribe twelve honest men, nor a righteous judge." + +"I knew it," exclaimed Richard, stamping his foot on the stone floor. +"Those sullen brutes, Trevethick and the other, would have my life, if +they could. There is nothing that they would stick at, be assured of +that--and do you put Weasel on his guard--to work my ruin. How could he +be such a dolt as to let them be beforehand with him, when he himself +said there was not an hour to be lost!" + +"Indeed, Richard, all was done for the best. One could scarcely expect +Mr. Weasel to advance so large a sum as was required, without security; +and he did communicate with Mr. Smoothbore as soon as he had satisfied +himself upon that score. He assures me Mr. Balais is quite as clever a +counsel. Indeed, I should not have told you of the change, had you not +pressed the question so directly." + +"Tell me all, mother; tell me every thing; I adjure you to keep nothing +back. To think and guess and fear, in a place like this, is worse than +not to know the worst. Trevethick is a miser, and yet you say he is +spending with a lavish hand. How is it you know that?" + +"Why, Mr. Smoothbore's clerk is a friend of Mr. Weasel's, and he hears +from him that his master has never received so large a retaining fee as +on this occasion. The sum we offered, two days afterward, though larger +than is customary, was, he said, but a trifle compared with it." + +"You have something else to tell me yet, mother--I see it in your eyes. +If you go away with it untold, you leave me on the rack." + +"There is nothing more," answered his mother, hesitatingly, "or almost +nothing." + +"What is it?" cried Richard, hoarsely--"what is it?" + +"Well, merely this: that thinking that no money should be spared to help +you in this dreadful trouble, Richard, and having but a very little of +my own, I--I forgot my pride and steadfast resolution never to ask your +father--" + +"You did not apply to Carew for money, surely?" ejaculated Richard, +angrily. "To let him know that I was here was ruin." + +"It may have been ill judged, indeed, dear Richard," replied his mother, +quietly; "but it was not ill meant. Do you suppose it cost me nothing to +be his suppliant? Do you suppose I have no scorn nor hate, as you have, +for those who have wronged me and you? If fury could avail to set you +free, your mother would be as the tigress robbed of her young. It is an +easy thing enough to fume and foam; it is hard to have to clasp the +knees of those whom you despise, in vain." + +"He refused you, then--this man?" + +"He did, Richard. He told me--what I had not learned from you; I do not +say it to reproach you, dear--what it was that had so long detained you +at Gethin. He mentioned, in coarsest terms, your love for Harry, and how +you had misrepresented yourself to Trevethick as the heir of Crompton in +order to win her. He expressed a callous indifference to your present +peril, and added something more in menace than in warning respecting +that affair with Chandos which caused you to leave his roof. Since it +seemed you had made no secret of the matter to Mr. Weasel, I showed him +Carew's note; and his opinion is that Trevethick has spies at work to +track your past. This may or may not injure you. Mr. Weasel thinks that +it will not; but it shows the rancor with which this case is pressed by +Trevethick--a malice which we are altogether at a loss to understand." + +Richard ground his heel upon the stone without reply, while his mother +looked at him in gravest sorrow. + +"Your time is almost up, ma'am," said the warder; "there's only a minute +more." + +"You told her how much depended on her, mother, did you?" said Richard, +rousing himself in the effort. + +"Yes, dear. She will not fail us, never fear. Keep heart and hope; and +as for me, you will be sure that not a moment of my waking thoughts is +wasted upon aught but you. I shall see you again, once more at least, +before your--before the trial comes on; and Mr. Weasel will be here next +week again. Is there any thing, my own dear boy, that I can do for you?" + +"One moment, mother. Carew has not punished _you_ on my account, I +trust? He has not cut off--" + +"The annuity? Yes; he has stopped that." + +"May he rot on earth, and perish everlastingly!" + +"Hush, hush, dear; pray be calm; there is no need to fret. I can support +myself without his aid; indeed I can; and perhaps he may relent when he +gets sane, for he was like a madman at my coming to Crompton. Mr. +Whymper will do all he can, I am sure. How cruel it was of me to heed +your words, and tell you--Look to him, warder, look to my son!" she +screamed. + +Richard had indeed turned deadly pale, and though his fingers still +mechanically clutched the iron rail, was swaying to and fro; the warder +unlocked the passage-gate, and ran to him just in time to save his +falling headlong on the pavement. + +"Are you a man," said the agonized woman, "or iron like this"--and she +beat against the railing passionately--"that you will not let a mother +kiss her son when he is dying?" + +"Nay, nay, ma'am; it's not so bad as that," said the warder, +good-naturedly; "see, he's a-coming round agen all right. I've seen a +many took like that. In half a minute he'll be himself again. It's his +trouble as does it, bless you. If you'll take my advice, you'll spare +both your son and yourself the pain of parting, and leave him as he is. +I'd go bail for it, it's just a faint, that's all." + +"Let me kiss him once," implored the unhappy woman. "Oh, man, if you +have ever known a mothers love, let me kiss him once! Here is a +five-pound note--take it, and leave me still your debtor--but one kiss." + +"Nay, ma'am, I can't take your money; of which, as I couldn't help +hearing you say, you have not got too much to spare. But you shall kiss +your bonnie boy, and welcome;" and with that the stout warder took the +unconscious lad up in his arms, and bore him within the passage; and +his, mother put her lips between the bars and pressed them to his +forehead once, twice, thrice. + +"There, there, ma'am; that will do," muttered the man, impatiently; "and +even that is as much as my place is worth. Now, just tap at yonder door, +and they'll let you out." + +Mrs. Yorke obeyed him without a word. She had heard the heavy fluttering +sigh that betokened Richard's return to consciousness, and knew that the +worst was over; unless, indeed, the coming back to life might not be the +worst of all. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +IN THE COURT-HOUSE. + + +It is proposed by some elevators of the public mind to make us all +philosophers, and to abolish the morbid interest which mankind at +present entertains in the issues of life and death. They hold it +weakness that we should become excited by incident, or enthralled by +mystery, and prophesy a future when intelligence shall reign supreme, to +the extinction of the vulgar passion for sensation. In the mean time, +however, the sympathetic hopes and fears of humanity remain pretty much +as they have been within all living memory; and one of the greatest +treats that can be provided for the popular palate is a criminal trial. +There are many reasons why this should be the case; the courts of law +are free, and a sight that can be seen for nothing is of itself +attractive, since we are, at all events, not losing our time and money +too. Again, the most popular drama, the most popular novel, are those to +which the denouements can not easily be guessed; and in the court-house +we see drama and novel realized with the verdict of the jury and the +sentence of the judge--a matter of anxious speculation to the very last. +Where theatres and books are rare the passion for such scenes is +proportionally stronger, and perhaps there is no periodical event which +so deeply stirs the agricultural interest--speaking socially, and not +politically--as the advent of the Judges of Assize. + +At Cross Key, at all events, there was nothing else talked of for weeks +beforehand; and the case which above all others was canvassed, and +prejudged, and descanted upon over all sorts of boards--from the +mahogany one in the dining-room at Cross Key Park to the deal tripod +which held the pots and pipes at the road-side beer-house--was that of +Richard Yorke, the young gentleman-painter, who had run away with old +John Trevethick of Gethin's hoarded store. The rumor had got abroad that +he had almost run away with his daughter also, and this intensified the +interest immensely. The whole female population, from the high-sheriff's +wife down to the woman who kept the apple-stall in the market-place, was +agog to see this handsome young Lothario, and especially to hear the +evidence of his (clandestinely) betrothed, who was known to have been +subpoenaed for the defense. + +There were innumerable biographies of the prisoner to be had for +nothing. He was a noble-man in disguise; he was the illegitimate son of +the prime minister; he was indirectly but immediately connected with +royalty itself; he could speak every European language (except Polish), +and painted landscapes like an angel; he had four thousand a year in +land, only waiting for him to come of age, which carried with it half +the representation of a Whig borough; he had not a penny in the world, +but had hitherto supported himself in luxury by skillful forgeries; +young as he was, he was a married man, and had a wife (three times his +age) alive. All these particulars were insisted upon and denied forty +times a day. The least scraps of trust-worthy intelligence concerning +him were greedily devoured. The turnpike-man who had opened gate to let +him through on the night he came to the jail was cross-examined as to +his appearance and demeanor. The rural policeman of the district (who +had never had a chance of seeing him) was treated to pots of ale, and +suddenly found himself the best of company. The _Castle_ at Gethin was +thronged by local tourists, who, under pretense of being attracted by +the scenery, came to stare at Harry, and, having seen her, returned to +Cross Key with marvelous stories of her charms. As the time drew on the +applications for admittance to the court-house made the life of the +under-sheriff a burden, and caused the hearts of his subordinates (who +got the half-crowns) to sing for joy. + +The unhappy Richard was wholly ignorant of all this excitement. When he +pictured the court-house to himself, as he often did, he only beheld a +crowd of indifferent persons, who would pay no more attention to his own +case than to that of Balfour, or any other that might follow or precede +it. He saw himself taken out in custody, and carried in some conveyance, +such as he had arrived in, through the gaping street; but the idea of +that ordeal gave him no uneasiness. Those who saw him would forget him +the next moment, or confuse him with some other in the same wretched +plight. His mind always reverted from such reflections, as comparatively +trivial, to the issue of the trial itself. Indeed, that thought might be +said to be constant, though others intruded on it occasionally without +obscuring it, like light clouds that cross the moon. As to the details +of the scene of which he was about to be so prominent an actor, he knew +nothing; for the warders never opened their lips to him, except +officially, and Mr. Balfour had never happened to come to grief in the +course of his professional practice in that particular locality before. + +But the fact was that the jail of Cross Key, though situated in so +out-of-the-way a spot, was a model establishment in its way, and built +upon the very highest principles of architecture, as connected with the +administration of the criminal law. No prisoner was ever taken out of it +for trial at all, but was conducted by an underground passage into the +court-house itself--indeed, into the very heart of it, for a flight of +steps, with a trap-door at the top, led straight into the dock, in which +he made his appearance like a Jack-in-the-box, but much more to his own +astonishment than to that of the spectators. + +Imagine the unhappy Richard thus confronted, wholly unexpectedly, with a +thousand eager eyes! They devoured him on the right hand and on the +left, before him and behind him; they looked down upon him from the +galleries above with a hunger that was increased by distance. Even the +barristers in the space between him and the judge turned round to gaze +at him, and the judge himself adjusted his spectacles upon his nose to +regard him with a searching look. Not a sound was to be heard except the +monotonous voice of the clerk reading the indictment; it was plain that +every one of that vast concourse knew him, and needed not that his +neighbor should whisper, "That is he." Was his mother there? thought +Richard, and above all, Was Harry there? He looked round once upon that +peering throng; but he could catch sight of neither. The former, with a +thick veil over her features, was, indeed, watching him from a corner of +the court; but the only face he recognized was that of his attorney, +seated immediately behind a man with a wig, whom he rightly concluded to +be Mr. Sergeant Balais. + +There was a sudden silence, following upon the question, "How say you, +Richard Yorke, are you guilty of this felony, or not guilty?" The +turnkey by the prisoner's side muttered harshly behind his hand, "They +have called on you to plead." + +"Not guilty," answered Richard, in a loud, firm voice, and fixing his +eyes upon the judge. + +A murmur of satisfaction ran softly through the court-house. His +hesitation had alarmed the curious folks; they were afraid that he might +have pleaded "Guilty," and robbed them of their treat. Not a few of +them, and perhaps all the women, were also pleased upon his own account. +He was so young and handsome that they could not choose but wish him +well, and out of his peril. + +Then Mr. Smoothbore rose, and was some time about it. He was six feet +four inches high, and it seemed as though you would never see the last +of him. ("Oh, Jerryusalem, upon wheels!" was the remark that Mr. Robert +Balfour muttered to himself when some hours afterward _he_ found himself +confronted by the same gigantic counsel, instructed specially by the +crown to prosecute so notorious a marauder.) The twelve men in the box +opposite at once became all ear. Some leaned forward, as though to +anticipate by the millionth of a second the silvery accents of Mr. +Smoothbore; others leaned back with head aside, as though to concentrate +their intelligence upon them; and the foreman held his head with both +his hands, as though that portion of his person was not wholly under +control, but might make some erratic twist, and thereby lose him some +pregnant sentence. These honest men did not know Mr. Smoothbore, and +thought (for the first five minutes) that they could sit and listen to +him forever; before they had done with him they began to think that they +should have to do it. + +Far be it from us to emulate the prolixity with which the learned +counsel set forth his case; it must be conceded that he did not hang +over it; his words ran as smoothly as oil, and with perfect +distinctness, and if any body missed his meaning, it was not for want of +its being sufficiently expressed. To a listener of average ability, +however, he became insupportable by repetition, which is, unhappily, not +exclusively "the vice of the pulpit." We will take care to avoid his +error. It will be sufficient to say that when he had finished Richard +stood accused not only of having stolen two thousand pounds from John +Trevethick, but of having compassed that crime under circumstances of +peculiar baseness. He had taken advantage of his superior education, +manners, and appearance, to impose himself upon the honest Cornishman as +the legitimate son of his landlord, and secured within that humble home +a footing of familiarity, only the better to compass a scheme of +villainy, which must have occurred to him at a very early period of +their acquaintance. Indeed, Mr. Smoothbore hinted that the prisoner's +profession of landscape-painting was a mere pretense and pretext, and +that it was more than probable that, having heard by some means of +Trevethick's hoard, he had come down to Gethin with the express +intention of becoming possessed of it, which his accidental discovery of +the secret of the letter padlock enabled him to do. In short, by artful +innuendo at this or that part of the story, Richard was painted as a +common thief, whose possession of such faculties as dexterity and +_finesse_ only made him a more dangerous enemy of society. There had +been rumors, Mr. Smoothbore admitted, of certain romantic circumstances +connected with the case, but he was instructed to say that they were +wholly baseless, and that the matter which the jury would have to decide +upon was simply an impudent and audacious robbery, committed in a manner +that he might stigmatize as being quite exceptionally void of +extenuation. + +The speech for the prosecution immensely disappointed the general +public, already half-convinced, in spite of themselves, by Mr. +Smoothbore's impassioned clearness and straightforward simplicity, while +it pleased the jury, who were glad to hear that the matter in hand was, +after all, an ordinary one, which would necessitate no deprivation of +victuals, nor absence of fire and candle. The witnesses for the +prosecution appeared, as usual, in an order in inverse ratio to the +interest and importance of their respective testimonies--the clerk of +the Miners' Bank into whose hands the notes had been paid, policemen, +Mr. Dodge, and others, who only repeated what we already know. Even the +appearance of Solomon Coe was marked by nothing especial, save to the +eyes of the accused. In the triumphant bearing of this witness, and in +the malignant glance which he had shot toward him ere he began his tale, +Richard read that the charge against him was to be pushed to the bitter +end. It was in this man's power, more than in any other's (save one), to +extenuate or to set down in malice; and there was no doubt in his +rival's mind (though his rancor took so blunt a form that it might well +have been mistaken by others for outspoken candor) which of the two +courses Solomon had chosen. He showed neither scruple nor hesitation; +every word was distinct and decisive, and on one occasion (though the +repetition of it was forbidden by the judge) even accompanied by a blow +with his sledge-hammer fist in the way of corroboration. It seemed that +the story he had to tell was, after all, a very plain one. + +When John Trevethick, who was the last witness examined for the +prosecution, strode into the box, this feeling was intensified. His +giant frame and massive features seemed, somehow, to associate +themselves with a plain story; and his evidence was as much in +consonance with his counsel's speech as evidence could be with pleading. + +But when he had quite done with his unvarnished tale, and when Mr. +Smoothbore had given him a parting nod in sign that _he_ had done with +him, Sergeant Balais rose, for the first time, with an uplifted finger, +as though, but for that signal of delay, the honest landlord would have +fled incontinently, and hanged himself, like another Judas. + +"You have a daughter, I believe, Mr. Trevethick?" and the Sergeant +looked at the jury, with elevated eyebrows, as though he would have +said, "If we can get even that admission out of this hoary miscreant, we +may consider ourselves fortunate." + +And indeed John Trevethick did hesitate for one instant ere he replied. +He had not even looked at the prisoner before, but at that question he +gave an involuntary glance toward him, and met Richard's answering look. +When two men are fighting, each with his hands upon the throat of the +other, not for dear life, but for the longed-for death of his foe, it is +possible that in their faces some such inextinguishable lurid fire of +hatred may be seen burning as then flashed from witness-box to dock, +from dock to witness-box; but scarcely under any other circumstances +could such a look of deadly malice be exchanged between man and man. It +passed, however, in an instant, like the electric fire, and was gone, +leaving no trace behind it. + +"I _have_ a daughter," replied Trevethick; and as he spoke his face, +though somewhat pale, became as blank and hard and meaningless as a wall +of stone. + +"This man is about to perjure himself," thought the experienced Mr. +Balais; and he looked around him with the air of one who was convinced +of the fact. + +"The prisoner at the bar was, I believe, your daughter's lover, was he +not?" + +"Not that I knew of." + +"Not that you know of?" repeated Mr. Balais. "Will you venture to repeat +that?" + +"The witness said _knew_," interposed the judge, demurely, and ordered a +sky-light to be closed, the draught from which inconvenienced him. Every +body looked at the officer of the court who pulled the string and shut +the sky-light, as though it had been the most ingenious contrivance +known to man. Not that it was a relief to them to do so, but from that +inexplicable motive which prompts us all to observe trivial +circumstances with which we have nothing whatever to do, on any occasion +of engrossing interest. Even Richard regarded this little process of +ventilation with considerable concern, and wondered whether the judge +would feel himself better after it. + +"Oh, you didn't know of this attachment between the prisoner and your +daughter at the time it was going on under your roof, but you knew of it +afterward, did you? You read of it in the papers, I suppose, eh?" + +"I heard of it, after the robbery was discovered, from my daughter +herself." + +"And, upon your oath, you did not know of it before then?" + +"I did not." + +"Nor suspect it even, perhaps?" + +"Nor even suspect it." + +Mr. Balais smiled, shrugged his shoulders. His principles of oratory +were Demosthenean; his motto was "Action, action, action." His. friends +on circuit called him the Balais of action. He had had some experience +of the depravity of human nature, said the shrug, but this beat every +thing, and would be really amusing but for its atrocious infamy. Good +Heavens! + +"Then you never had any conversation with the prisoner with reference +to your daughter at all?" + +"Never." + +Mr. Balais bent down and interchanged a word or two with Mr. Weasel +behind him. + +"Now be so good as to give me your best attention, Mr. Trevethick, for +upon my next question more may depend than you may be aware of. If you +have any regard for your own interests you will answer it truly; for as +sure as--" + +"Is this necessary, Brother Balais?" interrupted the judge, scratching +his forehead with his forefinger, and looking up at the sky-light, as +though that matter was not satisfactorily settled even yet. + +"My lud, I am instructed that nothing less than a conspiracy has been +entered into against my unfortunate client." + +The judge nodded slightly, shivered considerably, and made a mental note +to complain of that infernal draught before he should dismiss the grand +jury. + +"I ask you, Mr. Trevethick," continued the counsel, solemnly, "whether +or not, in a conversation which you held with the prisoner upon a +certain day last month, you mentioned two thousand pounds as the sum you +must needs see in his possession before you could listen to any +proposition of his with respect to your daughter's hand?" + +"I did not." + +"You never spoke of that particular sum to him at all?" + +"Never at all." + +It was Mr. Balais who looked up at the sky-light this time--as though he +expected a thunder-bolt. + +"The notes, of which we have heard so much, as being hoarded in this +ingenious box of yours--and that you are a very ingenious man, Mr. +Trevethick, there is no doubt--this box, I say, was kept in a certain +cupboard, was it not?" + +"It was." + +"And now, please to look at the jury when you answer me this question: +Where was this particular cupboard situated, Mr. Trevethick?" + +Into the landlord's impassive face there stole for the first time a look +of disquiet, and his harsh, monotonous voice grew tremulous as he +replied, "The cupboard was in my daughter's bedroom." + +"That will do, Mr. Trevethick, _for the present_," observed Mr. Balais, +with emphasis; "though I shall probably have the opportunity of seeing +you another time"--and he glanced significantly toward the dock--"_in +another place_." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +FOR THE DEFENSE. + + +When Mr. Balais rose again it was to speak for the defense, and he +addressed the jury amidst an unbroken silence. So rapt, indeed, was the +attention of his audience that the smack of a carter's whip, as he went +by in the street below, was resented by many a frown as an impertinent +intrusion; and even the quarters of the church clock were listened to +with impatience, lest its iron tongue should drown a single sentence. +This latter interruption did not, however, often take place, for Mr. +Balais was as brief in speech as he was energetic in action. He began by +at once allowing the main facts which the prosecution had proved--that +the notes had been taken from Trevethick's box, and found in the +prisoner's possession, who had been detected in the very act of +endeavoring to change them for notes of another banking company. But +what he maintained was, that this exchange was not, as Mr. Smoothbore +had suggested, effected for the purpose of realizing the money, but +simply of throwing dust in the prosecutor's eyes. He had changed the +notes only with the intention of returning his own money to Trevethick +under another form. Even so young a man, and one so thoroughly ignorant +of the ways of the world and of business matters as was his client, must +surely have been aware, if using the money for himself had been his +object, that it could be traced in notes of the Mining Company as easily +as in notes of the Bank of England; nay, by this very proceeding of his, +he had even given them a _double_ chance of being traced. He (Mr. +Balais) was not there, of course, to justify the conduct of the prisoner +at the bar. It was unjustifiable, it was reprehensible in a very high +degree; but what he did maintain was that, even taking for granted all +that had been put in evidence, this young man's conduct was not +criminal; it was not that of a thief. He had never had the least +intention of stealing this money; his scheme had been merely a stratagem +to obtain the object of his affections for his wife. This Trevethick was +a hard and grasping man, and it was necessary for the young fellow to +satisfy him that he was possessed of certain property before he would +listen to any proposition for his daughter's hand. His idea--a wrong and +foolish one, indeed, but then look at his youth and inexperience--was to +impose upon this old miser, by showing him his own money in another +form, and then, when he had gained his object, to return it to him. Mr. +Balais was, for his own part, as certain of such being the fact as that +he was standing in that court-house. Let them turn their eyes on the +unhappy prisoner in the dock, and judge for themselves whether he looked +like the mere felon which his learned friend had painted him, or the +romantic, self-deceiving, thoughtless lad, such as he (Mr. Balais) felt +convinced he was. They had all heard of the proverb that all things were +fair in love as in war. When the jury had been young themselves perhaps +some of them had acted upon that theory; at all events, it was not an +unnatural idea for young people to act upon. Proverbs had always a +certain weight and authority of their own. They were not necessarily +Holy Writ (Mr. Balais was not quite certain whether the proverb in +question was one of Solomon's own or not, so he put it in this cautious +manner), but they smacked of it. This Richard Yorke, perhaps, had +thought it no great harm to win his love by a false representation of +the state of his finances. He could not see his way how otherwise +to melt the stony heart of this old curmudgeon, who had +doubtless--notwithstanding the evidence they had heard from him that +day--encouraged the young man's addresses so long as he believed him to +be Mr. Carew's lawful heir. The whole question, in fact, resolved itself +into one of _motive_; and if there was not a word of evidence +forthcoming upon the prisoner's part, he (Mr. Balais) would have left +the case in the jury's hands, with the confident conviction that they +would never impute to that unhappy boy--who had already suffered such +tortures of mind and body as were more than a sufficient punishment for +his offense--the deliberate and shameful crime of which he stood +accused. He had lost his position in the world already; he had lost his +sweetheart, for they had all heard that day that she was about to be +driven into wedlock with his rival, a man twice his age and hers; he had +lost the protection of his father--his own flesh and blood--for since +this miserable occurrence he had chosen to disown him; and yet here was +the prosecutor, who had lost nothing (except his own self-respect, and +the respect of all who had listened to his audacious testimony that +morning), pressing for a conviction, for more punishment; in a word, for +the gratification of a mean revenge. If he (Mr. Balais) had nothing +more, therefore, to urge in his client's defense, he would have been +content to leave the jury to deal with this case--Englishmen, who +detested oppression, and loved that justice only which is tempered with +mercy. But as it so happened, there was no need thus to leave it; no +necessity to appeal to mercy at all. He had only to ask them for the +barest justice. He was happily in a position to prove that the prisoner +at the bar had no more stolen this two thousand pounds than their own +upright and sagacious foreman. + +A sigh of relief was uttered from a hundred gentle breasts. "We are +coming to something at last," it seemed to say. A hundred fair faces +looked at Mr. Balais--who was growing gray and wrinkled, and found every +new performance of his pantomime harder and harder--as though they could +have kissed him, nevertheless. "Yes, gentlemen of the jury, that money +was given to him by the prosecutor's daughter with her own hand." + +A murmur of satisfaction ran round the court-house. + +There _was_ a romance--a love-story--in the case, then, after all. + +Mr. Balais concluded a most energetic speech with a peroration of great +brilliancy, in which Richard and Harry were exhibited like a +transparency in the bright colors of Youth, and Hope, and Passion, and +finally sat down amidst what would have been a burst of applause but for +the harsh voice of the usher nipping it in the bud by proclaiming +silence. + +There was no need for his doing that when Mr. Balais jumped up to his +feet again, as though he were on springs, and called for Harry +Trevethick. The judge was taking snuff at the time; and such was the +stillness that you could hear the overplus falling on the paper before +him on which he wrote down his notes. There was a minute's delay, during +which every eye was fixed upon the witness-box, and then Harry appeared. +She was very pale, and wore a look of anxious timidity; but a bright +spot came into her cheeks as she turned her face to the prisoner in the +dock, and smiled upon him. From that moment Richard felt that he was +safe. Guarded as he was, and still in peril, he forgot his danger, and +once more resolved that he would cleave to this tender creature, to whom +he was about to owe his safety, to his life's end. + +Harry was simply yet attractively attired in a pale violet silk dress, +with a straw bonnet trimmed with the same modest color. It was observed, +with reference to this and to the innocence and gentleness of her +expression, that she looked like a dove; and a dove she seemed to +Richard, bringing him the signal that the flood was abating, the deep +waters of which had so nearly overwhelmed both soul and body. Even the +judge, as Mr. Weasel had foretold, regarded her through his double +glasses with critical approval; for a most excellent judge he was--of +female attractions. + +Mr. Balais smiled triumphantly at the jury. "Did I not tell you," he +seemed to say, "that my client is guiltless in this matter? Here is +Truth herself come to witness in his favor. Bless her!" Richard's +feverish eyes were fixed upon her; he knew no God, but here was his +spring in the wilderness, his shadow of the great rock in a weary land. +As for her, she looked only at the judge, expecting--poor little +ignoramus--that it was he who would question her. + +"You are the daughter of John Trevethick, of Gethin?" said Mr. Balais. + +This interrogatory, simple as it was, made her color rise, coming from +that unexpected quarter. + +"Yes, Sir." + +"He keeps an inn, does he not; the"--here Mr. Balais affected to consult +his brief, to give her time to recover herself from her modest +confusion--"the _Gethin Castle_, I believe?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"The prisoner at the bar has been staying there for some months, has he +not?" + +She stole another look at Richard: it spoke as plainly as looks could +speak, "Oh yes; that is how I came to know and love him." But she only +murmured, "Yes, Sir." + +"Speak up, Miss Trevethick," said the counsel, encouragingly; "these +twelve gentlemen are all very anxious to hear what you have to say." The +judge nodded and smiled, as though in corroboration, as well as to add, +upon his own account, that it would give _him_ also much pleasure to +hear her. + +"Was the prisoner staying in the inn as an ordinary guest, or did he mix +with the family?" + +"He was in the bar parlor most nights, Sir, along with father and me and +Solomon." + +"He was in the bar parlor most nights," repeated Mr. Balais, +significantly, for he was anxious that the jury should catch that +answer--"'With father and me and Solomon.' And who introduced him into +the parlor?" + +"Father brought him first, Sir, on the second day after he came to +Gethin." + +"Father brought him in, did he? Now, that is rather an unusual thing for +the landlord of an inn to do, is it not? To introduce a young man whom +he had known but twenty-four hours to his family circle, and to the +society of his daughter, eh?" + +"Please, Sir, I don't know, Sir." + +"No, of course you don't, Miss Trevethick; how should you? But I think +the jury know. You have no idea, then, yourself, why your father +introduced this young gentleman to you so early?" + +"Father said he was a friend of Mr. Carew's, of Crompton, who is +father's landlord." + +"Just so," said Mr. Balais, with another significant glance at the +attentive twelve. "Mr. Trevethick had already discovered that this youth +was of a good social position, and likely to prove an excellent match. +'Will you walk into my parlor?' said the spider to the fly; 'I have the +prettiest daughter that ever you did spy.'" + +Every body tittered at this except Mr. Smoothbore and his solicitor; +even the judge blew his nose. + +"Now, not only did the prisoner at the bar spend most nights in the bar +parlor, but, as I am given to understand, he spent most days there, or, +at all events, in your society, did he not?" + +"Father and Solomon were away most days, Sir, and so we were left a good +deal together." + +"Just so. Your father took care to be away most days, did he, in order +that you should be left a good deal together?" + +Mr. Smoothbore started to his feet. "My lud, I submit," etc.; meaning +that this was a mode of interrogating the witness that he could _not_ +submit to for an instant. + +"Very good," said Mr. Balais, smiling. "I will not put the question in +that form, then. The form is of very little consequence. You were left +together, however, and the consequence was that you two young people +fell in love with one another, eh?" + +Harry was crimson. "I--he--we;" and there she stuck. + +"I am very sorry to embarrass you, my dear young lady, but I am +necessitated to press this question. Did you fall in love with one +another or not?" + +No answer. Harry was thinking of Solomon, to whom she was to be married +within ten days, and hung her head. + +"Come, did he fall in love with _you_, then? There was ample apology for +it, I am sure, and he ought to have been ashamed of himself if he +hadn't. Now, did he 'court' you? I think you must know what that means." + +No answer. Every eye was upon her, the judge's double glasses included. +They might have been burning-glasses, she felt so hot and frightened. + +"Come, did this young gentleman ever give you a kiss?" + +"Yes, Sir," murmured poor Harry, almost under her breath. + +"Did you say 'Yes' or 'No?'" inquired the judge, dipping his pen in the +ink. + +"I said 'Yes,' my lord," said the unhappy Harry. + +"There were more kisses than one, now, I dare say," said Mr. Balais, +with a wink at the jury; "and they were not all on one side, eh?" + +No answer. + +"Some of them were on the other side, were they not? I don't mean on the +other cheek, for I have no doubt he was perfectly indifferent as to +that." + +Again there was a little titter. + +"She is your own witness, Brother Balais," observed his lordship, "but +it seems to me you are giving her unnecessary pain." + +He had a very tender heart, had the old judge, where a young and pretty +woman was concerned--otherwise he was a Tartar. + +"My lud, it is absolutely necessary to prove that my client's passion +was reciprocated. Did you ever return one of these many kisses, Miss +Trevethick?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"Did you ever meet him alone at night in a place, I believe, called the +Fairies' Bower?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"Yes," repeated Mr. Balais, recapitulating these facts upon his fingers; +"you were left alone with him all day; you met him alone at night, away +from your father's roof; you returned his kisses; and all this without +the slightest suspicion--if we are to believe his evidence--being +aroused upon the part of your parent. Now, Miss Trevethick, you were +aware that your father kept a large sum of money--these two thousand +pounds--in his strong-box, were you not?" + +"I was, Sir." + +"Did you ever speak to the prisoner at the bar about it?" + +"I think--yes, I did, Sir, on one occasion," and here Harry's voice +fluttered and faltered. No one noticed it, however, except the prisoner; +if any neighbor eyes had watched him narrowly--but they were all fixed +upon the witness--they would have seen his face whiten, and his brow +grow damp. Why should she have laid that stress upon "on one occasion?" + +"You told him that the two thousand pounds were in the box in the +cupboard in your bedroom?" + +"I did, Sir." + +"The fastening of the box was not an ordinary lock, I believe. It was +what is called a letter padlock?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"Did you ever open it?" + +"No, Sir." + +A great bell seemed to be suddenly set tolling in Richard's brain--it +was the knell of all his hopes. + +"You had never opened it at that time, eh?" continued Mr. Balais, +cheerfully. "But you learned the secret afterward?" + +"I--yes--I did." + +"Do you remember the letters that did open it?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"What were they?" + +"B, N, Z." + +"Very good. We have heard from the counsel for the prosecution that they +were so; and that Mr. Trevethick kept a memorandum of them on a piece of +paper that fitted into his watch-case. Did he always carry that watch +about with him?" + +"Not always. When he went out to market, and was likely to be late, he +sometimes left it at home." + +"In his own room, I suppose, where you or any body else could get at +it?" + +"I suppose so, Sir." + +"You _suppose_? You know he did, do you not? Did you not open the +watch-case yourself, and so discover the means of unlocking the box?" + +"No, Sir," said Harry, faintly; and once more she turned her eyes to +Richard. It was a true and tender glance, one would have said, and +accompanied by an attempt at a smile of encouragement. But if it had +been a glance of a gorgon, it could not have had a more appalling +effect; it literally seemed to turn him into stone. + +[Illustration: "COME, DID THE YOUNG GENTLEMAN EVER GIVE YOU A KISS?"] + +"Recollect yourself, Miss Trevethick," said Mr. Balais, earnestly; "you +are getting confused, I fear. Now please to give me your attention. You +say that you knew that the letters B, N, Z were those which formed the +key of the letter padlock, and yet that you did not open your father's +watch-case. How, then, did you become possessed of the secret?" + +No answer. Harry caught her breath convulsively, and turned deadly pale. +She could never tell how Mrs. Yorke had endeavored to suborn her. + +"Well, well, this is a matter of very little consequence--though I see +my learned friend is making a copious note of it," said Mr. Balais, +gayly. "The main point is what, as you have told us, did occur--that you +found out the secret somehow. When you got it, I suppose you opened the +box?" + +No answer, save from Mr. Smoothbore, who observed, tartly: "You have no +right to assume that, Sergeant." + +"Let the young woman have a glass of water," suggested the kindly judge. + +"My lord, my lord!" cried Harry, with sudden passion, "he is not guilty. +Richard did not mean to steal the money; indeed he did not. He only +wished to get possession of it that my father might believe him to be a +man of wealth. He did but--" + +"Endeavor to compose yourself, young woman," interposed the judge. "The +learned counsel will only ask what is necessary." + +"Take your time. Miss Trevethick, take your time," pursued Mr. Balais, +in his blandest tones. "The question is, how the prisoner became +possessed of this money. Now, tell us, did you not give it him with your +own hands?" + +The bell was still tolling in Richard's brain, and yet he could hear the +buzzing of a fly against a window of the court-house, and the careless +whistle of some lad in the street without. It was the same tune that the +keeper at Crompton had been wont to whistle in his leisure moments at +home; and his mind reverted with a flash to the glades of the stately +park, the herds of deer, the high-mossed gate, which he had shut in the +face of the hounds when they were chasing Carew's carriage. Was it the +bang of the gate, or had Harry really answered in a firm voice, that +resounded through the silent court-house, "No, Sir?" + +"What!" said Mr. Balais, raising his voice a little. "Do you mean to +say, then--and recollect that the fate of the prisoner at the bar may +depend upon your reply to this question--that Richard Yorke did not +become possessed of these notes by your connivance, through your means, +at all?" + +"No, Sir, no," answered Harry, passionately; "I can't say that; indeed, +Sir, I can not. But he is innocent--Richard is innocent--he never meant +to steal them. O God, help me!" In her excitement, and not because she +wished to do so, she had turned about, and once more caught sight of the +prisoner at the bar. It was her turn now to shrink appalled and +petrified. It was not reproach that she saw pictured in that well-loved +face, but downright hate and loathing. "He will never, never forgive +me!" cried she, with a piteous wail; and then scream followed scream, +and she was borne out in haste, and a doctor sent for. + +Cross-examination was, of course, quite out of the question; and, +indeed, Mr. Smoothbore was much too sagacious a man to wish to exercise +that privilege. The failure of the witness for the defense had proved +the case of the prosecution. + +It was Mr. Smoothbore who could now best afford to praise the innocence +and candor of the unhappy Harry. Was it not evident that that tender +creature had been tampered with, and almost persuaded to perjure +herself, for the sake of the prisoner at the bar--almost, but, happily +for the ends of justice, not quite persuaded! Her natural love of right +had conquered the ignoble passion with which she had been inspired by +this unscrupulous man. What words could sufficiently paint the baseness +of the conduct of the accused! Was it not clear that he had endeavored +to escape scot-free, at the sacrifice of this poor girl's good name? +_She_, forsooth, was to proclaim herself thief, to save his worthless +self! It was not for Mr. Smoothbore--Heaven forbid!--to exaggerate such +wickedness, but was it possible that the phrase, "Young in years, but +old in vice," had ever had a more appropriate application than in the +present case! For the credit of human nature, he trusted not. The point +upon which his learned friend had mainly relied having been thus proved +wholly untenable--the fact of Richard's taking the money having been +incontestably brought home to him--it only remained for him (Mr. +Smoothbore) to notice what had been said with respect to motive. If the +prisoner at the bar had even had the intention, which had been so +gratuitously imputed to him, of returning this money to the prosecutor, +when once the object of his supposed scheme had been effected, he would +be no less guilty of the crime that was laid to his charge. It was +possible, indeed, in such a case, that there might be extenuating +circumstances, but those would not affect the verdict of the jury, +however they might influence his lordship's sentence after that verdict +had been truly given. And this he would say, after what had just +occurred in that court--after the painful scene they had just +witnessed--the breaking down of that innocent girl in an act of +self-sacrifice, culpable in itself, but infinitely more culpable in him +who had incited her to do it--for he could not for an instant suppose +that the prisoner's legal advisers could have suggested such a line of +defense: taking all this into consideration, he, Mr. Smoothbore, would +confidently ask the jury whether the prisoner at the bar was to be +credited with merely a romantic stratagem, or with a crime the +heinousness of which was only exceeded by the means by which he had +striven to exculpate himself from it, and to evade the ends of justice. + +When Mr. Smoothbore had thus concluded a lengthened and impassioned +harangue, he sat down, wiping his hands upon his handkerchief, as though +implying that he had washed them of the prisoner for good and all, and +that a very dirty job it had been; while the judge rose and left the +court, it being the hour appointed to his system, by nature, for the +reception of lunch. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE SENTENCE. + + +Richard remained in the dock. The warder who had charge of him gave him +the option of retiring, but he preferred to stay where he was till all +was over. He had at last caught sight of his mother, straining her +loving eyes toward him--with still some hope in them--from a distant +corner of the gallery; and he kept his gaze fixed upon that spot. They +had all the world against them now, these two, so clever, and yet so +wholly unable to combat with inexorable fate. Harry's evidence, and +especially the manner of it, had not needed Mr. Smoothbore's fiery scorn +to turn all hearts against the accused. To the great mass of spectators +it seemed as though Richard would have made the girl change places with +himself, and become a vicarious sacrifice for his worthless self. + +The majesty of the law having withdrawn itself, a hum of many voices +filled the court-house; a munching of biscuits, a sipping of flasks. The +silence of suspense no longer reigned. The struggle was virtually over, +and the victim was only waiting his doom. It was hoped it would be a +severe one. The spectators were pitiless, and had turned their thumbs +toward their breasts. As to the verdict there was no doubt. Those who +knew the character of the judge opined that this young gentleman would +"get it hot," notwithstanding that this was his first offense. Odds were +taken that he would have fourteen years. "At all events," said one of +the small officials, in answer to eager inquiries, "more than he could +do on his head." With this enigmatical reply of the oracle its +astonished questioners were compelled to be content. + +"Silence in the court--si-lence." The judge had returned. It was thought +by some that it was in the prisoner's favor that the judge had lunched. +They were mistaken, or perhaps a fatal economy had provided African +sherry. His charge was scarcely less dead against the prisoner than had +been Mr. Smoothbore's closing speech. As for the motive, upon which such +stress had been laid by the counsel for the defense, that might be a +plea for a recommendation to mercy, if the jury believed it, but it +could not affect the question of the prisoner's guilt. That the stolen +property had been found in the possession of the accused there was no +sort of doubt. If the prisoner at the bar had not himself taken it out +of the prosecutor's strong-box, who had? + +Such was the form in which the case was left for the jury. + +"It's UP," whispered Mr. Weasel behind his hand to Mr. Balais. Mr. +Balais nodded indifferently; the case was over so far as he was +concerned, and he was not going to employ significant action +gratuitously. That would have been waste of power indeed at his age. The +jury did not leave the box; they laid their heads together, like a +hydra, and "deliberated" for half a minute; that is to say, the foreman +whispered, "We can return but one verdict, I should say, gentlemen;" and +the eleven answered, "But one." + +"We find the prisoner guilty, your lordship." + +His lordship nodded approval. "In my opinion, gentlemen, you could not +have done otherwise. Hem!" Then that common phrase, "You could have +heard a pin drop," might have been used with respect to that vast +assemblage. That "hem!" was a very fatal sign with Mr. Justice Bantam, +as the bar well knew. + +"I'll take you six to five in sovs he gives him seven years," whispered +one learned gentleman to another, without moving his lips. + +"It seems to me you are rather fond of a good thing," returned the +other, scornfully, but with a like precaution. + +"Hem!" said the judge again. "Is there any one in court able to give any +information concerning the antecedents of the prisoner?" + +"We have no witnesses to character, my lud," said Mr. Balais, gravely; +"we had hoped it would not have been necessary." + +"There _is_ a witness in court, please your lud-ship, a detective of the +A division of metropolitan police, I believe," observed Mr. Smoothbore, +"who knows something of the prisoner." + +"Let him stand up," said the judge. + +Here was an extra excitement--an additional attraction, which had not +been advertised in the bills--and the public evinced their satisfaction +accordingly by craning and crowding. Richard turned his heated eyes in +the direction of this new enemy. He had no hope of seeing a friend. The +individual in question was unknown to him. He was a tall, quiet-looking +man, whose face might have been carved out of box-wood, it was so hard +and serious, but for its keen eyes, which seemed to meet his own with a +look of recognition. + +"I know the prisoner at the bar; that is to say, I have seen him on a +previous occasion, when he passed under the name of Chandos, and on +other occasions, as I believe, under other names. From information +received I attended a competitive examination, under the authority of +government." + +"Do you mean that you were employed by the government, or that the +examination was a government one?" interrupted the judge. + +"You'll hear something now," whispered Mr. Weasel to Mr. Balais, "by +Jove!" + +"Both, my lord," explained the witness. "It had come to the knowledge of +the government that there had been several cases of personation in the +competitive examinations recently instituted both for the military and +civil services. Not only were young gentlemen, who had apparently passed +with credit, found grossly ignorant of the subjects which they had +previously been examined upon, but their physical appearance was +sometimes such as would have seemed to have disqualified them: it +appeared incredible that they should have passed the preliminary medical +examination. One was hump-backed; another almost blind. It was +understood that some systematized scheme of imposture, of +mispersonation, was at work to produce these results, and I was +instructed to inquire into it. I did so. I came to the conclusion that +only one person was concerned in the matter--the prisoner at the bar. I +had had my suspicions of him for some time. I had seen him on three +separate occasions as a candidate at public examinations. His nomination +was correct and genuine, but (as I have since discovered) it had been +issued to another person. He succeeded in every instance in obtaining +the appointments in question for his employers, who received them in due +course, though they have, I believe, since been canceled. In the case of +Chandos, a letter was written, by the supposed successful candidate, to +the authorities of the government branch--the India Board--under which +he was to serve, so grossly misspelled that the fraud was at once +suspected. In this instance the guilt was brought home to the prisoner +by the confession of the young man Chandos himself, who paid over to him +a considerable sum of money for the service in question. But I am now in +a position to prove that on several other occasions the prisoner has +committed the same offense; and, in short, if he may be said to have a +calling, it is that of personating, at competitive examinations, young +gentlemen of small ability, who are thus enabled to secure situations +and appointments which they could otherwise never obtain." + +Mr. Justice Bantam had his prejudices, but he had a fair and honest +mind. + +"This is a most unlooked-for communication, Brother Balais," said he, +doubtfully; "and it is not permitted you to cross-examine upon a point +of character." + +"I am sorry to say, my lud," returned Mr. Balais, after a hurried +conversation with the little attorney, "that my client is not in a +position to dispute the evidence just adduced. He prefers to throw +himself upon the mercy of the court, on the ground--a very tenable one, +I think--of his youth and," he was going to add "inexperience," but, +under the circumstances, he thought it better not--"of his extreme +youth, my lud; my unhappy client is barely eighteen years of age." + +"Very good," said Mr. Justice Bantam, looking as if it could not be +worse. "Hem! Prisoner at the bar: after a careful and fair trial, in +which you have had the benefit of the best legal aid, you have been +found _guilty_ of the charge of which you are accused. In that verdict I +cordially concur. The offense was a very serious one; but the endeavor +which you have made to screen yourself, at the expense of that beautiful +and innocent young girl, is, in my opinion, still more heinous and +contemptible than the crime itself. Having made yourself master of her +affections, you used your power to the utmost to effect her moral and +social hurt. You would have had her perjure herself, and proclaim +herself guilty of a crime she did not commit, in order that you might +yourself escape justice. Nobody who heard her evidence--who saw her in +yonder box--can doubt it. Still, as your counsel has just remarked, you +are but a youth in years, and I looked about me in hopes to find some +extenuating circumstances in your past career--some record of +good--which might have justified me in inflicting on you a more lenient +sentence than your offense had earned. I had no other purpose in asking +whether any thing was known of your previous career. The reply to that +question has astonished and shocked me, as it has shocked and astonished +every right-thinking person in this court who heard it. We knew to what +base purpose you had used the comeliness and youth and good address with +which nature had endowed you; and now we have learned how evilly you +have misused your talents--with what perverted ingenuity you have +striven, at so early an age, to set at naught those precautions by which +your country has lately endeavored to secure for itself efficient public +servants." + +"That's neat," whispered a learned friend to Mr. Balais, reverently +shutting his eyes, as though in rapt admiration. + +"Very," returned that gentleman. "He's bidding for the Lord Chief +Justiceship." + +"In the whole course of my legal experience, young man," continued the +judge, "I have never seen a case which seems to me to call for more +exemplary punishment than yours. The promise of your future is dark +indeed--bad for yourself, and bad for that society which, though so +fitted to adorn and benefit it, you have chosen to outrage. I will not, +however, reproach you further; I will rather express a hope that when +you return to the world after your long probation--and it will be as +long as I am able to make it--you may be a wiser and better, as well as +a much older man. The sentence of the court is, that you be kept in +penal servitude for the space of twenty years." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +BROODING. + + +Not a syllable of the judge's exhortation was lost upon the prisoner at +the bar. He listened to it as attentively as one who is waiting for the +thunder listens to the muffled menace that precedes it, and the fall of +each big drop of rain. When the words of doom smote upon his ear a +solemn hush succeeded them; and then one piteous, agonized shriek, and a +dull fall in the gallery above. + +"This way," said a warder, sharply; and Richard was seized by the arm, +and hurried through the trap-door, and down the stairs, by the way he +had come. It seemed to him like descending into hell itself. + +Twenty years' penal servitude! It was almost an eternity of torment! +worse than death! and yet not so. He already beheld himself, at the end +of his term of punishment, setting about the great work which alone was +left him to do on earth--the accomplishment of his revenge. He had +recognized his mother's voice in that agonized wail, and knew that her +iron will had given way; that the weight of this unexpected calamity had +deprived even her elastic and vigorous mind of consciousness--had +crushed out of her, perhaps, even life itself. Better so, thought he, in +his bitterness, if it had; there would then be not a single human +creature left to soften, by her attachment, his heart toward his +fellows--none to counsel moderation, mercy, prudence. + +If the view taken by the judge had even been a correct one, as to +"motive," Richard had been hardly dealt with, most severely sentenced; +but in his own eyes he was an almost innocent man--the victim of an +infamous conspiracy, in which she who, was his nearest and dearest had +treacherously joined. After flattering him with false hopes, she had +deserted him at the eleventh hour, and in a manner even more atrocious +than the desertion itself. He knew, of course, that it was mainly owing +to her evidence, to which he had looked for his preservation, that his +ruin had been so complete and overwhelming; but what he hated her worst +for was for that smile she had bestowed upon him as she entered the +witness-box, and which had bade him hope where no hope was. He could not +be mistaken as to that. She had known that she was about to doom him by +her silence to years of misery, and yet she had had the devilish cruelty +to smile upon him, as she had often smiled, when they had sat, cheek to +cheek, together! Since they had done so, he could never lift his hand +against her (he felt that even now)--never strike her, slay her, nor +even poison her; but he would have revenge upon her for all that. He +would smite her, as she had smitten him, no matter how long the blow +might be in falling: if her affections should be entwined in any human +creatures, against them should his rage be directed; he would make her +desolate, as she had rendered him; he would turn their love for her to +hate, if it were possible, and, if not, he would destroy them. As for +her father--as for that stone devil Trevethick--it choked him to think +that nature herself might preserve him from his wrath, that the old man +might die before his hour of expiation could arrive. But Solomon Coe +would live to feel his vengeance. His hatred was at white heat now; what +would it be after twenty years of unmerited torture? To think that this +terrible punishment had befallen him through such contemptible +agencies--through such dull brains and vulgar hands--was maddening; and +yet he must needs feed upon that thought for twenty years, and keep his +senses too, that at the end they might work out his purpose to the +uttermost. There was plenty of time to plan and scheme and plot before +him, and henceforth that should be his occupation. Revenge should be his +latest thought and his earliest, and all night long he would dream of +nothing else. His wrath against judge and jury, and the rest of +them--though if he could have slain them all with a word he would have +uttered it--was slight compared with the vehemence of his fury against +those three at Gethin. Rage possessed him wholly, and, though without +numbing him to the painful sense of his miserable doom, rendered him +almost unconscious of what was going on about him. + +When he found himself in his cell again he had no recollection of how he +had got there; and the warder had to repeat his sharp command, "Put on +these clothes," before he could get him to understand that he was to +exchange his garments for the prison suit that lay before him. It was a +small matter, but it brought home to him the reality of his situation +more than any thing that had yet occurred. With the deprivation of his +clothes he seemed to be deprived of his individuality, and, in adopting +that shameful dress, to become an atom in a congeries of outcasts. From +henceforth he was not even to bear a name, but must become a number--a +unit of that great sum of scoundrels which the world was so willing to +forget. That he was to suffer under a system which had authority and +right for its basis made his case no less intolerable to him; he felt +like one suddenly seized and sold into slavery. That his master and +tyrant was called the Law was no mitigation of his calamity; nay, it was +an aggravation, since he could not cut its throat. + +"It is no use, young fellow," said the warder, coolly, as Richard looked +at him like some hunted beast at bay. "If you was to kill me and a dozen +more it would do you not a morsel of good; the law has got you tight, +and it's better to be quiet." + +Richard uttered a low moan, more woeful than any cry of physical +anguish. It touched his jailer, used as he was to the contemplation of +human misery. "Look here," said he; "you keep up a good heart, and get +as many _V G_'s as you can. Then you'll get out on ticket-of-leave in +fifteen years: it ain't as if you were a lifer." + +He meant it for consolation; but this unvarnished statement of the _very +best_ that could by possibility befall poor Richard seemed only to +deepen his despondency. + +"Why, when you've done it," pursued the warder, "you'll be quite a young +man still--younger than I am. There's Balfour, now; he's got some call +to be down in the mouth, for he'll get it as hot as you, and he's an old +un, yet he's cheery enough up yonder"--and he jerked his head in the +direction of the court-house--"you may take your 'davey he is. You get +_V G_'s." + +"What are those?" said Richard, wearily. + +"Why, the best marks that can be got; and remember that every one of 'em +goes to shorten your time. You must be handier with your room, to begin +with. You might be reported by some officers for the way in which that +hammock is folded, and then away go your marks at once; and you must +learn to sweep your room out cleaner. We couldn't stand _that_ in one of +our regulars, you know;" and he pointed to some specks of dust upon the +shining floor. "As for the oakum pickings which will be set you +to-morrow, I'll show you the great secret of that art. Your fingers will +suffer a bit at first, no doubt, but you'll be a clever one at it before +long. Only buckle to, and keep a civil tongue in your head, young +fellow, and you'll do." + +"Thank you," said Richard, mechanically. + +"If you'll take my advice, you'll set about something at once; sweepin', +or polishin', or readin' your Bible. Don't brood. But you will do as you +like for this afternoon, since you won't begin regular business till +to-morrow." + +The warder looked keenly round the cell, probably to make sure that it +afforded no facilities for suicide; but the gas was not yet turned on, +and if it had been, his prisoner was unaware that by blowing it out, and +placing the jet in his mouth, more than one in a similar strait to his +own has found escape from his prison woes forever. + +"I'll bring you some supper presently," he added; and with a familiar +nod, good-naturedly intended for encouragement, he slammed the iron door +behind him. + +That he should have become an object of pity and patronage to a man like +this would in itself have wounded Richard to the quick had he not been +devoured by far more biting cares, and even now it galled him. His +twenty years might possibly, then, by extremity of good luck, be +curtailed by five. By diligent execution of menial drudgery; by +performing to some overlooker's satisfaction his daily toil; by careful +obedience and subservience to these Jacks in office, themselves but +servants, and yet whose malice or ill-humor might cause them to report +him for the most trifling faults, or for none at all, and thereby +destroy even _this_ hope--he might be a free man in fifteen years! He +would, even then, he was told, be still a young man. But that he would +never be young again Richard was well aware. Within these last three +weeks--nay, within that last hour, he had already lived a life, and one +that had aged him beyond the power of years. High spirits, pleasure, +hopefulness, love, and all the attributes of youth, were dead within him +for evermore. For the future he was only to be strong and vigorous in a +will that could not have its way for fifteen years at earliest. + +Through the grating of his narrow window a few rays of the setting sun +were streaming in, and fell upon the bare brown wall behind him. What a +flood of glory they were pouring on the woods of Crompton, now in their +autumn splendor--on the cliffs at Gethin--on the copse that hid the +Wishing Well--on the tower where he had first clasped Harry in his arms! +He saw them all, and the sunset hues upon them became suddenly +blood-red. He was once more at Gethin, and in imagination taking his +revenge upon old Trevethick, and for the moment he was almost happy. +"Pity on his gray hairs?" No, not he--though the gallows loomed before +him, though hell yawned for him, he would slake his thirst in the +life-blood of that perjured villain; and as for her, he would drag her +by the hair to look upon her father's corpse. Where was she? Ah, with +Solomon upon the castled rock; and see!--he had pushed him from the +edge, and there he hung exactly as he himself had hung when Harry had +preserved him! How long would a man hold on like that, even a strong man +like Coe, on such a narrow ledge, with the gulls screaming about him? +Not twenty years--no, nor fifteen! + +The clatter of the trap in the door of his cell, as it fell in and +formed a table, awoke him from this gloating dream. "Supper," said the +warder, looking in at him through this orifice. "What! you're still +brooding, are you?--that's bad;" then marched on to the next cell. + +Some gruel and bread stood upon this little improvised side-board. If +they had been the greatest luxuries imaginable, he could not have +swallowed a morsel. The sunlight had faded away; his dream of +retribution was over; he seemed to be touching the utmost verge of human +wretchedness. Was it possible to kill himself? His neckerchief had been +taken away; but he had his braces. The gas-pipe was the only thing to +which he could attach them, and it would never bear his weight. He had +read somewhere of some poor wretch who had suffocated himself by turning +his tongue inward. Had he determination enough for such a device as +that? Plenty. His will was iron; he felt that; but it was set on +something else than suicide--that afterward, or death or life of any +kind, he cared not what; but in the first place, and above all things, +Vengeance! In the mean time, there were twenty years in which to think +upon it! Twenty years! + +The bar dined with the judge that night at Cross Key, and talked, among +other things, "shop." + +"A curious case that of that young fellow, Yorke," said one. "I wonder +whether he has been playing his game long with these competitive +examinations? That Chandos must be a queer one, too--son of Lord +Fitzbacon's, is he not?" + +"I dare say," answered another, carelessly. "It is only vicariously that +the juvenile aristocracy ever get an appointment in these days, having +no wits of their own. This conviction will be a great blow to them." + +"Very good, Sharpshins! but you'd better not let old Bantam hear you, +for he dearly loves the Swells. By-the-by, what a pretty girl that +witness for the defense was, who turned out to be for the prosecution, +eh?" + +"Yes, she upset her lover's coach for him nicely. Is it true, I wonder, +that the little traitress is going to marry that dull, heavy fellow whom +Smoothbore had such work to pump? Gad! if I had been she, I'd have stuck +to the other." + +"Yes; but kissing goes by favor. She marries him next week, I hear. Is +there any thing of interest at Bodmin?" + +"Nothing of interest to _me_, at all events. Smoothbore and Balais get +all there is between them, confound them! I say, just pass that claret." + +Not another word about Richard. The judge himself had forgotten him +except as a case in his notes. The jury forgot him in a week. A murder +of a shipwrecked sailor happened soon afterward on that coast, and +became the talk of the country-side in his place. The world went on its +way, and never missed him; the rank closed up where he had used to +march, and left no gap. + +Richard Yorke was out of the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +IN COUPLES. + + +What tender-nurtured boy, newly-arrived at school--that Paradise when +looked back upon from afar, that _Inferno_ of the present--has not +awakened from sweet dreams of home with a heavy heart? Who has not +pictured to himself the weary months that must elapse before he once +more regains his freedom and his friends? The burden (one may say) is +light, but then the back is also weak that bears it. It is a genuine +woe. Something of this, but tenfold in intensity of wretchedness, did +Richard feel when he awoke for the first time a convicted felon. He had +dreamed that Carew was dead, and left him heir of Crompton; his mother +and he were there, and Harry as his wife. The splendor of the house, the +beauty of the grand domain about it, were as vividly presented to him as +when he saw them with his eyes; and they were all his own. The hope of +his youth, the desire of his manhood, were gratified to the uttermost; +yet through all ran an undercurrent which mirrored a portion of the +present reality. In the marshy pond where he had fought the Squire by +moonlight lay two bodies; it was shallow, as it really had been, and he +could see their faces as he peered into the water: they were those of +Coe and Trevethick. He kept them there, and would not have the pond +dragged; but would go thither and gloat upon them for half a summer's +day. The mansion was full of gay folks--his old town companions invited +to visit him, and behold his greatness (as he had often imagined they +should be): Tub Ryll was _his_ jester now, and Parson Whymper his +"chaplain." They were all playing pool as usual, and he was just about +to make an easy hazard, when somebody jogged his elbow. It was the +warder of the jail. + +"Come, come--this won't do," said he, gruffly. "You must jump up when +the bell rings, or we shall quarrel. Fold up your hammock, and clean +your room." + +Even the school-boy does not begin on his first morning to reckon on his +chimney almanac, "One day gone; twenty-four hours nearer to the +holidays;" and how should Richard make that cheerful note, who had +twenty years of prison life before him, save one day! + +He did as he was ordered, wearily, with a heart that had no hope: it +seemed to the warder that his air was sullen. + +"If this happens again, young fellow, I report you; and then good-by to +your _V G_'s." + +He did not mean to be brutal; but Richard could have stabbed him where +he stood. There were times to come when the temptation to commit such an +act was to be very strong within him; and when no thought of punishment, +far less of right, restrained him, but that of his projected vengeance +always did. Every rough word, every insult, every wrong, was treasured +up in his mind, and added to the long account against those who had +doomed him to such a fate. It should be paid in full one day; and in the +mean time the debt was out at compound interest. + +He took his sordid meals, his cocoa, his bread, his gruel, not because +he had ever any appetite for them, but because without them he should +lose his strength. He must husband that for the long-expected hour when +he might need it; when the moment had arrived to strike the blow for +which his hand was clenched ten times a day. His hate grew every hour, +and, like a petrifying spring, fell drop by drop about his heart, and +made it stone. In the mean time, a fiend in torment could alone imagine +what he suffered. He spoke to no one but his warders and the chaplain; +for now he was a convict, there was no communication with his fellows; +only once a day for an hour and a half he took his monotonous exercise +in the high-walled prison-yard. Tramp, tramp, tramp, each half a dozen +paces behind the other, with an officer on the watch to see that the +limit was preserved. + +"Keep your distance, you there, unless you want to be reported." + +Richard did not want that; but at times his temper was like a devil +unchained, and it got the better of him, and even of his treasured +purpose; he sometimes returned a sharp answer. This weakness was almost +the only feeling within him that reminded him that he was human. He was +put on bread and water within the first fortnight; then cursed his folly +for thus postponing the one object of his life, and amended. His case +was quoted to the visiting justices as an exemplification of the +efficacy of cutting short a prisoner's supplies. + +While exercising one day he recognized Balfour, who happened to be on +the opposite side of the ever-moving circle: the old jail-bird, without +glancing toward him, threw his open hands out twice. By this he conveyed +to him that his own sentence was also twenty years. During the nine +months that Richard remained at Cross Key, this was all that happened to +him which could be called an incident. At the end of three months his +mother essayed to visit him, but he would not see her. She had been ill, +it seemed, ever since that dreadful day of the trial, and was only just +convalescent; she had had lodgings in the town, within a hundred yards +of him, ever since: it was something, poor soul, to know that she was +near him, however inexorably separated. "It would please him," she +wrote, "to learn that, through Mr. Whymper's intercession, Carew had +continued her pension. She had money enough, therefore, and to spare, +but intended to go on with her business of lodging-house keeping in a +new quarter of London, and under another name (that of Basil), that she +might save, and her Richard find himself a rich man when he regained his +liberty. In fifteen years--she had discovered that his time could be +remitted to that extent--there would be quite a little fortune for him. +In the mean time, she thought of him night and day." But there was +something else in the letter. "She confessed that in her agony at his +dreadful doom, she had written to his prosecutor to adjure him to appeal +for mercy to the crown, and he had refused to do so." This news had +driven Richard almost to frenzy. He had written her such a letter as the +prison authorities had refused to send, and now he would not see her. + +He wrote again; more moderately, however, to bid her never mention +Trevethick's name again, nor Coe's, nor Harry's, if she wished him to +think of her as his mother: they were dead to him, he said, _for the +present_. To be brief, Richard never saw his mother after his +conviction. He wished to harden his heart, and not to have it melted +within him; and perhaps his fury at her having appealed to Trevethick +was purposely exaggerated with this object. His recollection of "the +cage," it must be remembered, was also not such as to make the idea of +an interview attractive; moreover, that his mother should see him in his +convict dress, kept within iron bars like a wild beast, seemed to him to +afford a triumph to his deadly enemies. + +In the tenth month, Richard, with the other convicts, was transferred to +Lingmoor, one of the great penal settlements. They were "removed," for +some portion of the distance, in vans, like furniture, or, we might +rather say, in caravans like wild beasts; but for some miles they +traveled by railway. They were handcuffed and chained together two and +two, as pointers are upon their journeys, except that the connection was +at the wrist instead of the neck. Silence was strictly enjoined, but +this one opportunity of conversing with their fellow-creatures was not +to be let slip. Richard's other half was a notorious burglar called +Rolfe; this man had passed a quarter of a century in jail, and was +conversant with every plan of trickery and evasion of orders. His +countenance was not at all of that bull-dog type with which his class is +falsely though generally credited; he had good features, though somewhat +hard in their expression, and very intelligent gray eyes. It was their +very intelligence, so sharp, so piercing, and yet which avoided your +gaze, that showed to those who studied such matters what he was. After +one glance at Richard he never looked at him again, but stared straight +before him, and talked in muttered tones unceasingly, and with lips as +motionless as those of a ventriloquist. He was doing fourteen years for +cracking a public-house, and had cracked a good many private ones, +concerning the details of which enterprises he was very eloquent. When +he had concluded his autobiography he began to evince some interest in +the circumstances of his companion. Richard, however, did not care to +enlighten him on his own concerns, but confined his conversation to the +one topic that was common between them--jails. Rolfe gave him a synopsis +of the annals of Lingmoor, to which he was bound not for the first time. +It was a place that had a bad reputation among those who became perforce +its inmates; tobacco, for which elsewhere convenient warders charged a +shilling an ounce, was there not less than eighteenpence: such a tariff +was shameful, and almost amounted to a prohibition. A pal of his had +hung himself there--it was supposed through deprivation of this +necessary. It was "a queer case;" for he had "tucked himself up" to the +bars of his cell by his braces, the buckles of which had left livid +marks upon his neck. His Prayer-book had been found open at the Burial +of the Dead, and it was understood that he had read that service over +himself before taking leave of the world. He had also written his will +with a point of the said brace-buckles upon the brick of his cell. He +himself (Mr. Rolfe) had been called as a witness at the inquest, and had +thereby obtained two hours' relaxation from labor; but upon the whole he +would rather have been working with his gang--the affair had quite upset +him; and, since its occurrence, the inmates of Lingmoor were forbidden +to use braces. + +"Were there any escapes from Lingmoor by any other means?" inquired +Richard. + +"Escapes?" Mr. Rolfe's countenance assumed a more solemn vacuity than +ever. It was an indiscretion of his young friend to shape that word with +his lips while a warder sat in the same carriage. Yes, there had been +such things even at Lingmoor. But it was a difficult job, even for one +used to cracking cribs. The outer wall was not to be scaled without a +ladder, and ladders were even more difficult to procure than tobacco. +Even if you did get over the outer wall, the space around the prison was +very bare, and the sentries had orders to shoot you fleeing. If you got +to Bergen Wood, two miles away, you might be safe so far, but it was a +dangerous business. Nobody had ever done it yet without "putting +somebody out." + +This was a euphemism for murder, as Richard was by this time "old hand" +enough to know. + +"Warders?" inquired he indifferently; for he had already learned to +value that objectionable class at a low figure. + +"Hush! Yes; you must kill 'a dog' or two before you say good-by to +Lingmoor, unless you can put them to sleep." (Bribery.) "There was a man +once as had to kill his pal to do it." + +"How could that help him?" Richard felt no interest whatever in these +narratives as stories; but since they referred to escapes they +entrancing. The convict who is cast for death thinks of nothing but a +reprieve; the "lifer" or the long-termer, thinks of nothing but an +escape--and (sometimes) vengeance. + +"Well, it was curious. There was a 'Smasher'" (utterer of counterfeit +coin) "named Molony in for life there--a thin-shanked, shambling fellow, +as Smashers mostly are--mere trash. He had got a file, this fool, and +dared not use it--kept it as close as though it were 'bacca,' and waited +for his chance, instead of making his chance for himself. Damme, if _I_ +had a file!" + +Mr. Rolfe's feelings of irritation were almost too much for him; he +turned up the whites of his eyes, so that persons who were unacquainted +with his views upon religious subjects might have supposed him to be +engaged in some devotional exercise. + +"Next door to this fellow--though it seemed a long way off, for the cell +was in an angle of the prison--there was one of the right sort; name of +Jeffreys. No prison in England could have held _him_ if he had had a +file. With a rusty nail as he had picked up he dug through his cell +wall, and came out one night, all of a sudden, upon the Smasher--thought +he was out of doors, poor beggar, through this cursed angle, you see, +and after all had only changed his room." + +"That must have been the devil," observed Richard. + +"It _was_," said Mr. Rolfe, significantly. + +"'Why, how on earth did you do it?' asked the Smasher. At least I +suppose he did, for the conversation was not reported, as you shall +hear. 'With a mere nail, too. Why, _I_'ve got a file, and yet I never +thought of that.' + +"'A file!' cried Jeffreys. 'Let's look. Give it to me.' + +"But Molony wouldn't give it him. The case was this, you see. If +Jeffreys could have filed his irons off, and then the window-bars, he +could have made a push for it; but he couldn't wait for the other; the +night was too far gone for that--there was only time for one to free +himself and get away. The Smasher was willing enough to make an effort +now; the other's pluck had put a good heart into him. But since he had +been there so long, and never moved a hand to help hisself, Jeffreys +thought he might stop a little longer; it seemed to him +dog-in-the-manger like to be refused the file--at least that's my view +of what he thought; though he's been blamed a good deal for what +afterward happened." + +"But what did happen?" + +"Well, they got to high words; the t'other wouldn't give up the file; +and when Jeffreys tried to get hold of it, what did the aggravation +Smasher do--for you see he was used to bolting half-crowns and such +like--but _swallow the file_!" + +"Why, that must have killed him?" observed Yorke. + +"So Jeffreys concluded," returned Mr. Rolfe, coolly; "and indeed that +was his defense when his trial came on. He pleaded that Molony was dead +already. 'I did not put the file down his throat, though I did deprive +him of it afterward. I was obliged to do it.' He made an anatomy of him +with the nail, in fact, just as the surgeons do with their +dissecting-knives, though not so neat, in order to get at the file. An +ugly job, I call it; but it was a very pretty case, the lawyers said, as +to whether murder had been done or not." + +"But did this Jeffreys get off?" + +"Upon the trial--yes; but not from the prison. He got into the yard all +right, and climbed the wall by making steps of the file and the nail; +but, in dropping on the other side, he broke his leg, and so they nabbed +him. It's a very hard nut to crack, is Lingmoor, _I_ can tell you." + +With these and similar incidents of prison-life, Mr. Rolfe regaled his +companion's ears. The sound of this man's voice, muffled as it was, +notwithstanding the nature of his talk, was pleasant to Richard after so +many months of enforced silence. After long starvation the stomach is +thankful for even garbage; and so it is with the mind. Moreover, any +thing would have seemed better than to sit and think during that hateful +journey. The railway part of it was by far the worst. To be made a show +of at the various stations--every one curious to see how convicts looked +in their full regimentals, chained and ironed; to behold the other +passengers who were free; to see the happy meetings of lovers and +friends, of parents and children; and the partings that were scarcely +partings at all compared with his own length of exile from all mankind: +these were things the bitterness of which Richard felt to the uttermost; +his very blood ran gall. His friend Balfour was among his +fellow-travelers, but they did not journey in the same van nor railway +carriage. Had it been otherwise Richard might have felt some sense of +companionship; whereas the contact of this man Rolfe seemed to degrade +him to his level, and isolate him from humanity itself. At the same +time, he shrank with sensitiveness from the gaze of the gaping crowd. It +is so difficult, even with the strongest will to do so, to become +callous and hardened to shame except by slow degrees: every finger +seemed to point at him in recognition, every tongue to be telling of his +disgrace and doom; whereas, in simple fact, his own mother would +scarcely have known him in such a garb, and with those iron ornaments +about his limbs; his fine hair cropped to the roots; his delicate +features worn and sharpened with spare diet and want of sleep; above +all, with those haggard eyes, always watching and waiting for something +a long way off--almost, indeed, out of sight at present, but coming up, +as a ship comes spar by spar above the horizon, taking shape and +distinctness as it nears. There were nineteen years and three months +still, however, between him and _it_. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +OUT OF THE WORLD. + + +This tedious, shameful travel came to an end at nightfall. Their way had +lain all day through landscapes of great beauty, though about to lose +the last remnants of their autumn splendor; but when they left the rail, +the woods, and glens, and rivers were seen no more. All was dreary +moorland, where winter had already begun to reign. A village or two were +passed, among whose scanty population their appearance created little +excitement: such sights were common in that locality. They were on the +high-road that leads to Lingmoor, and to nowhere else. The way seemed as +typical of their outcast life-path as a page out of the _Pilgrim's +Progress_. Vanity Fair, where they would fain have tarried if they +could, was left far behind them, while to some of them the road was +doomed to be the veritable Valley of the Shadow. They were never to see +the world, nor partake of its coarse and brutal pleasures--the only ones +they cared for, or perhaps had experienced--any more. How bare, and +desolate, and wretched was the prospect! There was no living thing in +sight; only the wild moorland streams hurried by, as if themselves +desirous to escape from the barren solitude. Not a tree was to be seen +save Bergen Wood, which Richard's companion indicated to him, as they +neared it, by a movement of the eyelid. It had been the tomb of many a +convict, who had striven for freedom, and found death. As they emerged +from it, Lingmoor prison presented itself, solid, immense, and gloomy, +as though it were built of steel--"Castle of Giant Despair." Its guarded +gate was swung back, and all were marched into a paved courtyard, where +their names were called over, and their irons removed. Then each was +stripped and searched, and another uniform substituted for that they had +worn at Cross Key. The old hands seemed to take a pride in knowing what +was about to be done beforehand; in being recognized by the warders, +though their greeting was but a contemptuous shrug; and in threading the +windings of the stone labyrinths with an accustomed step. Richard was +ushered into a cell the exact counterpart of that he had lately +inhabited; and yet he regarded it with the interest which one can not +fail to feel in what is to be one's home for years. + +Home! Frightful misnomer for that place, warm and well-ventilated as it +was, and supplied with the latest products of civilization. The gas was +burning brightly; fresh cool water flowed at his will; at his touch a +bell rang, and instantly, outside his door, an iron plate sprang out, +and indicated to the warder in what cell his presence was required. "How +clean and comfortable!" says the introduced-by-special-order visitor, to +his obsequious acquaintance the governor, on observing these admirable +arrangements. "How much better are these scoundrels cared for," cries +the unthinking public, "than are our honest poor!" It is not, however, +that the convict is pampered; but for this unkindly care he would not be +able to endure the punishment which justice has decreed for him. Science +has meted out to him each drop of gruel, each ounce of bread, each +article of clothing, and each degree of warmth. Not one of all the +recipients of this cruel benevolence but would gladly have exchanged +places with the shivering tramp or the work-house pauper. To cower under +the leafless branches of Bergen Wood, while the November night-blasts +made them grind and clang, would have seemed paradise compared with that +snug lodging; nay, the grave itself, with its dim dread Hereafter, has +been preferred before it. + +Life at Lingmoor was existence by machinery--monotony that sometimes +maddened as well as slew. To read of it is to understand nothing of +this. The bald annals of the place reveal nothing of this terrible +secret. + +Richard rose at five at clang of bell, cleaned out his cell, and folded +up his bed more neatly than did ever chamber-maid; at six was +breakfast--porridge, and forty minutes allowed for its enjoyment; then +chapel and parade; then labor--mat-making was his trade, at which he +became a great proficient. His fingers deftly worked, while his mind +brooded. At twelve was dinner--bread and potatoes, with seventy minutes +allowed for its digestion; then exercise in the yard, and mat-making +again till six in summer, and four in winter; prayers, supper, school +till eight; when the weary day was done. On Sunday, except two hours of +exercise and chapel, Richard was his own master, to brood as much as he +would. There were also no less than three holidays in the year, on which +it has been whispered with horror that the convicts have pudding. There +was, however, no such excess at Lingmoor. + +As for society, there was the chaplain. This gentleman could make +nothing of Richard, though he tried his best. It was evident to him that +the young man had something on his mind; if he would only confide in his +spiritual adviser, he assured him comfort could be administered. But no +confidence ever took place. It was a most distressing case; here was a +youth of superior position, and well educated, as obstinate and stubborn +as the most hardened criminal in the establishment. His Bible was never +opened. One of his warders had expressed his opinion that No. 421 was +vindictive, but he (the chaplain) was bound to say he had observed +nothing of that. The remarks in his note-book respecting 421 were these: +"Richard Yorke--aged twenty, looks ten years older; reserved and +cynical; a hopeless infidel, but respectful, uncomplaining, and +well-mannered." + +Richard had been reported more than once for "inattention to orders," +and had lost some of his good marks accordingly. The cause of this was +one over which he could now be scarcely said to have control. He had +become so absent and _distrait_ that he sometimes hardly knew what was +going on about him. The perpetual brooding in which he indulged had, in +fact, already postponed the accomplishment of the very object which +enthralled his thoughts. The effect of this was serious; and he had good +reason for the apprehension which seized him, that his wits might leave +him before that day of liberty arrived, which was still so many years +distant. On account of his previous calling, which was described in the +prison books as landscape-painter, he had been put to a handicraft +trade; but he now applied for harrow-work, and the surgeon seconded his +application. This change of occupation, which was destined in some +respects to be beneficial, proved at the outset most unfortunate. The +outdoor toil was mostly spade and barrow labor on the moor, on which the +convicts worked in gangs--each gang under supervision of two warders, +armed with sword and musket. The first face that Richard's eyes lit on, +when he found himself in the open, with the free air of heaven blowing +on him, and already, as it seemed, bearing the seeds of health and hope, +was that of Robert Balfour. In his joyous excitement he sprang forward +and held out his hand; the other hesitated--for the old cracksman was +prudence itself--then, as if with an incontrollable impulse, grasped the +offered fingers, with an "I am right glad to see you, lad." The next +instant they were both in custody, and marched back to the prison, +charged with the high crime and misdemeanor of conversation, which at +Lingmoor was called "colloguing," "conspiracy," and other terrible +terms. Brought before the authorities upon this serious charge, Richard +at once confessed himself alone to blame; the fresh air had, in a +manner, intoxicated him, after his long confinement within stone walls; +and the sight of his old acquaintance had caused him to forget the +rules. On the offense-list being examined, it was found, however, that +No. 421 was a good deal in the habit of forgetting. His cell-warder gave +him but an indifferent character; and Richard, in a fury, committed the +fatal indiscretion of rebutting this latter accusation by a +countercharge of tyranny and ill-usage. The next instant he could have +bitten his tongue out--but it was too late; he felt that he had made an +enemy of this body-servant, who was also his master, for the remainder +of his term. An "old hand," unless he is a professional garroter (in +which case he is generally too much respected to be ill-used), is always +careful to keep on good terms with his attendant; otherwise--since a +warder's word, if it be not law, is at all events worth that of ten +prisoners--there may be no end to your troubles. This is not because +warders are not as a class a most respectable body of men, but simply +because you can't get all the virtues for a guinea a week. A strict and +impartial sense of justice is especially a rare and dear article--even +governors have sometimes been deficient in it. Most men have their +prejudices, as women have their spites; and a prejudice against a +fellow-creature is a thing that grows. Richard's warder was no +tyrant--only a sullen, ignorant fellow, in a false position; he had an +almost absolute power over his fellow-creatures, and like many--perhaps +like most who have ever possessed such a thing--it was too much for him. + +"I am a tyrant, am I?" said he, significantly, as he marched Richard +back to his cell after sentence was decreed. "Very well; we'll _see_." + +Richard got bread and water for three days certain, and, what was far +worse, another "monstrous cantle" might be cut out of that period of +remission which began to be all the dearer in his eyes the more +problematical it grew. Garroters, as we have said, were respected at +Lingmoor; they are so ready with their great ape-like hands, and so +dull-brained with respect to consequences; yet Richard's warder, when he +brought his bread and water, with a grin, that night, was probably as +near to death by strangling as he had ever been during his professional +experience. It was not that he was on his own account the object of his +prisoner's wrath, but that by his conduct he had, as it were, +supplemented the inexpiable wrong originally committed, and earned for +himself a portion of the undying hate which was due elsewhere. "I may +kill this brute some day," thought Richard, ruefully, "in spite of +myself." And he resolved on the first opportunity to communicate a +certain secret which was on his mind to a friendly ear; so that _that_ +at least should be utilized to the disadvantage of his foes, in case +incontrollable passion should one day compel him to sacrifice a lesser +victim, and make his great revenge to fail. It had not once entered into +his mind that he could _forego_ his purpose, but only that circumstances +might render it impossible. + +The occasion for which he looked was not long in coming. His days of +punishment concluded, he was once more marched out upon the moor, and +again found himself in Balfour's company. Not a sign passed between them +this time, but as they delved they talked. "I fear you have been +suffering for my sake," said Richard. + +"It is no matter. My shoulders are broad enough for two," returned the +other, kindly. "I am right glad to see your face again, though it is so +changed. You have been ill, have you not, lad?" + +"I don't know. Something is wrong with me, and I may be worse--that is +why I want to speak to you. Listen!" + +"All right. Don't look this way, and sink your voice if either of these +dogs comes to leeward." + +"If you get away from this place, and _I_ don't--" + +"Now, none of that, lad," interrupted the old man, earnestly. "That's +the worst thing you can get into your head at Lingmoor, if you ever want +to leave it. Never _say_ die, nor even _think_ it. I am three times your +age, and yet I mean to get out again and enjoy myself. It is but fifteen +years now, without counting remission--though I've got into disgrace +with my cursed watch-dog, and sha'n't get much of that--and you must +keep a good heart." + +"I shall keep a firm one," answered Richard, "never fear. I wish to +guard against contingencies, that's all. If I die--" + +"Damned if you shall," said Balfour, sturdily, quite innocent of any +plagiarism from Uncle Toby. + +"Very good," continued Richard, coolly. "If you get out of this before +me, let us merely say, I have something to tell you which may be of +service to you. There's a man in Breakneckshire called Carew of +Crompton--" + +"I know him: the gentleman born as put on the gloves with Bendigo at +Birmingham?" + +"Very likely; at all events, every body knows him in the Midlands. He +will go to the dogs some day, and his estate will be sold. You have +saved money, you tell me; if the chance occurs, you can't invest it +better than in the lot called Wheal Danes, a mine in Cornwall." + +"I believe you every word," said Balfour; "but a mine would be rather +over my figure, wouldn't it? I have only got eight hundred pounds." + +"That would be plenty. It's a disused mine, and supposed to be worked +out. There's only one man in England that knows it is not so, except +myself. He will come or send to the auction, expecting to get it cheap; +but do you bid two hundred pounds beforehand, and get it by private +contract. Say you want the place--it's close to the sea--for building +purposes; they'll laugh at you, and jump at your offer. The fee-simple +is not supposed to be worth five shillings an acre. It will turn out a +gold mine to whoever gets it." + +"Wheal Danes," repeated Balfour, carefully. "I'll remember that; and +what is more, lad, I'll not forget the man as told me of it. It's not +the profit that I am speaking on: that will be yours, I hope, as it +should be in all reason, and not mine; but it's the confidence." The old +man's voice grew husky with emotion. "Damme, I liked _you_ from the +first, as was natural enough; but there was no reason why you should +take a fancy to an old thief like me more than any other among this +pretty lot here. The first as speaks of secrets is of course the one as +runs the risk, but I will do what I can to show myself honorable on my +side. You have trusted me, and I'll trust you." + +"Have you any plan to get away from this?" whispered Richard, eagerly. +"All that I have shall be yours: I swear it." + +"Nay, lad; your word's enough," returned the other, reproachfully. "And +I don't covet nothing of yours; indeed I don't." + +"I was a brute to talk so to you, Balfour," answered Richard, +penitently. "But you don't mow how I crave for freedom: it makes me mad +to think of it." + +"Ay, ay; I know," sighed the old fellow. "It used to be so with me once; +but now it only comes on me when my term is nearly up. One gets patient +as one gets old, you'll find. No; I've no plan just now; though, if I +ever have, I promise you you shall be the man to know it. It's another +matter altogether that I meant to tell you about. You've given me an +address to remember: let me give you another in exchange for it--No. 91 +Earl Street East, Spitalfields. That's where mother lives, if the poor +soul is alive to whom you wrote for me from Cross Key. She'll be dead, +however, long before you or I get out of this, that's certain, or I +should not be telling you what I do; for one's mother is the best friend +of all friends, and should come first and foremost. Well, the money will +do her no good; and if any thing happens to me, I have neither chick nor +child to inherit it. I am speaking of this eight hundred pound, lad. If +I get into the world, I shall want it for myself, for I doubt my limbs +will be too stiff for work by that time; but if not, then you shall have +it--every shilling. I am digging my own grave, as it might be, with this +spade, and making my will, do you see?" said the old fellow, smiling. + +"I thank you for your kind intentions," returned Richard, absently; +"it's very good of you, I'm sure." His hopes of some scheme of present +release had been excited by the old man's manner, and this faint and +far-off prospect of a legateeship seemed but of little worth. + +"I may not have another chance to tell you about it," resumed Balfour. +"It is five years now since you and I spoke together last, and it may be +another five years before such good luck happens again; so don't forget +91 Earl Street East. It's under the middle stone of the back kitchen, +all in golden quids. You needn't mind it being 'swag;' and as for those +whose own it is by rights, I could not tell you who the half of it +belonged to, if I would. It's the savings of an industrious life, lad," +added Mr. Balfour, pathetically; "and I should be sorry to think, if any +thing happened to me, that it should lie there useless, or be found +accidental like, and perhaps fall into the hands of the bluebottles. +Your memory's good, my lad, I dare say, and you won't forget the number +nor the street." + +"My memory is very good, friend," returned Richard, slowly; "and I have +only two or three things else to keep in it. And you, on your part, you +will not forget the mine?" + +"Nay, nay; I've got it safe: Wheal Danes, Wheal Danes." + +"Silence, down there!" roared the warder; and nothing but the squeak of +the barrow-wheel and the clean slice of the spade was heard in all that +throng of involuntary toilers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +BASIL. + + +It is nineteen years since Richard Yorke stood in the dock at Cross Key +and heard the words of doom. Almost a whole generation of his +fellow-creatures has passed away from the earth. Old men have died, +young men have become old, and babes have grown to be young men. There +are but some half dozen persons in the world who, if reminded of him by +some circumstance, can recollect him dimly. There are two who still keep +him in their thoughts continually, just as he was--like a picture which +bears no longer any resemblance to its original--and even these never +breathe his name. + +Here is a young fellow walking with his mother along Oxford Street who +is not unlike him, who might be himself but for those nineteen years; +and the girl that walks upon the other side of him might also be Harry +Trevethick. Youth and beauty are not dead because Richard Yorke is dead, +or as good as dead. The name of this girl is Agnes Aird, a painter's +daughter, who is also a teacher of his art. The lad is her father's +pupil, and has learned beneath his roof a lesson not included in the +artistic course; you may know that by the way in which his eyes devour +the girl, the intonation of his voice when he addresses her, the silent +pressure of the arm on which her fingers rest. Charles Coe is in love +with Agnes, and in all his studies of perspective beholds her, a radiant +figure beckoning him on to a happy future. His pencil strays from its +object to portray her features--to inscribe her name beside his own. Mr. +Coe, his father, exceedingly disapproves of this projected alliance, and +has forbidden the young people to associate. This ukase, however, can +scarcely be obeyed while the whole party are inmates of Mr. Aird's +residence, who "lets off" the upper part of his house as furnished +apartments, which the Coes have now inhabited as lodgers for some weeks. +Solomon (now a very well-to-do personage, and a great authority on +metalliferous soils) has come to town on business, and left to his wife +the choice of a residence; and she, to please her son, had chosen the +artist's dwelling, upon whose door-plate was inscribed the fact that he +was a professor of drawing. Solomon was not displeased that his son's +tastes lay in that direction; it might be useful to himself hereafter in +the matter of plans and sections; but he is violently opposed to this +ridiculous love affair, which is to be stamped out at once. To that end +he has instructed Mrs. Coe to look for lodgings in a distant quarter, +and it is on that errand that we now behold her. It is characteristic of +the Harry whom we once knew that she permits these young people to +accompany her--and one another--on the very quest that has their final +separation for its object. She can not resist making them happy while +she can; and she can refuse her Charley nothing. Moreover, Solomon is in +the City, looking after his mining interests, and need never know. + +In appearance, however, Harry Trevethick is greatly changed. She is but +seven-and-thirty, yet has already passed into the shade of middle life. +Her hair, though still in profusion, is tinged with gray; her features +are worn and sharp; her brow is wrinkled; and in her once trustful eyes +dwells a certain eager care, not mere distress or trouble, but an +anxiety which is almost Fear. + +The three are now in one of the streets which unite Cavendish Square +with Oxford Street, as a busy babbling rill connects the unruffled lake +with the roaring river. It is composed both of shops and private houses, +the latter of which in some cases deign, notwithstanding their genteel +appearance, to accommodate visitors by the week or month. + +"This is the sort of locality your father wished for, Charley," remarked +Mrs. Coe, looking about her; "it seems central, and yet tolerably quiet. +Let us try this house." + +The name of "Basil," without prefix, was engraved upon the door-plate; +and in a corner of the dining-room window lurked an enameled card with +"Apartments" on it. + +"There is no need to drag Agnes and you in," Mrs. Coe went on, as they +stood waiting for the bell to be answered. So Charles, well pleased, was +left outside with the young girl, while his mother "went over the +house." In a few minutes, however, she reappeared, and in a somewhat +hurried and excited tone observed, "I think this place will do, my +dears; but there is a good deal to talk about and settle, which will +take me some time. Therefore I think you had better go home together, +and leave me." Then, without waiting for a reply, she retired within and +closed the door. + +"How very curious!" exclaimed Agnes, wondering. + +"Oh, not at all," said the young man, cheerfully; "my mother likes to do +things for herself, and I dare say has not a very high opinion of our +judgment in domestic matters. You don't seem over-pleased, it seems to +me, Agnes, at the notion of a _tete-a-tete_ with your humble servant;" +and Mr. Charles pouted, half in fun and half with annoyance. + +"No, no; it is not that, Charles," answered the girl, hastily. "You know +I have no pleasure equal to that of being with you; but I don't like +your mother's looks; she had such a strange air, and spoke so +differently from her usual way. I really scarcely like to leave her." + +"My dear Agnes, you don't know my mother," returned Charles, laughing. +"One would sometimes think she had all the care of the world upon her +shoulders when every thing is going as smooth as oil. You don't +appreciate the grave responsibility of taking furnished lodgings for a +week certain. Come along, you little goose." And, drawing her still +hesitating arm within his own, he marched away with her. + +Yet Agnes had reason for what she said; and Charles, somewhat selfish as +he was, would have foregone his flirtation and remained by his mother's +side had he seen her the moment after the house door had shut her in. + +With a throbbing heart, and a face as white as the handkerchief she +passed over her damp brow, she leaned against the wall of the passage, +ere, with trembling steps, she approached the open parlor door. An aged +woman stood in the centre of the room, with hair as white as snow, but +with a figure straight as a poplar, and drawn up rigidly to its full +height. + +"Why do you come back again?" cried she, in accents soft as milk, yet +bitter as gall. "Why do you cross my threshold, you false witch, when +there is nothing more to blight and blast? Did you think I should not +know you, that you dared to come? I should know you among all the +fair-faced fiends in hell." + +"Mercy, mercy, Mrs. Yorke!" cried Harry, feebly; and she fell upon her +knees, and made as though she would have clasped the other's garments +with her stretched-out arms. + +"Don't touch me, lest I strike you," answered the old woman, fiercely, +"as, nineteen years ago, I would have struck you on your cruel lips, and +spoiled the beauty that was the ruin of my boy! May _you_ have sons to +perish through false wantons, and to pine in prison! May _you_ be +desolate, and without heart or hope, as I am! Go, devil, go, and rid me +of your hateful presence!" + +"Hear me, hear me, Mrs. Yorke!" pleaded the other, with clasped hands. +"Strike me, spit upon me, if you will, but only hear me! Abject as I +look, wretched as I feel--as I knew I must needs look and feel--I have +longed for this hour to come, as my boy longs for his bridal morning!" + +"May he wake the next to find his bride a corpse; or, better still, to +find her false, like you." + +"I am not false; I never was; Heaven knows it!" cried Harry, +passionately. "I do not blame you for your bitter words. I have earned +your curses, though I meant to earn your blessing." + +"My blessing!" Contempt and hatred struggled for the mastery in her +tone. "Richard, Richard! in your chains and toil, do you hear this? This +woman meant to earn my blessing!" + +"Upon my soul--whose salvation I would have imperiled to save him--I did +my best, although it seemed my worst," cried Harry. "That I was weak and +credulous and fearful is most true; but indeed, indeed, I was faithful +to your son. My father--he is dead, madam, and past your judgment" (for +the fury in the other's eyes had blazed up afresh at the mention of +him)--"deceived me with false hopes; for fear alone--though I was timid +too--would never have caused me to break the promise I had passed to +you. He said, if I disgraced myself and him by the perjury I +contemplated, that he would thrust me from his door forever; that in the +lips of all the world my name would become another word for shame and +infamy; that even the man I loved would loathe me when I had thus served +his turn. I answered him, 'No matter, so I save my Richard.' Then he +said, 'But you will not save him; you will ruin him, rather, by this +very evidence you purpose to give. We have proof enough of this Yorke's +guilt, no matter what you swear; and we have proof, besides, of his +having committed other offenses, if we choose to adduce it. All you will +effect is to make yourself shameful.' Then I hesitated, not knowing what +to think. 'The case is this,' argued my father: 'I have no grudge +against this young scoundrel, since the money has been all recovered, +and I don't want revenge--else, as I say, I can easily get it. But I'll +have him taught a lesson; he must be punished for the wrong he has done, +but not severely. Before the judge passes sentence, I, the prosecutor, +will beg him off: such an appeal is always listened to, you know, and I +will make it. But if you dare to speak for him, as I hear you mean to +do--if you, my daughter, call yourself thief and trollop to save his +skin, then shall he rot in jail! He shall, by Heaven! His fate hangs on +my lips, not yours,'" + +"Can this be true?" mused the old woman. + +"It _is_ true, so help me Heaven!" cried Harry. "I was a fool, a poor, +weak, shuddering fool, but not a traitress. If you were in court, and +saw me look at him--the smile I gave by which I meant to assure him all +was well, however ill it seemed--You _did_ see it; I see you did. You do +believe me. Oh, thank Heaven--thank Heaven!" + +She began to sob and cry, and caught hold of the old woman's hand and +kissed it, while the other stood silent, still in doubt. + +"Oh, madam, pity me. That you have suffered torments for long years is +plain to see, and yet you have not, though he was your son, been +tortured as I have. You could not have freed him by a word as I could; +and oh, I did not utter it! I seemed to be his judge, his jailer, the +cause of all his woes, to the man I loved--and loved beyond all others! +I hated my own father for his sake. I"--she shuddered--"I was married to +Richard's rival. You at least have been alone, not companioned night and +day by one who helped to doom him. Your case is hard and bitter--but +mine! not our own Richard, in his chains and toil, has suffered what _I_ +have suffered! Look at me, madam, and tell me if I speak truth or lie." + +"Yes, yes," mused Mrs. Yorke, in tender tones, and passing her fingers +over the other's silvering hair and haggard face; "I do--I must believe +it. I should not have known you to-day had you not called me by my name. +You must have mourned for him indeed. Is this the cheek he loved to +kiss? Is this the hair a lock of which I took to comfort him in prison? +Poor soul--poor soul!" + +"How is he, madam?" whispered Harry, hoarsely. "Is he well? Is he free?" + +"Not yet, Harry. In a year hence he will be. I had a letter only +yesterday. But you must never see him; and if you really love him--I +speak it for his sake, not theirs--you must never let him set eyes on +your husband or your boy." + +"I do not wish to see him; it would be too terrible to bear," groaned +Harry. + +"But he must not see _them_," insisted the other, gravely. "You must put +the sea between yourselves and him, or there will be murder done. His +wrath is terrible, and will be the destruction of both them and him. The +hope of vengeance is the food he lives upon, and without which he would +have perished years ago. Even if you persuaded him, as you have +convinced _me_, that you yourself are innocent of his ruin, that would +only make him firmer in his purpose against your husband. He will have +his life-blood, and then his own will pay for it. If I had not seen you, +I meant to see this man, and give him warning six months before Richard +left the prison." + +"Solomon would never heed it," exclaimed Harry, "nor even believe it if +I told him." + +"He will believe _me_," said the other, composedly. "You must bring him +here that I may tell him. Your Solomon must be a fool indeed not to +hearken when a mother warns him against her own son. Mind, I do not +blame my Richard, woman!" continued Mrs. Yorke, with sudden passion; "he +has had provocation enough; it is but right to kill such vermin, and I +could stand by and smile to see him do it. But they must be kept apart, +I say--this man and Richard--lest a worse thing befall him than has +happened already." + +"Never to see him more!" moaned Harry, covering her face with her hands; +"never to tell him I was not the wretch I seemed! only to fear him as an +enemy to me and mine--" + +"Ay, and to himself," interrupted the other, gravely. "If you would not +inflict far more on him than you have done already; if you would not--as +you will, if you neglect my warning--designedly bring him to a shameful +death, as you have involuntarily doomed him to a shameful life, keep +these two men apart. If you love this son of yours, remove him from the +reach of mine." + +"Great Heaven!" cried Harry, shuddering, "would he harm my boy--my +innocent boy?" + +"Ay, as he would set his heel upon his father--the viper and his brood. +It is no idle menace he has breathed so cautiously that the whisper +might well escape even another ear than mine, in every letter for these +many years. He thirsts for liberty, not for his own sake, but for the +slow-ripening vengeance it shall bear. He will have it, unless we save +him from himself by saving them from him, as sure as yonder inky cloud +will fall in storm. The thought of it was full grown in his mind when he +wrote from Cross Key: '_They are dead to me, those three, at present_,' +and forbade me ever to mention them by name; and since then he has +thought of nothing else. The day of retribution is about to dawn. I say +again, beware of him." + +"But he must be mad to cherish--" + +"Perhaps he is," interrupted the old woman, coldly; "he will not be less +dangerous on that account to those who made him mad." + +There was a long silence. Then Harry, in submissive tones, inquired what +Mrs. Yorke would have her do. + +"Bring your husband hither," returned she. "Take the rooms up stairs, +and leave the task of telling him his peril to me: the sooner it is done +the better. There is but a year at most--not much too long to sell his +goods, and get him away across the world, erasing every footstep behind +him. If he leave one--no matter how slight the clew--Richard will track +him like a blood-hound." + +"We will come here at once--to-morrow," cried Harry, eagerly. + +"Good. My name is Basil now, remember; not that it is likely," she +added, bitterly, "that you will call me Yorke from habit; it is not a +household word with you, I reckon." + +"It is never breathed," said Harry, simply; "but, oh, madam, I _think_ +of him, indeed I do! He was my first love, and my last; and though he +should kill me for the crime, of which I have shown myself guiltless, I +should pray God bless him with my latest breath. Yet he must curse _me_ +forever! He must never know but that I was the willing agent of his +ruin!" + +"'Tis true, I dare not mention your name, Harry," said Mrs. Yorke, +sadly; "and, if I told him, all the knowledge of the deception practiced +on you would only make him the more bitter against your husband--the man +who, by connivance in your father's cruel falsehood, obtained you for +his wife, while his rival pined in prison. I do not blame you for your +marriage--I know the force of stern necessity too well. But do not +imagine that Richard could forgive you: he never, never could." + +"I know it, I know it," sighed Harry, shuddering, "and yet he would pity +me if he did but know what my life has been--almost as much as I have +pitied _him_. But you, madam, _you_ at least have forgiven me; you +believe me; you will not refuse to bless me, as his mother, before I +go." + +"I believe you, and therefore I forgive you," answered Mrs. Yorke, with +tenderness; "and if I believed in blessings, and had the power of +bestowing them, you should have your wish. From henceforth we two are +friends--though I never thought to kiss your cheek again, Harry--and +must work together for the good of him we love in common. You will be +here to-morrow for certain, then?" + +"Without fail we shall." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +THE OMEN. + + +Mrs. Coe was as good as her word, and her husband and son were Mrs. +Basil's lodgers within four-and-twenty hours. Solomon Coe was not very +particular as to furnished apartments, and left such arrangements wholly +to his wife. On the other hand, he confided to her but little respecting +his affairs, nor was she, on her part, curious to inquire into them. Man +and wife had few things in common, and affection was not one of them. +Solomon had married Harry with the full consciousness that another was +preferred before him; the disclosures at the trial, and the subsequent +gossip of his neighbors, had placed that fact beyond a doubt. But he was +not to be balked of the bride that had been promised him so long; nor, +above all, should his rival enjoy even the barren victory of Harry's +remaining unwedded for his sake. There are marriages born of pique and +spite on man's part as well as woman's; and Solomon's was one of them, +although he reaped, of course, material advantages besides. Trevethick +had survived more than ten years, during which he had largely increased +his savings; and at his death all these had reverted to his daughter and +her husband. The wealth that had thus poured in upon Solomon through +Harry's means did not purchase for her any new regard; he had never +ill-treated her, in a material sense, but he had spoken ash-sticks, +though he had used none. On the slightest quarrel, that "jail-bird +friend of yours" had been thrown in her face, and the cowardly missile +was still cast at her upon occasion. The birth of their child had not +cemented their union. As he grew up his character showed itself as +foreign to that of his father as was his personal appearance. He was +slight in figure, delicate in appearance (though not in constitution), +and fastidious in taste. His choice of an artist's calling was not so +objectionable to Solomon as might be imagined; he had not sensitiveness +enough to abhor it from association, and, as has been said, he thought +it might be made to co-operate with his own commercial schemes. But the +artist nature was in antagonism to his own, and Charles and his father +were not on affectionate terms with one another. + +The wayward, handsome lad was, on the other hand, adored by his mother. +Her intelligence, not naturally acute, was quickened to see his faults, +not indeed as such, but as possible causes of misfortune to him. His too +lively impulses, his indecision, his love of pleasure, were all sources +of apprehension to her, though scarcely ever of rebuke. She saw in Agnes +Aird, his tutor's daughter--so simple, yet so sensible and sterling, so +faithful, pure, and true--the very girl to make her son a fitting wife; +an antidote for what was amiss in him; her honest heart a sheet-anchor +to hold him fast, not in the turbid ocean of excess, for her Charley was +too good to tempt it, but through that sparkling sea of gayety in which +he was too apt to plunge. She was beautiful enough even for him to mate +with; she was better born and better trained than he; for old Jacob Aird +was none of those irregular geniuses of the pencil, addicted to +gin-punch and Shelley, and selfish to the core, but a plain honest man, +who had brought up his daughter well--in tastes a lady, but housewifely +and wisely too. As for the inequality of wealth between them, her son +would have enough for both; and it was certain that Agnes did not love +him for his expectations, for they were unknown alike to her and him. +Harry had never led him to believe that he would be a rich man; her +love, as we have said, had made her wise in all that concerned Charley; +and as for his father, he was naturally reticent in such matters. He did +not spend one fifth part of his income. His habits were as inexpensive +as they had been in the old days at Gethin; and if the village folks had +ever hinted to the young fellow of his father's wealth, he had no +conception of its real extent. The idea itself, too, would have had no +great interest for him; he liked to have money for the pleasure of +spending it, but it was never the object of his thoughts; he was too +careless, too much the creature of the hour, to forecast his future. His +mother gave him all she could, but he was aware that it was obtained +with difficulty; the cost of his very education, which he had received +at a school near Turlock, had, he knew, been grudged; his father had +often grumbled that it was money thrown away, for, "Look at me," said +he; "I taught myself." There was always, in short, a tightness in the +Coe money market that augured any thing but pecuniary prosperity. + +The very fact of their having taken lodgings at Mr. Aird's house, +situated as it was in Soho, a respectable but far from fashionable +locality, argued but moderate means, and placed the artist out of all +suspicion of setting his pretty daughter as a matrimonial snare for +Charley. She was pretty enough and good enough, the old man justly +thought, for him or for his betters; and though he regarded the +good-will which the young people evidently entertained for one another +with favor, he saw in it neither condescension nor advantage. Solomon, +much engaged in business affairs away from home, and estimating, +besides, the power of love at a low rate, was not seriously alarmed at +the growing attachment between his son and Agnes, nor would have been +had it advanced much farther. He thought he had only to say "No," to put +a stop to it at any point. Still he had determined to place the boy out +of the reach of such temptation as a pretty girl living beneath the same +roof must always offer to susceptible youth; and hence it was that Mrs. +Coe had engaged new lodgings. But even now, so lightly did his father +think of the matter, that Charley was still to be permitted to visit at +Mr. Aird's daily, and take his drawing-lessons as heretofore. + +An excuse for the change of residence had been afforded in the fact that +Soho was too far from the parks, in which alone Mrs. Coe took pleasure +in walking. She was quite unaccustomed to town life, and the roar and +tumult of the streets annoyed and even alarmed her. In some respects, +indeed, she was even a more nervous, timid creature than she had been as +a girl; the warning just received from Mrs. Yorke had not fallen upon +her altogether unexpectedly, though she could not have been said to be +prepared for it. A vague apprehension of Richard's vengeance had haunted +her whole married life; she did not fear for her own safety; something +told her that his anger would scorn to harm herself; that it would pass +over her head like a flaming sword, and smite her husband and her boy; +and as face after face passed by her in the crowded street, she would +shrink and tremble, thinking that that of Richard Yorke would come one +day, and recognize her own, and track it home. Was he not fated to work +their common ruin? Did not the spectre ship cross Turlock Sands before +she met his face for the first time? Though so mature in years, Harry +was indeed as superstitious as ever. A curious instance of this occurred +on the day that the Coes moved into their new lodgings. The mother and +son had arrived first--Solomon being engaged in the City until +evening--and Charley had strolled into the ground-floor parlor, while +the landlady (whom he had not yet seen) was engaged with his mother up +stairs in the distribution of the luggage. Above the chimney-piece hung +that striking if not attractive portrait of Joanna Southcott and her +amanuensis, with which we are already acquainted; and it tickled the +young man's fancy amazingly. He concluded it was a family group--the +likeness, perhaps, of Mrs. Basil and her late husband engaged in making +out their weekly accounts. "I will beg Agnes not to be jealous of our +charming landlady," thought he, and took out his note-book with the +intention of transferring the likeness for that young lady's amusement. +While engaged in this occupation the door opened, and in stepped Mrs. +Basil and her new tenant. In his alarm and haste he stepped back +suddenly, and overthrew a little table, on which were some ornaments, he +knew not what, which rolled to his mother's feet. She uttered a cry of +horror; and the landlady herself stood still, regarding him with a face +of astonishment, and even terror. + +"Is that--your--son?" exclaimed she, clutching his mother by the arm. + +But Mrs. Coe did not seem to hear her. + +"Look, look!" cried she; "the skull, the skull! Oh, is it not a +frightful omen!" + +"I am really very sorry," said Charley, picking up the article in +question; "it was very stupid of me, Mrs. Basil." + +"Don't mention it, young Sir," said the landlady, who had apparently +recovered from her sudden tremor; "the skull is no worse for its roll, +you see; he was fortunately a hard-headed gentleman who originally owned +it." + +"Indeed," said Charley, taking it from her hand with some curiosity, +"it seems a curious ornament for a sitting-room. May I ask whom it +belonged to when it had flesh about it?" + +"It is the skull of Swedenborg," answered Mrs. Basil. "A near relative +of mine was a disciple of his, and left it to me as a most precious +relic." + +"But how the deuce did he get possession of it?" inquired the young man. + +"Well, not very fairly, as it seems to me," smiled the landlady. "While +your mother sits down and rests herself--for I am afraid you have +frightened her a bit--I'll tell you the story." + +"Yes, yes," said Mrs. Coe, faintly; "I shall be better presently; don't +mind me." + +"Well, the tale runs thus, Sir. Swedenborg was buried in the vault +beneath the Swedish embassador's chapel in Princes Square, Ratcliffe +Highway; and a certain theologian having once affirmed that all great +philosophers took their bodies with them into the world of spirits, and +that this gentleman had done the like, leave was obtained to settle this +point by actual examination. The body was found, and the theologian +confuted, but no trouble was taken to solder on again the lid of the +coffin. A thieving Swede, attending a funeral of one of his countrymen +in the same vault, remarked this circumstance, and stole the skull, with +the intention of selling it to some disciple of the great philosopher's; +and I am ashamed to say that he found a purchaser in my respected +relative: and that's how I became possessed of Swedenborg's skull." + +"Very curious, though rather larcenous," observed the young man, +laughing. "And this good lady over the mantel-piece, who is she?" + +"That's Joanna Southcott. But, my good young gentleman, I will answer +all your questions another time. Your mother and I will have enough to +do to arrange matters before your father comes home. You will excuse my +freedom, Sir." + +"Certainly," said Charley, rather amused than otherwise with the +landlady's bluntness. "I know I'm in the way just now; so I'll step out +for half an hour or so. I am sorry I frightened you, dear mother." + +He stooped and kissed her fondly; and then, with a smile and a nod at +Mrs. Basil, stepped into the little passage and out of doors, and, +whistling, passed the window down the street. + +"Your son has a light heart," said Mrs. Basil, looking at Harry very +earnestly. "How old is he?" + +"Eighteen--or a little less." + +"He looks his age _at least_," observed the other, emphatically. + +"Yes; dark people always do." + +"And your husband is dark, like him, I remember." + +"Yes; his complexion is swarthy, though he is not slim, like Charles." + +Mrs. Coe, still in the arm-chair into which she had first sunk, here +closed her eyes; either the faintness of which she had complained was +coming on again, or she did not wish to meet the other's searching gaze. + +There was a long pause, during which Mrs. Basil went to the cellaret, +and pouring out a glass of sherry, put it to her tenant's lips. + +"Do you feel better now?" said she, when Harry had drunk it. + +"Yes, yes; much better. But that skull--oh, horrible! it rolled from him +to me. What an omen on your very threshold! Heaven guard my Charles from +evil!" + +"This is weakness, Mrs. Coe. The skull is harmless; and it rolled +because your son upset it." + +"Yes, my son," gasped the other, trembling. "It is for him I fear. It +augurs death--death--death!" + +There was a ring at the front-door, decisive, sharp, and resonant. + +"Great Heaven!" cried Harry; "if it should be he himself! Hide me away; +put me out of sight." Her terror was piteous to behold: she shook in +every limb. + +"It is the post," said Mrs. Basil, contemptuously; and she was right. +The servant brought in a letter for her mistress. + +"I don't know the hand," mused she. "Black-bordered, and black-sealed +too." She opened it without excitement, and read it through: it was but +a few lines. + +"Your omen has proved true for once, Mrs. Coe," said she, in quiet +tones. "This speaks of death." + +"Whose death?" cried Harry. + +"My husband's, Richard's father. Carew of Crompton died last night." + +There was no sorrow in the aged woman's face: a gravity, unmixed with +tenderness, possessed it. Carew was naught to her, and had been naught +for twoscore years. But the tide of memory was at its flow within her +brain; and because the Past _is_ Past it touches us. This man had loved +her once, after his own scornful manner, when he was young, and before +power and selfishness had made him stone. He had been the father of her +only son, and now he was Dead. + +"I am so sorry," said Harry, not quite knowing what to say. + +"There is no need for sorrow," replied the other, quietly. "Let us go up +stairs and finish our work." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +WITCHERY. + + +Carew of Crompton was really dead, as men said, "at last," not that he +had been long dying, or was an old man, but that he had eventually +succumbed to one of those deadly risks to which he had so often +voluntarily exposed himself. On the occasion which had been fatal to him +he had started from home one frosty morning at the gallop, with a cigar +in his mouth, the reins on his horse's neck, and both his hands in his +pockets, and had been pitched off and broken his neck within half a mile +of his own door. His chaplain, who had dispatched the news to Mrs. +Basil, had been riding by his side at the very moment. "He was a good +friend to me," was the laconic remark that poor Parson Whymper had added +to the bare intelligence. + +To judge by the regretful excitement in the Midlands, Carew might have +been a good friend to every body. The news was at once telegraphed to +town, and appeared in the evening papers. The public interest in his mad +freaks had of late years grown somewhat faint--his extravagances were, +perforce, on a less splendid scale--but his death revived it. "So that +mad Carew has killed himself, after all," was the observation frequently +overheard that evening, as acquaintance met acquaintance on their +homeward way from business. "Well, he's had his whack of most things," +was the reply of the philosophers; "He has not left much to tempt his +heirs to be extravagant, I reckon," of the cynics; "He was a deuced good +fellow at bottom, I believe," remarked those who were secretly desirous +of earning the same eulogium for themselves; "He was altogether wrong at +top," answered the charitable. + +Solomon Coe came home to his new abode in such a state of elation that +it even made him communicative to his wife. Mrs. Basil happened to be +with her in the drawing-room, but he only acknowledged her presence by a +hasty nod. "Well, what d'ye think, Carew of Crompton, that was your +father's landlord and mine"--Solomon never said "ours" with reference to +property--"has broken his neck at last!" + +Of course the very name of Carew was a sore subject between man and +wife, on account of Richard Yorke's connection with him; but it suited +Solomon's purpose on this occasion to ignore that circumstance. It would +be necessary for some time to come to allude to the Crompton property +more or less, and it was just as well to begin at once; it was also less +embarrassing to do so in the presence of a third person. + +"Yes, Solomon, I knew Mr. Carew was dead," said Harry, gravely. The next +instant she turned scarlet with the consciousness of her thoughtless +indiscretion. + +"Oh," grunted her husband, annoyed at what he deemed her sulky manner, +when he himself was so graciously inclined to be conciliatory, and also +displeased to find his news anticipated, "you've been buying an evening +paper, have you? You must have more money than you know what to do with, +it seems to me." + +Harry was thankfully accepting this imputation in silence, when Mrs. +Basil's soft voice was heard. "No, Sir; it was I who told your good +lady. I had a letter from Crompton by the afternoon's post." + +"The devil you did!" cried Solomon, turning sharply upon her. "How came +that about?" + +"I was housekeeper at Crompton, Sir, in old Mrs. Carew's time, for some +years, and one of the servants wrote to let me know of the accident." + +"Housekeeper, were you?" said Solomon, with interest. "That must have +been a good place, with deuced good pickings, eh?" + +"Solomon, Solomon," remonstrated his wife, in a low voice, "Mrs. Basil +is quite a lady. Don't you see that you offend her?" + +It is more than probable that, under ordinary circumstances, Mr. Coe +would have resented this rebuke with choleric vehemence; but he had his +reasons for being good-humored in the present instance. "You must excuse +my country manners, Mrs. Basil," said he. "As my wife will tell you, I +must always have my joke; but I mean no offense. So you were housekeeper +at Crompton, were you? Well, now, that's curious, for Mrs. Coe's father +and I myself, as you heard me saying, have had a great deal to do with +Carew. You knew him well, of course?" + +"Yes, Sir; I did." + +"And the place too, of course. It was a very fine one, was it not? +Plenty of pictures, and looking-glasses, and things?" + +"It was very richly furnished." + +It was curious to mark the difference of manner between questioner and +respondent. Solomon, usually so reticent and reserved, was grown quite +voluble. Mrs. Basil, on the other hand, naturally so apt in speech, +seemed to reply with difficulty. She was weighing every word. + +"The estate, I suppose, was out of your beat; you did not have much to +do with that?" + +"I used to walk in the park, Sir, most days." + +"Ay; but the property generally? The friend who writes you to-day don't +say any thing about _that_, I suppose--whether any of it is to be sold +or not, for instance?" + +"The report--of course, being a servant, she can only speak from +report--is that Mr. Carew's affairs are in a sad state. Every thing, I +believe, is to be sold at once. The whole estate is said to be--I don't +know if I use the right term--mortgaged." + +"Just so," replied Solomon; "yes, yes. That is so, no doubt." There was +a slight pause; Mrs. Basil courtesied, and was about to leave the room. +"Stop a bit, ma'am," said Solomon. "My wife tells me that you are a lone +woman--a widow. Perhaps you'd like to take a bit of dinner with us +to-day?" + +Harry began to think her husband was intoxicated. He did get +occasionally so when any particularly good stroke of business was in +course of progress, and on such occasions his manner was unusually +affable; but she had never seen him half so gracious as at present. +Hospitality, though he did sometimes bring a mining agent or a broker +home to dinner, was by no means his strong point. Mrs. Basil looked +doubtfully at her dress, which, though homely, was perfectly well-made +and lady-like, and murmured something about its being almost the +dinner-hour, and there being "no time." + +"Oh, never mind your gown" (which, by-the-by, Solomon pronounced +"gownd"); "we're quite plain people ourselves, as my wife will tell you. +You shall take pot-luck with us. Where's Charley? That boy's always +late." + +But at that very moment the young gentleman in question entered the +room, at the same time as did the servant with the announcement that +dinner was on the table. + +The astonishment of the domestic at seeing her mistress taken down to +the dining-room by the new lodger was only exceeded by that of Charley, +as, with his mother on his arm, he followed the strangely assorted pair. +"I knew she was a witch," he murmured, "with her human skull and her +Joanna Southcott; but this beats old Margery's doings at Gethin." + +"Hush, hush!" whispered his mother, for Charley's high spirits and +audacity always terrified her when exhibited in his father's presence: +"they have found they have a common acquaintance, and so made friends." + +"Father didn't know Swedenborg, did he?" answered the young man, slyly. +"My belief is, he has fallen in love with her. I saw a black cat on the +stairs. She can make any body do it, as I was telling Aggey" (the young +rogue had been to Soho since the morning); "I shall be the next victim, +no doubt. It's no use saying to myself, 'Thou shalt not marry thy +grandmother.' Her charms are too powerful for the rubric. You'll see +she'll not say grace." + +Mr. Charles was right in that particular of his diagnosis of their new +guest. Mrs. Basil did treat that devotional formula, which Mrs. Coe +never omitted to pronounce, in spite of her husband's contemptuous +shrugs, with considerable indifference. She sat opposite to Charley, and +more than once, when he looked up suddenly, he caught her gaze fixed +earnestly upon him. Those wondrous eyes of hers yet shone forth bright +and clear; her cheeks were still smooth; and, though her brow had many a +wrinkle, they were the footprints of thought and care, rather than of +years. + +The conversation, as was natural where the company and the guest were +strangers to each other, turned upon the topics of the day, and the +objects in the room, some of which, as we know, were sufficiently +remarkable. At Charley's request Mrs. Basil once more narrated the story +of the skull; and then epitomized, with caustic tongue, the biography of +poor Joanna. Up stairs, she said, she had one of that lady's "seals"--a +passport to eternal bliss--which she would bestow as a present upon the +young gentleman opposite. Her cynical humor delighted Charley, and won +the approbation of his father--not the less so, perhaps, since he saw it +annoyed his wife. + +Poor Harry was a simple well-meaning woman in her way, and, had the +circumstances of her life been less exceptional, would have earned the +reputation of a good creature and steadfast chapel-goer. But our lives +do not always fall in the places most suitable to our dispositions; the +restive are often compelled to run in harness; and the quiet low-action +goers, who would welcome restraint, are left without guide, and with no +course marked out for them. Thus it was with Mrs. Coe. The situation in +which Fate had placed her it was altogether beyond her powers to fill. +She knew that Mrs. Basil was rapidly ingratiating herself with her +husband, and so far was furthering their common plan; but, +notwithstanding its supreme importance, she shrank from the means that +were bidding fair to accomplish her own end. She shuddered at her +husband's vulgar ejaculations of assent and approval; at her son's +thoughtless laughter; at this woman's sparkling and audacious talk, +which seemed so purposeless, and yet was so full of design and craft. +She had feared her and shrank from her at Gethin, and she feared her +now. And yet how necessary was her assistance! Of her own self she was +well aware that she could do nothing to avert that coming peril from her +husband and her son, the shadow of which had darkened all her married +life, and was now deepening into blackest doom. It was absolutely +necessary that Mrs. Basil should obtain the confidence of Solomon, and +perhaps of Charley also, and yet this unlooked-for and swift success of +hers was far from welcome to poor Harry. It really almost seemed that +there was truth in what her son had spoken in jest--that there was +witchcraft in it. + +Solomon was now talking earnestly to Mrs. Basil in low tones, while +Charley looked toward his mother with raised eyebrows, and a comic +expression, which seemed to say, "She's got him, you see; I did see a +black cat on the stairs." + +If she could have overheard her husband's talk, it would still have been +inexplicable to her. + +"Then you think this sale at Crompton will take place directly after the +funeral?" + +"I should certainly imagine so--yes." + +"There is something--you needn't tell my wife, because I wish it to be a +surprise for her--that I should like to buy at it; something I have long +had my eye on." + +"Some piece of furniture, I suppose. Well, you must be prepared to give +a good sum, I fear. From the curiosity of the thing--the reputation, I +mean, of poor Mr. Carew--it is likely things will fetch more than their +price." + +"Perhaps so. But I should like to know, as soon as possible, when the +sale comes off. From your connection with the place, you will be able to +get news of this before the general public--I mean the exact date." + +"No doubt. I will write to-morrow, and beg that the information may be +sent me." + +"I should feel much obliged if you would, Mrs. Basil." + +"I'll write this very night. You wish to know the day on which the sale +of the furniture may be fixed?" + +"Yes; and of all the other things: of the estates as well, for instance; +there may be some land that may prove a good investment. Don't make a +fuss about it, but say you have a friend who is interested. The +catalogue of effects, with the dates appointed for the sale of each, +will, of course, be settled down there. I want to have an early copy." + +"That is very simple," said Mrs. Basil, making a memorandum in her +pocket-book: "you shall be among the very first to get one, Mr. Coe--you +may rely on that." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +OVER THE ROOF. + + +Richard Yorke is still at Lingmoor; and though but a twelvemonth +intervenes between him and freedom--or perhaps partly because of +it--prison life is growing insupportable. It is the last year of "a long +term," as all "old hands" will tell you, which is the most trying. +Impatience becomes more incontrollable as the limit of suffering is +neared; and just as, after a tedious and dangerous illness, the +convalescent will rise too soon, and risk a relapse in his feverish +desire to be well, so a prisoner will often make some wild endeavors to +escape, when, if he did but wait a little--a span of time compared with +that in which he has lain captive--his jealous doors would open of +themselves to let him pass in safety. But there are other reasons which +are pressing Richard toward flight, and goading him (as he feels) to +madness if he remain quiescent. He has quarreled with all about him, and +has suffered for it; and he is now menaced with worse things. His +sullenness, his brooding ire, have long transformed his nature; +civility, and even obedience, have become impossible for him. He kicks, +as it were, against a chevaux-de-frise of steel. He has been starved on +bread and water, and grown thin and fierce. He has been put, and not for +nothing, into the dark cell for hours, to brood, as usual, and has come +forth a more reckless devil than he went in. + +His warder and he are open foes. That cross-grained official has taken a +strong antipathy to him, which is more than reciprocated; and every, +time he enters his cell sets foot, though unconscious of the fact, on +the very threshold of the grave. He is the keeper of one who is almost a +madman; but the latter is sane on one point yet--he knows to whom his +vengeance is mainly due; and while that knowledge lasts his lesser foe +is safe from him--safe, that is, at present; but a provocation may be +given which would compel this long-suffering victim--in years scarce a +middle-aged man, in appearance gray and withered as the oldest within +those prison walls--to give his passion way, and slay him. If something +should take place, which this warder himself has prophesied would +happen, it will be so; and all Richard's hoarded hate would then be +useless, since it would have no heir. There has been flogging in the +prison--an unusual punishment, and only inflicted for great offenses, or +for continued contumacy and bad conduct. A conspiracy was discovered, +and seven of the ringleaders received three dozen lashes each, in +presence of all the inmates of the jail. It was a punishment perhaps +deserved and necessary, but sickening enough to witness. Richard's +warder stood beside him, and while the cat was descending on one +wretch's naked back, observed in a grim whisper: "Do you take warning, +my man; for if you are reported again, the governor says you are to have +a dose of the same medicine." + +Whether the man spoke truth or not, Richard believed him. It was more +than probable that he _would_ be reported, and by the very voice that +uttered the menace. In a twelvemonth's time there were three hundred and +sixty-five opportunities, ten times told, of its being fulfilled. If +such a sentence was ever passed upon him, as it was almost sure to be, +Richard was well resolved that it should not be carried out; rather +should this man die, and he himself, his slayer, be hung for it. His +desire for vengeance upon those who had blasted his young life so +cruelly was as strong as ever--nay, stronger, fiftyfold; but he knew +that he could never bear the lash. Somehow or other, therefore, at all +risks, he must escape from Lingmoor. + +Robert Balfour was to be set free in a few days, his conduct, though not +good, having earned that much of remission. Richard was not envious of +him, yet the contrast of their two positions made him perhaps more +desperate and reckless. Of late months the old man had been admitted to +certain privileges accorded to such as have almost worked out their +time, or who are otherwise recommended for them. He had been employed as +"a cleaner," then as "a special"--in which position he was permitted to +work out of doors without an attendant warder, and even (in his +particular case, for he was growing very old and feeble) to have leave +of absence for an hour or two. On some occasions it was his duty to +bring round the prisoners' meals; and then he saw Richard, and could +even exchange a word or two with him alone. This happened upon the +afternoon of the day when the public flogging had taken place. + +"Balfour," said Richard, earnestly, "will you do me a favor?" + +"Yes, lad, any thing," replied the old man, softly. The word "lad" +seemed so inapplicable to that gray-headed, care-lined face, which he +had known so young and comely, that the misuse of it touched the +speaker. "You know I will." + +"Even though you should run a risk," said Richard, "within a day or two +of your freedom?" + +"Ay; for your sake, I would do that and more." + +"God bless you, if there be a God!" answered those haggard lips. "Ask +leave to go to the village to-morrow, and get me a file." + +"Hush!--the warder." + +The conversation thus interrupted was resumed next day. + +"Here is the file," said Balfour; "hide it in your mattress. But, lad, +you will be mad to use it. I pray you be patient. It is only a +twelvemonth now." + +Richard shook his head, with a ghastly smile. "I must try," said he. + +"Nay, nay; you will be retaken and flogged, lad; think of that." + +"I shall never be retaken, Balfour, at least alive." + +It was easy enough to read in Richard's face the corroboration of his +words. + +"Have you any plan?" asked the old man, disconsolately. + +"I have. From my window here I see an open shed, with a coil of rope in +it. I shall file my bars, and get that rope to-night; climb back again +here, and over the roof. I have calculated the distance from outside. I +feel sure I can reach the parapet with my finger-tips as I stand upon +the window-ledge, then let myself down into the exercising-yard upon the +west side." + +"The walls about that yard are sixty feet high, lad." + +"There is a spout in the north corner which will help me up; and if I +reach the top without a broken neck, I make fast my rope, and slide on +to the moor. From thence, no matter how dark it is--and it will be +pitch-dark, I reckon--I can make Bergen Wood. No power on earth shall +stop me. If you told the warder yonder of my plan this moment, I should +still escape--in another and more certain fashion." To look at him and +read the resolute despair in his white face was to have no doubt of +that. + +"What must be must be," sighed the old man. "But for _my_ sake, lad--for +mine, who love you as a father loves his own son--be patient till +to-morrow. This is my last day at Lingmoor. To-morrow I shall be free. +I'll come at night to the wall of the west yard, and throw a rope over +the north corner, close by the spout you mention. It shall be made fast +on my side, and if you do but lay hold of it, the rest is easy. Your +scheme, as it now stands, is hopeless. No squirrel could climb that +spout, far less a man reduced as you are;" and he glanced significantly +at Richard's shrunken limbs. + +"You are the best of friends, Balfour--indeed, the only man that ever +_was_ my friend." He stopped, as if overcome by an emotion that was so +strange to him. "At midnight, then, to-morrow, I shall begin my work; +and in an hour from that time, if all goes well, I shall be at the spot +appointed. If I fail, you will remember Wheal Danes?" + +"Yes, yes; but you will not fail. Keep a good heart," whispered the old +man, as he hurried away at an approaching footstep. + +But, in reality, Balfour had no hope. His experience of such attempts, +and his knowledge of the difficulties to be surmounted in the present +instance, forbade any expectation of Richard's success, even in the +matter of getting outside the prison walls; and, supposing that was +done, and the wood reached, what was to be looked for further but slow +starvation or death from the sharp-tipped arrows of the wintry wind? +Still, Balfour's help was promised, and would be given; the old +cracksman had many faults and vices, but he was not one to desert a +friend at a pinch, and Richard Yorke was really dear to him. + +As for Richard, notwithstanding the seasonableness of the other's offer, +and although he was himself almost convinced that without such aid he +could never effect his object, no sooner was he left alone than he +regretted that he had passed his word to put off the attempt another +day. Suppose he should transgress some prison regulation between this +and then, or be reported by his hostile attendant without having +committed a transgression! There were thirty-six hours of such perilous +delay before him, and his impatience was already at fever-heat. By +standing on his metal wash-stand, and peering through his bars, he could +see that the coil of rope still lay in its accustomed place that +afternoon, but would it remain there till to-morrow night? The very act +of thus climbing to his window, which he could not resist, was a serious +offense; and if by any chance he should be found in possession of the +file--then all was over. He was fully determined only to part with it +with life itself. For once, the picture of Trevethick and his son-in-law +(for he had heard before he left Cross Key of Harry's marriage with his +rival), unsuspecting, complacent, and exposed to the full force of his +revenge, failed to occupy his gloating thoughts; they were fixed as ever +there, but on the means and not upon the end--his whole being was +engrossed in the coming enterprise. He feared the warder should read +that forbidden word "Escape" in his eager eyes, or on his restless lips. +A change of cell or a sudden examination of his bed-furniture--no +uncommon occurrence--would prove his ruin. He took the file out of his +mattress, and placed it in his breast: let that man beware who found it +there! + +At last the long night, which should have found him free, passed by, and +the next weary day. The appointed time had come. + +It was past midnight, and not a sound was heard in the vast prison; +there was no moon, but a few stars shone on him as he worked at the iron +bars; the noise of his file was muffled--he had rubbed it well with +soap--but every now and then he paused and listened. He half fancied he +could hear the distant tramp of the patrols, who, musket in hand, +watched the walls of Lingmoor from the roofs of its four stone towers; +but it was only fancy, and, at all events, no one else but they was +stirring. Years ago he had gauged those bars, and calculated that not +less than three must be sawn through to give his body room to pass; but +that was when he was young and plump and vigorous. He was vigorous +now--the fever within him seemed to give him the strength of ten--but he +was an old man to look at, and the flesh had left his bones. So much the +better; there were only two bars to file instead of three. Finding the +space sufficient, he twisted his blanket into a rope, fastened it to the +broken bars, and so, by its aid, slipped noiselessly into the yard. + +That portion of the prison was low, and consisted but of two stories; +another cell window was immediately beneath his own, but, as he knew, it +was not used for prisoners. Still, he trembled as he slipped past it. +Suppose a hand had been pushed through to clasp his limbs, or a voice +had given the alarm, and warned the watchful guards! But his feet +touched ground in safety. His eyes, accustomed for long years to cleave +the darkness, guided him straight to the shed and to the coil of rope. +He seized it as the shipwrecked mariner clutches that which is thrown +him from the shore to drag him through the roaring breakers, and then, +winding it about his waist, he retraced his steps. To return to his cell +window was comparatively easy; but to stand upon its narrow ledge, and, +clutching the parapet with his fingers, to draw himself up thereby, was +a task that few, without the hope of liberty to spur them, could have +accomplished. Three times he failed; without something more of purchase +for his hold, he felt the thing was beyond his powers. The question was, +how broad was the stone coping? If, by a sudden spring, he could catch +the other side of it, he might succeed; but if he missed, his hands +would slide from the smooth surface, his feet could not regain their +stand-point, and he would fall backward twenty feet or so upon the stone +courtyard. + +There was nothing for it but to run the risk. He gathered his strength +together, shut his eyes, and made a vigorous spring: one hand caught a +firm gripe, and, after a sharp struggle, the other gained it; then he +drew himself slowly up, and lay down in the gutter of the roof to gather +breath and look about him. The prison was built like the four spokes of +a wheel; and, indeed, with the high wall circling round it, did closely +resemble that image. Nearly the whole of the building could have been +seen, had it been light enough, from his present position; but, as it +was, only the west wing was dimly visible, with its guardian tower +standing blackly up against its dark back-ground of wintry night sky. He +could not make out the sentry on its top; but now and then, when his +circuit brought him nearest to his hiding-place, he could hear his +measured footfall. + +Like a creeping thing, for he scarce used hand or foot at all, Richard +slowly crawled and slid along the sloping roof, then swiftly over the +vertex, while the patrol was at the most distant portion of his round, +and then once more, motionless and almost breathless, he lay down behind +the western parapet. The exercising-yard, into which it was his object +to drop, was just below him; but it was necessary to find some object to +which to fasten his rope; and here he perceived how futile would have +been his plan of escape without assistance from without; for here, +having slid down it, he must needs leave his rope tied to a neighboring +chimney. There was not length enough to cut off, and be of any service +afterward for the descent of the external wall, nigh sixty feet in +height. If Balfour failed him, it was now, indeed, clear to him that his +whole design must fail. Yonder towering wall, higher even than his own +present elevated position, could never be scaled by foot and hand, with +only the help of a spout--nay, he doubted whether, even if he found the +promised rope in position, he could even make use of that; for, though +agile, he had none of the sailor's cunning. + +He made fast the coil which he had with him, however, and watching his +opportunity, slid off the parapet into space. Such a feat seems easy +enough to read of; but to slide without noise down a loose and swinging +rope for so great a distance is no slight task to one unused to such +gymnastics; and, besides, he had to check himself at intervals (which +took the skin off from his hands, although at the time he did not feel +it), lest he should suddenly reach the ground with a dull thud. He +accomplished this in safety, and once more paused, his back pushed hard +to the prison wall, while the warder passed, whose form he could now +even make out, it was so immediately above him; then he crossed the yard +with a swift but anxious step to its north corner, and peered about in +the gloom for the promised rope; the spout was there, smooth and +ineffectual enough as a means of exit, but no rope. + +His heart died within him, and his hands trembled with anxiety and +trepidation as they felt in vain for it along the smooth and lofty wall. +Richard's brain began to reel. He leaned his trembling brow against the +cold iron of the spout, and endeavored to think the matter out. He was +sure of Balfour; he felt certain that nothing but sudden and dangerous +illness would have prevented him from keeping his word. But perhaps he +had not been able to obtain a rope; such things were watchfully looked +after in the neighborhood of Lingmoor Prison, and might even not be +procurable. Yet had such been the case, Balfour would not have +volunteered that form of assistance. He was of opinion that the rope was +there, then, and if so, it must have been thrown over by means of a +stone, or weight of some kind. In that case, if the stone had rolled +after reaching the ground, the rope might not be hanging like a +plumb-line from the wall, but at an angle from it, and at some distance. +He began to move, then, in a parallel line from the wall, still feeling +right and left; and on the third trial he caught in his stretched-out +hand a string--a string-line such as a boy uses for his kite; and for an +instant, the sense of the inefficacy of such means to effect his purpose +froze him with despair. But presently pulling on the string, he found it +gather in his hand, and pulling softly on, more string, and then an end +of thin but wire-strong rope, and then more rope. What was best of all +was, that this rope was knotted at intervals of every foot, so as to +afford a strong, firm hold. + +After many yards of this had been hauled in he found resistance; the end +of it was evidently fast on the other side. Richard passed the rope +round the bottom of the iron spout, and beneath an iron clasp, that +prevented its slipping upward, and then made it taut. It was a perilous +bridge even then, and supposing the watcher with his musket had not +been, as he was, within easy gunshot of him; but it led from prison +walls to liberty, and Richard did not hesitate for a moment to commit +himself to it. Hand over hand, foot after foot, he dragged himself with +infinite effort slowly upward; but it was not now in his power to watch +the patrol, and secure the most favorable moment for crossing the wall +top, as he had done in the case of the roof. As ill luck would have it, +just as the sentry came to the northward portion of his beat, Richard's +form was vaguely visible against the sky, upon the very summit of the +wall. The next instant he had crossed it, and at the hoarse cry, "Who's +there?" had glided rapidly down upon the other side. The sentry's gun +was at his shoulder, and its sharp report rang through the silent night +just as the convict reached the ground. The starlight was just +sufficient, as the warder subsequently swore (and truly), to see the man +was hit; he staggered and fell, but crawled away directly, and was lost +in the surrounding gloom. + +At the same moment all the prison seemed to wake to light and life, and +the alarm-bell clashed out its hoarse notes of warning on the wintry +air. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +NEWS FROM LINGMOOR. + + +Mrs. Basil kept her word with her lodger, and (thanks to the chaplain) +gave into his hand a catalogue of the great Crompton sale some hours at +least before the details of it were made public; on the receipt of which +Solomon at once left town. His absence was felt to be a relief by all +parties. The work of ingratiating herself with his hard, coarse nature, +independently of the personal loathing with which Mrs. Basil regarded +him, on Richard's account, was very hard, and rest was grateful to her. +Mrs. Coe was always more at ease when business took her husband from his +home. Charley hailed his departure, since he could now enjoy the society +of his Agnes without stint. + +He was, as usual, at Soho one morning, when Harry, sitting alone in the +drawing-room, engaged in needle-work, was alarmed by a shrill shriek, +followed by a heavy fall on the floor beneath, in Mrs. Basil's parlor. +She had heard the front-door closed but a minute before, and the thought +that was never wholly absent from her mind now flashed upon it with +terrible distinctness--the Avenger had come at last! Her next hurried +reflection was one of thankfulness that neither Charley nor Solomon was +at home. Then, pale and trembling, she stole out on the landing of the +stairs, and listened intently. Not a sound was to be heard save the +throbs of her own fluttering breast. The cook and the waiting-maid, who +alone composed the domestic staff, had apparently not heard the noise; +for the former was singing loudly in the kitchen, as was her wont when +she had been "put out," as happened some half dozen times per diem. It +was frightful to think that in yonder parlor her once-loved Richard +might even then be closeted with his mother, deaf to her appeals for +mercy, resolute for revenge, and only demanding where his enemies might +be found: it was better to face him than to picture him thus. That his +sudden appearance had terrified Mrs. Basil into a fit she had little +doubt from that shriek and fall; and, indeed, all was now so still +within there that she might be dead. The fear for her offspring, +however, made Harry almost bold. Indeed, as has been said, she did not +entertain any apprehension of personal violence at Richard's hands; and, +perhaps, in spite of Mrs. Basil's assurance to the contrary, she had +some hope of moving him from his set purpose by her prayers and tears. +Step by step, and clinging to the hand-rail for support, for her limbs +scarcely obeyed her will, she descended the stairs, stood a moment in +the passage, listening like a frightened hare, and then opened the +parlor door. There was no one within it: yes, upon the hearth-rug lay +the motionless form of Mrs. Basil; she was lying on her face; and, +rushing forward, Harry knelt down beside her, and strove to lift her in +her arms. Some instinct seemed to forbid her to call for assistance. + +"What is it? what is it?" gasped the old woman, looking vacantly up in +the other's face. + +"You have been unwell, dear madam. I am afraid you have had a fainting +fit; but, thank Heaven, you are better now." + +Harry was truly grateful; first, that her original suspicion had proved +to be unfounded; secondly, that Mrs. Basil was alive. She had contrived +to place her in a sitting posture, with her back against the heavy +arm-chair; and now she brought a carafe of water from the side-board, +and sprinkled her face and hands. + +"Let me call Mary, and we will get you up to your own room as soon as +you feel equal to the effort." + +Mrs. Basil's eyes had closed again. Her face was white and stiff as that +of a corpse; but she shook her head with vehemence. "The door--lock the +door!" she murmured. + +Not without some hesitation, for she began to fear that her companion +was wandering in her mind, Harry obeyed her. "Get me into my chair. Oh, +why did I ever wake to weary life again!" + +"What has troubled you? Can any new misfortune have happened to us?" +inquired Harry, woefully. + +"To _you_--no," answered the old woman, with sudden fierceness; "to +me--yes. Do you see that letter?" She pointed to one lying beneath the +table. "Twenty years ago that would have been my death-warrant; but now +I am so used to suffer that, like the man who lived on poisons, nothing +kills. Read it--read it." + +The letter was an official one; the envelope immense, with "On her +Majesty's Service" stamped upon it, and out of all proportion to the +scanty contents, which ran as follows: + + "LINGMOOR PRISON, _December 22._ + + "MADAM,--I am instructed by the Governor of this Jail to acquaint + you with the sad news that your son, Richard Yorke, is no more. + Four weeks ago he escaped from prison by night, and took refuge in + an adjoining wood. His body was discovered only four days ago, and + an inquest held upon it, when a verdict was returned in accordance + with the facts. I am, Madam, yours obediently, + + "THOMAS SPARKES (_for the Governor_). + + "I am instructed to inclose a locket with miniature, which was + found upon your son on his arrival here. The rest of his property + will be forwarded by rail." + +This locket contained the little picture of Harry painted by Richard +himself, and which, though he had contrived to secrete while at Cross +Key, had been taken from him at Lingmoor. + +Harry's breast was agitated by conflicting emotions. To know that her +boy was safe--that there could be no murder done--gave her a sense of +intense relief, which could scarcely be called selfish. But that +reflection was but transient, and a passionate burst of sorrow succeeded +it. The only man she had ever loved--around whom, centred her most +precious memories--had died, then, thus miserably, after miserable years +of bondage endured on her account. She saw him with her mind's eye once +more as when he had clasped her in his arms for the first time upon the +ruined tower--as when he had rained his kisses on her lips beside the +Wishing Well--in his youth and beauty and passion. Her nineteen years of +loveless wedlock were swept away, and left her as she saw herself in the +little portrait he himself had painted, and which was now his legacy. +His menaces and vows of vengeance against her and hers were all +forgotten; her woman's heart was loyal to him whom she had owned its +lord, and once more did him fealty. + +"Oh, Richard, Richard, my dear love," cried she; "God knows I would have +died to save you!" + +"Come here, Harry--come here," whispered Mrs. Basil, "and let me kiss +you. I would that I could weep like you; but the fountain of my tears +has long been dry. I thought you would have been glad to feel that you +and yours were safe--that retribution was averted from the man, your +husband; but I now see I did you wrong. Your heart is touched--you +remember him as he was before the taint of crime was on him." + +"It never was!" cried Harry, passionately. "He never meant to wrong my +father of a shilling." + +"Well said, dear Harry; well said. He was himself a wronged--a murdered +man. Imprisoned for nineteen years, and then to perish thus! And yet men +talk of Heaven's justice! My boy! my boy!" + +The two women were silent for a while--the one gazing with dry eyes but +tender yearning face upon the other, as she rocked herself to and fro, +and shook with stifled sobs. + +"Dear Harry, you must not desert me now," pleaded the former, pitifully; +"I am very old, and this has broken me. He was my all--my only one on +earth--and he is dead. I shall not trouble you long. We two, child, were +the only ones that loved him, and we love him still. Let me cling to +you, Harry, since it is but for a little while; and let us talk of him +together, when we are alone, and think of what he was. So bright, so +gay, so--Oh, my boy! my boy!" + +The tears rushed to the mother's eyes at last. Hard Fate was softened +for a while toward it's life-long victim; and side by side sat the two +bereaved women, each striving to comfort the other, after woman's +fashion, by painting in its brightest colors that dead Past which both +deplored. Begotten of their common sorrow, Love sprang up between them, +and on one side confidence; and into Mrs. Basil's hungry ears Harry, for +the first time, poured the story of her courtship. Richard's death had +cemented between them the bond which it would seem to have destroyed. +The fatal letter lay open on Harry's lap, but the envelope had fallen on +the floor. Stooping to pick it up, she found something still within +it--some folded slips from a local newspaper, with an account of the +inquest, the details of which the governor's clerk had, perhaps +humanely, preferred to communicate in that form, to be read or not as +the mother's feelings might dictate to her. The two women read it +together, not aloud, for neither had the voice for that. With most of +the evidence there recounted we are already familiar. It was proved that +No. 421 had long been in a desponding, brooding state; but, as only a +year intervened between the expiration of his term of punishment, his +attempt to escape was almost unaccountable, and certainly unparalleled. +No punishment was impending over him. The opinion of the authorities was +expressed that the convict's reason was unhinged. The method of +obtaining his freedom showed indeed considerable cunning, but also an +audacity that was scarcely consistent with sanity. The height of the +prisoner was known, and his proportionate reach of arm; and it seemed +incredible how he could have succeeded in reaching the parapet above his +cell window; in that attempt he must have risked certain death. His +descent from the roof was explained by the presence of the rope. The +immediate means by which he surmounted the external wall were, of +course, evident enough, since the rope was there also; but the question +was, how did it come there? The prisoner must have been assisted by some +one outside the wall. The warder who fired the shot which subsequently +proved fatal had seen but one man; but the night was dark, and the whole +affair had passed very rapidly. Indeed, the convict had only fully shown +himself when at the top of the wall, and the musket had been fired +almost at a venture. On the alarm being given, pursuit was at once +attempted; but, under cover of the night, the fugitive had gained Bergen +Wood. The next morning his footsteps were traced so far, and it was +proved that he was unaccompanied. A cordon was placed round the wood, +and the place itself thoroughly searched for many days. It was deemed +certain, from the report of the scouts who were made use of on such +occasions, that the convict had not left that covert to seek shelter in +any hamlet in the neighborhood; the quest was therefore still continued. +Not, however, until three weeks afterward was No. 421 discovered. It was +supposed that the unhappy fugitive had died of his wounds upon the very +night of his escape, for the body was so decomposed that it could never +have been identified but for its convict clothes; the nights had been +wet and tempestuous, and it lay in an unsheltered part of the wood, a +mere sodden heap of what had been once humanity. The bullet that had +been the cause of death was, however, detected in the remains. + +What an end to the high-spirited, handsome lad that had been the pride +of his mother, the joy of his betrothed! What wonder that they sat over +the bald record of it with bowed-down faces, and filled up the gaps with +only too easily imagined horrors! Each kept hold of the other's hand, as +though in sign of the dread bond between them, and sat close to one +another in silence. Presently Harry started up, at the sound of a +latch-key in the house door. + +"That is Solomon," cried she. + +"Impossible," said Mrs. Basil. "He told me himself that he should stop +for the last day's sale, and to-day is but the fifth." + +"Hush! it is." + +Yes, it was certainly Solomon's voice in the passage; and apparently, by +the answering tone, he had a male companion with him. + +Harry seized the letter, with its inclosures, and thrust them into her +bosom, which, full of grief for his victim, seemed to spurn her +husband's approach. Then she heard him calling her impatiently, as was +his wont, from the foot of the stairs. + +"Harry, come down; I have brought a gentleman home with me. Let's have +something to eat at once, will you?" + +"Answer him--answer him!" gasped Harry. She could not speak; her tongue +seemed paralyzed. + +Mrs. Basil rose at once, walked with steady step to the door, and opened +it. "Your wife is here, Mr. Coe. I am glad you are come home, for she is +far from well, and I was getting quite nervous about her." + +"She _must_ be ill," grumbled Solomon, "not to be able to say 'Here,' +when I am breaking a blood-vessel with holloing to her in the attics. +Come in here, Sir." This to his companion--a man considerably his +senior, thin and spare, who stood peering curiously at the landlady. "I +am sorry to see you unwell, wife. I have brought a friend to stay with +us for a day or two. Mr. Robert Balfour--Mrs. Coe." + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +A PROJECTED PARTNERSHIP. + + +Though by no means in either the mental or physical condition in which a +lady should be who is called upon to play the part of hostess, Harry was +not displeased that Solomon had not returned alone. The presence of this +stranger, whom she greeted mechanically, and almost without a glance at +his features, was welcome to her, because it was likely to distract from +herself her husband's regards. What she would like to have done would +have been to shut herself up alone in her chamber, to weep and pray. As +it was, she had to be cheerful, to affect an interest in her husband's +late expedition, and pleasure at his unexpected return. Mrs. Basil was +here invaluable; you would never have imagined that it was the same +woman--so stricken and full of anguish but a few minutes before, and now +so self-possessed and cheerful. But she had been used to playing parts +throughout her life, and acting was easy to her. She dreaded silence, +lest with it should come observation and remark upon the agitation and +distress only too visible in Harry's countenance; and yet it was +difficult, even for her, to keep up the ball of small-talk, for Solomon +was always slow and scant of speech, and the new-comer rarely opened his +mouth, and then only to utter a monosyllable. His manner, too, was +embarrassing; he turned his white and stony face from one woman to the +other, like an automaton, but with a weird and searching gaze. + +They had never so much as heard his name before, for Richard had been +cautious never to mention Balfour in his letters, since they were, of +course, perused by the authorities, and friendships were not encouraged +at Lingmoor; but, on the other hand, it was evident that these ladies +had an interest for the visitor. Presently, while they were yet all +below stairs, arrived Charles and Agnes, which effected, indeed, +diversion enough, but also a great disturbance and alteration for the +worse in Mr. Coe's temper. No sooner, as it seemed to him, had his back +been turned, then, than the intimacy between this girl and his son, +which he had strictly forbidden, had been recommenced, and with the +connivance and encouragement of his wife too, or else how should the lad +dare thus to bring her home? For the first time Solomon was openly rude +to Agnes; and the latter, being a girl of spirit, resented it by quietly +rising to depart. Charley, rash and impetuous, rose to accompany her. +Solomon stormed displeasure; and it seemed that the presence of the +visitor would have been wholly inadequate to prevent a family scene, +when Agnes herself interposed with dignity. "No, Charles; I would rather +go alone. If your father objects to my presence here, it shall not be +intruded; and if he considers your company a condescension, I can not +accept it upon such terms." + +Charles would have taken her arm, in defiance of all consequences, and +led her off under Solomon's nose; but this opposition on her part +offended him. He was almost as angry with her for thwarting him as he +was with his father. It was a triangular duel, the combatants in which +were narrowly watched by the disregarded stranger. When Agnes got her +way and departed, "That's a girl of character," observed he, with a +cynical smile. + +"She is a girl without a penny," answered Solomon, gloomily, with a +scowl at his son, "upon whom this young fool wishes to throw himself +away." + +"What! so early?" observed Mr. Balfour, good-humoredly addressing +Charles. "When I was your age, I thought of enjoying life, and not of +marriage. I don't wonder, however, that any girl should strive to +enslave so handsome a young fellow as your son, Sir. It is quite +natural, and there is no need to blame her, and far less _him_." + +Ashamed, perhaps, of having exhibited such violence of temper before his +guest, Solomon was very willing to be mollified, and grimly smiled +approval of these sentiments; Charles, too, though fully resolved to set +himself right with Agnes on the morrow, was not displeased with the +visitor's remark; but the two women justly resented it as an impertinent +freedom. If Charles's thoughts had not been so preoccupied with his own +wrongs--the deprivation of his Agnes's society, which he had promised +himself for the rest of the day, and the snub which he conceived she had +administered to him--he would have noticed too, for he was by no means +wanting in observation, that the new-comer's manner to his hostess and +Mrs. Basil was not what it should have been. It was not absolutely rude, +but it was studiously careless of their presence. He no longer stared at +them as at first, but, on the contrary, seemed to ignore the fact of +their existence--never addressed them; and if either spoke to him, +replied as briefly as possible, and then turned at once to Solomon or +his son. Mrs. Basil concluded that he was a vulgar fellow, who, having +penetration enough to discover that the males had the upper hand in the +establishment, did not give himself the trouble to conciliate the less +important members of it; but Harry, always timid and suspicious, was +alarmed at him; his air had, in her eyes, something hostile in it as +well as contemptuous. She could not understand, and therefore +mistrusted, the influence he had evidently obtained over her husband, +and which already had superseded that of Mrs. Basil. + +That Solomon should no longer take pains to make himself agreeable to +the latter, now that he had obtained from her his object, was, to any +one who knew his character, explicable enough; but why should this +stranger have taken her place as his counselor and friend? The idea of +some personal advantage was, of course, at the bottom of it; but it was +clear, not only to sage Mrs. Basil, but even to Harry--since even a +moderately skillful looker-on sees more of the game than the best +player--that in any contest of wits Solomon would have small chance with +his new friend. The opinion of Mrs. Basil was, that some new +speculation, in some manner connected with the Crompton sale, had been +entered into by the two men, and that Mr. Balfour would in the end +secure the oyster, while Mr. Coe was left with the shell. But Harry had +darker forebodings still; she was instinctively confident that there was +enmity at work in the new-comer, as well as the readiness common to all +speculators to overreach a friend. There was a look in his pallid face, +when it glanced, as he thought unheeded, on either Charles or Solomon, +which, to her mind, boded ill. If it did so, it was certainly +unsuspected by those on whom it fell. Mr. Coe had apparently never found +a companion so agreeable to him; and, curiously enough, this idea seemed +to be shared by Charles. According to his own account, Mr. Balfour had +been abroad in Western America for many years, and had there retrieved a +fortune which, originally inherited, had been speedily dissipated in the +pleasures of the town. His long absence from such scenes had by no means +dulled his taste for them, and his conversation ran on little else. He +had a light rattling way with him--that, to Harry's view, resembled +youthful spirit no more than galvanism in a corpse resembles life, and +which was certainly not in harmony with his age and appearance--and very +graphic powers of description; he expressed himself curious about the +changes in public amusements since he left town, near twenty years ago, +and seriously placed himself under Charles's guidance on the expeditions +of pleasure for which the latter was always ready. To this, strangely +enough, Solomon made no objection, notwithstanding that his own +purse-strings had to be drawn pretty wide to supply these extravagances. +His new friend had only to suggest that he should give the lad a +five-pound note to enjoy himself with, and the thing was done at once. + +As for himself, Mr. Balfour seemed to be made of money, so freely did he +spend it; and if he did not offer the use of his purse to his young +companion, it was only, as he told him, because he feared to offend his +pride. "Besides," said he, when they were alone together on one of these +expeditions of amusement, from which Solomon, whose notions of enjoyment +were mainly confined to money-making, always excused himself upon +pretense of having business to do, "it is only right your father should +be made to fork out; he is as rich as Croesus. It is quite unreasonable +that he should stint you in enjoyment when, one day or another, you will +have all the pleasures of life to pick and choose from." + +It would have tested Solomon's new-born friendship severely if he could +have heard Mr. Balfour dilate upon this topic, which he did with such +earnestness and fervor that the lad was soon convinced of those great +expectations which the cautious reticence of his parents had so long +concealed from him. On the other hand, Charley's companion deduced an +argument from this fair prospect which was not so welcome to the lad; he +maintained that, under the circumstances, it would be madness to risk +his father's displeasure by uniting himself irretrievably to Agnes, or +to any other young woman. "My good offices will be always at your +disposal, my lad," urged he, gravely, "and I don't deny that, at +present, I have considerable influence with Mr. Coe; but it would not be +proof against so flagrant an act of disobedience as that which you +contemplate. The great bulk of his property is at his own disposal; and +his nature, if I may speak plainly to you in so important a matter, is +obstinate and implacable. At all events, there is no hurry, since you +and this charming young lady are but boy and girl at present. Life is +uncertain, and you may be your own master any day; wait till you are so, +or wait for a little, at all events, to see what may turn up; and in the +mean time, lad, enjoy yourself." The last part of Mr. Balfour's advice, +at all events, was palatable enough, and that much of it Charles +accepted; in doing which, as was anticipated, the whole intention of his +Mentor became fulfilled. Plunged in dissipation, the young man thought +less and less of his love; gave himself little trouble, though he still +avowed his unalterable attachment, to set himself right with her; grew +more and more dissatisfied with his own home, at the same time that that +of Agnes became less and less attractive; and, in short, he drifted away +daily farther and farther from the safe moorings of love and duty. + +Harry perceived all this with a dread so deep that it even drove her to +invoke her husband's aid against this man, who, inexplicable as his +hostility might be, was bent, she firmly believed, upon the ruin of her +darling boy. With Solomon, as she well knew, the fact of his son's +dissipation was not likely to move him to interfere; he saw that the +companionship of Balfour was gradually producing an estrangement between +Charles and the portionless artist's daughter, and so far he cordially +approved of it, nor cared to question by what means this new friend made +himself agreeable. She had no argument available except that of expense, +and, to her astonishment and dismay, this failed to affect her prudent +spouse. + +"Just let things be a while," was Solomon's reply, "and mind your own +business. It is quite true the lad's throwing my money in the gutter at +a fine rate; but in the end I shall get it all back again, and more with +it. This Balfour takes me for a foolish doting father, but he shall pay +for all himself before I've done with him. I throw a sprat to catch a +whale; and neither you nor any other fool shall interfere with my +fishing." + +Harry dared not say more; her husband had been in the worst of humors +ever since he had returned from Crompton, and was all the more brutal +and tyrannical to her that he had to be civil and conciliatory to his +new friend, and involuntarily indulgent, upon his account, to Charles. +The unhappy mother was powerless to check the evil the growth of which +was so patent to her loving instinct, and there was none to whom she +could look for help. Mrs. Basil had no longer any influence with +Solomon, and, besides, she was seriously ill, and had now been confined +to her own room for weeks. In her extremity, Harry had even resolved to +make a personal appeal to this man Balfour; to ask him in what her +husband had injured him, to adjure him to forgive the wrong, or at least +not to visit it upon her Charley's innocent head. But she shrank with an +inexplicable terror from putting this design into effect; she felt she +should humiliate herself to no purpose; he would deny, in his cold, +cynical way, that he entertained any thing but friendship for her astute +husband and affection for her bright and impulsive son. Besides, to say +truth, she was afraid to speak with the man; and she had a suspicion +that this weird and shadowy fear was in some degree shared by Mrs. +Basil; at times she even imagined that it was not so much indisposition +as a desire to avoid his presence that caused the landlady to absent +herself from the family circle. + +Mr. Coe, at all events, entertained no such prejudice against his guest; +day by day he grew more communicative with him, and more solicitous to +hear his opinions, with which he seldom failed to agree. The two men +were in reality, as it was easy to see, as opposite in character as the +poles. Mr. Balfour was, and apparently always had been, a man of +pleasure; but he had seen men and cities, and his remarks were shrewd, +and selfish, and worldly-wise enough. It was rarely that his talk ever +strayed to matters of business, so that Solomon was perforce a listener; +but that unambitious part he played to admiration. + +Upon one occasion, however, their after-dinner converse happened to turn +upon partnerships; Solomon urged their great convenience, how one man +brought money and the other brains, and how pleasant it must be for the +former to live at ease while the latter gathered honey for him, both for +present use and for the wintry store. He rose with the familiar subject +to quite a flight of poetry. + +Mr. Balfour, with half-shut eves and a mocking smile, dilated upon the +sentiment involved in such communities of enterprise, the sympathy +engendered by them, and the happy social effects that were produced by +them. His host either did not, or would not, perceive that these remarks +were ironical, and pursued the subject to its details, proportions of +profits, balance-sheets, etc., until Charles rose with a yawn, and left +his two elders together. + +"Well, Balfour," said Solomon, frankly, as soon as they were alone, +"this talk reminds me of the matter that first introduced us to one +another--your purchase of that outlying bit of the Crompton property, +Wheal Danes." + +[Illustration: "I WILL GIVE YOU A THOUSAND POUNDS FOR THAT CROMPTON +LOT."] + +"Ay," replied the other, carelessly lighting another cigar. It was +quite wonderful to see how many cigars Mr. Balfour got through daily; +you might have almost thought that he had been denied tobacco for years +by his physician, and had only just been permitted to resume the habit. + +"Yes; you disappointed me there immensely, I must confess. I went down +to the sale on purpose to secure it." + +"So you told me, or, at least, so I guessed from your manner; and yet I +don't know why you should have been so sweet upon it. It's only a bare +bit of ground with a round hole in it, close by the sea." + +"That's all," said Solomon, puffing at his clay pipe. "What on earth +could have made you buy it?" + +"Well, I told you once. I lost my yacht off Turlock, when coming to +England last autumn, and very nearly my life with it. When one escapes +with a whole skin from such a storm as wrecked me there, the first piece +of dry land one comes to seems very attractive. I happened to be cast +ashore beneath that very spot, and so I took a fancy to it. If I had +been a good Papist I should have built a chapel there to my patron saint +in gratitude for my preservation; as it was, I resolved to erect a villa +for myself there. It will have an excellent view, and the situation is +healthy. If you seek for any other reason for the purchase, I have none +to give you; it was a whim, if you like, but then I can afford to +indulge my whims." + +"This one cost you a good deal, however; you gave five hundred pounds +for it, did you not?" + +Balfour nodded assent. + +"A great sum for a few barren acres," said Solomon, thoughtfully. + +"Yes; and so the trustees of the estate thought, Mr. Coe. They closed +with my offer sharp enough, and withdrew the lot from public +competition; else, perhaps, I should have got it cheaper." + +"Not if I had been bidding against you," observed the host, +significantly. + +"You don't say so! You were never shipwrecked thereabouts, were you? Oh, +I remember: you were brought up in the neighborhood. You had some tender +recollection of the spot, perhaps, with relation to madame up stairs. +What creatures of sentiment you men of business sometimes are--dear me!" + +"I did live near the spot," said Solomon, slowly, "though I should +deceive you if I pretended that that had any thing to do with my wish to +possess it." + +"You would not deceive me, my good friend," answered Balfour, coolly; +"but, as you were about to say, it would not be frank. Let us be frank +and open, above all things." + +"I wish to be so, I assure you," was Solomon's meek reply. "When I +offered you a hundred pounds for your bargain, I think I showed you that +deception was no part of my nature. In all matters of business I always +go straight to the point at once." + +"As in the present instance, for example," remarked the guest, with an +imperturbable smile. + +"I am coming to the point, Mr. Balfour--once for all. I will give you a +thousand pounds down for that Crompton lot--twice the money that you +gave for it within a month; that's twelve hundred per cent, per annum." + +Balfour shook his head. "I am not a religious man, my dear Sir--far from +it. But I believe, like Miss Joanna yonder, in inspirations: all my +whims are inspirations, and therefore sacred. It was an inspiration that +made me buy Wheal Danes, and I mean to keep it. If you offered me ten +thousand pounds, I'd keep it." + +Solomon was silent for a while, his heavy brows knit in thought; then +once again he advanced to the attack. "You may keep it, and yet share +the profit, Mr. Balfour." + +"The profit?" + +"Ay, the profit. I told you I was going to be frank with you, but you +would never guess _how_ frank. I am about to put thousands a year into +your pocket, on condition that you will let me fill my own at the same +rate. We were talking of partnerships just now; let us be partners in +Wheal Danes." + +"Balfour and Coe sounds natural enough," returned the other, coolly. +"But I must hear your plan." + +"My plan is a secret--invaluable, indeed, as such--but which, once told, +will be worth nothing--that is, to _me_." + +"You may do as you like, my friend, about revealing it," yawned Mr. +Balfour. "I care nothing for your plan; only, until I hear it I stick to +my plot, my lot, my acreage. Tell me the whole story without +reservation--don't attempt to deceive me on the slightest point--and +then you shall have your way. We will divide this land of gold between +us, or, as seems to me much more likely, browse like twin donkeys on its +crop of thistles." + +"I have nothing but your bare word to trust to," said Solomon, +doubtfully; "but still, I must risk it. Come, it's a bargain. Then, +here's my hand upon it." + +"Never mind my hand, my good friend," returned the other, coolly. "In +the part of the world from which I hailed last, folks didn't shake +hands, and I've fallen out of the habit. Come, give us this story of +Wheal Danes." + +"It's a very old one, Mr. Balfour. The plot of ground you purchased gets +its strange name from an ancient tin mine that is comprised in it, once +worked by the Romans, but disused since their time. There are many such +in Cornwall." + +"So I've heard," said Balfour, while the other sipped his glass. It was +curious to contrast the grave and earnest manner of the host with the +careless and uninterested air of his guest, who presently, as the +narrative proceeded, leaned his face upon his hand and gazed into the +fire, an occasional glance sideways at his companion through his fingers +alone testifying that his attention was still preserved. He never +stirred a limb nor winked an eyelid when Solomon came out with his great +secret. + +"This mine that is said to be worked out, Mr. Balfour, and which you +have purchased by mere accident, as being in the same lot with your +proposed building-ground, will, I have reason to believe, turn out a +gold mine." + +"You don't say so! I did not know that there _was_ gold in Cornwall." + +"There is as good, or at least there are metals that bring gold--tin and +copper; and Wheal Danes is full of the latter. The old Romans worked it +for tin only, and left their prize just as it was getting to be worth +having. There's a copper vein in the lowest level of that mine that may +be worth all the old Carew estate." + +"And you have seen this vein?" + +"No; but my wife's father, John Trevethick, as good a judge as any man +on earth, or under it, saw it, and told me of its existence on his +death-bed--" + +"When did he die, and how? Was it a lingering, painful death, or was he +struck down suddenly?" interposed Balfour. "I ask," added he, hastily, +for Solomon looked up in wonder at his companion's vehemence, "because +the credibility of such a story as you tell me would depend upon the +state of the man's brain." + +"He did die a painful and a lingering death, but his wits were clear +enough," answered Solomon. "It was ten years ago, and more, but I mind +it as well as though it was but yesterday--indeed, I've thought of +little else since. 'The best legacy I have to leave you, Sol, lies in +these last words of mine,' said he; 'so do you listen, and lay them to +heart.' Then he told me how, as a boy, he had once explored Wheal Danes +in play with other boys, and found the copper lode in a certain spot. He +was not so young even then but that he knew the value of such a find, +and he had held his tongue; and though he visited the place pretty +often--for he couldn't help that--he kept the secret close from that +time until his death." + +"He had never told any other person but yourself, you think?" inquired +Balfour, curiously. + +"No one to speak of. There was one fellow who had an inkling of the +thing, it seems, but he is dead now. I read of it in the newspaper quite +lately. He died in jail, or rather in escaping from it, and had never +been in a position to profit by his suspicion. You may say, in fact, +that not a living soul besides John Trevethick ever knew this secret. +For fifty years he strove to possess himself of this mine; he even +offered for it, valueless as it was thought to be, four times the money +you did; only Carew was mad and obstinate; and now, for ten years, I +have had my own eyes fixed upon it, and got the earliest news of when it +was in the market, as I thought, when, here, without a hint to guide +you, a whiff of fortune blows it to your hand. It's a hard case _I_ call +it--devilish hard." + +"Well, it _is_ hard," said Balfour; "that is, supposing all you say is +true. But frankly, my good Sir, I don't believe you. I mean no offense; +but, since you have not seen the lode with your own eyes, you must +pardon me for doubting its existence." + +"Well, then, Sir, I _have_ seen it, and that's the long and short of it. +I would not take such a thing on trust from an angel." + +"So I suspected," observed Balfour, coolly. "But as you have told me one +lie you may tell me another. What am I to believe now?" + +"The mine is yours, Sir," answered Solomon, gruffly. "Let us go down +together and look at it. If Trevethick and I were mistaken--and I'll bet +you a thousand pounds that we were not--it is but coming back again, +and--" + +"And being made the laughing-stock of all the folks among whom I mean to +spend my days," interrupted Balfour. "No, no. If we go, I'll not have a +soul to know of it. And mind you, if this turns out to be a mare's nest, +I sha'n't be pleased, my friend." + +"It will not do that, Sir, you may take my word for it," answered +Solomon, earnestly; "and as for going _incog._, that matter's easy. I +can start for Gethin, which is my home, and but a stone's-throw from the +very place, on pretense of business; and you, a day or two after, may +come down to the inn at Turlock, just to see your purchase. We need not +be so much as seen together, if you so prefer it." + +"I would much prefer it," observed Balfour, sententiously. + +"Very good. Then here's my plan: my father-in-law used to visit Wheal +Danes at night; from his doing so, instead of its drawing dangerous +attention to the place, as one would think, the rumor arose that the old +mine was haunted; corpse-candles, with no hand to carry them, were seen +there going up and down the levels, and so the poor fools shunned it +after dark. Well, let _us_ take torch and ladder, and play at +corpse-candle. What say you?" + +"Well, I'll come," said Balfour, reluctantly, "though I don't much like +the chance of being made a fool of. What day will suit you best to +start? All's one to me." + +"I'll start to-morrow," said Solomon, with excitement. "Do you come +down, as if into Midlandshire, on Friday: that's an unlucky day with +Turlock folk, but not with you, I reckon?" + +"You're right there, man," answered Balfour, slowly. "Well?" + +"On Saturday, at midnight, I will meet you at the old pit's mouth. Come, +there's my hand upon it." + +This time Balfour took his companion's hand, and griped it firmly. + +"Then, that's a bargain, partner," cried Solomon, gayly. "Fill up your +glass. Here's luck to the old mine!" + +"Here's luck," echoed Balfour, looking steadily at his host, "and to our +next merry midnight meeting!" + +"Ay, good! Here's luck!" quoth Solomon. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +IN THE TOILS. + + +Solomon started for Gethin on the ensuing morning; but his wife did not, +as usual, find his departure a relief, since Balfour remained behind. +Her last instructions from her husband were to treat this unwelcome +guest with marked consideration, and to let him have his way in every +thing. He also hinted, though it was scarcely necessary to insure her +obedience, at certain brilliant prospects which were about to present +themselves, through Balfour's means, if he were only kept in good-humor. +Harry would have much preferred to relinquish his favor at the price of +his absence; but not so her son. Notwithstanding the disparity in their +ages, he and this new acquaintance were already fast friends. The latter +had laid himself out to please the lad, and had succeeded; partly, +perhaps, from the very novelty of companionship, for Charley knew no one +in town, and was tired of taking his pleasure therein alone, but chiefly +through his store of agreeable anecdotes, all illustrative of the +enjoyments which wealth conferred, with which Balfour tickled his ears. + +"In a few years--perhaps sooner, who knows?--all these things of which I +speak will be within your own means. You will be rich; and he who is so +can please himself in almost every thing. You can then marry your Agnes, +if you will, without fear of being disinherited; or, what is better and +more likely, you may choose from a score of Agneses, or even take them +all." + +He had a light amusing way with him, this Balfour, that hid the cynicism +which would otherwise have jarred upon his young companion; for Charles, +though selfish and fond of pleasure, was good-natured, and had not +reached that period of life when our sherry must needs not only be dry, +but have bitters in it. He was genuinely fond of his mother; yet even in +this short time Balfour, as she well knew, had taught him to disobey +her; not setting her at open defiance, indeed, but regarding her advice +and remonstrances with a sort of tender contempt. She meant all for his +good, his Mentor admitted, but women had not much knowledge of the +world; and if a young man was not to be his own master at eighteen, he +must look to be in leading-strings all his life. Harry perceived her +darling's plastic nature changing daily for the worse in the hands of +this crafty potter; and though it was an admission humiliating to her, +as a mother, to make, she made it to Mrs. Basil in her sick-room. + +"Mr. Balfour is doing my Charley harm," she said. "He is an altered boy +already, and yet my husband talks as though we are never to be rid of +the man. What money, what gain, can ever compensate for the +demoralization of our child?" + +"Nothing, indeed," said Mrs. Basil, quietly. "But have a little +patience. Is not this gentleman going on Friday?" + +"Yes; but he will come back again. It is only some business that calls +him into Midlandshire. He does not even take all his luggage away. I +have a great mind to tell him point-blank that his presence in this +house--at all events in Mr. Coe's absence--is unwelcome; but I dare not +do it; I am afraid." + +"Yes, your husband would be very angry, without doubt," said Mrs. Basil, +thoughtfully. + +"That is not it. I am afraid of the man himself. He reminds me of that +hateful creature--what is he?--in the opera, for which Mr. Aird gave us +the tickets, and which Agnes went with us to see--Mephistopheles." + +"What a strange fancy! He is only a sour, pleasure-jaded man. If I was +not so ill I would speak to him myself; but you are right not to do so; +that is your husband's place, who has brought him here. Let things be as +they are till Friday." + +Harry sighed, but perforce assented. Friday came, and Mr. Balfour went +as he had designed, but not without stating at breakfast his intention +of returning on the ensuing Monday or Tuesday at latest, and even making +an engagement with Charley to spend the latter evening with him at the +theatre. + +"Do you happen to know when my husband will be home?" inquired Harry, +timidly. + +"No, madam. He was good enough to say, however, that his absence was to +make no difference as to my remaining here as his guest." + +This reply, which might easily have been made offensive, was delivered +with the most studied courtesy: it cut the hostess's ground from under +her; for it had answered the very objection which she had intended to +imply. She felt herself not only defeated, but reproved. + +"Let us hope you will both return together," said she. + +"I do not think that very probable," answered Mr. Balfour, slowly. + +An hour later and he had departed, his hostess, under pretense of being +engaged with her sick friend up stairs, not having so much as shaken his +hand. Charles, indignant at this slight, would have accompanied him to +the railway station, but Balfour would not hear of it. For this he had +two reasons: in the first place, he was anxious to keep his route +secret; and secondly, it was a part of his system to give the young man +no sort of trouble or inconvenience on his account. He wished every +association that linked them together to be one of pleasure. + +Mrs. Basil, as we have said, had not made her appearance that morning +below stairs; she was, in fact, no better, but rather worse: that news +from Lingmoor, outwardly borne so well, had shaken her to the core. +Still, no sooner had Balfour left than she made shift to rise, and even +came down to dinner. She discussed with Charley, who had a considerable +regard for her, the character of their late guest--not with hostility, +as his mother was wont to do, but with the air of one who asks for +information, and has confidence in the verdict which she seeks. The lad, +flattered by this implied compliment to his sagacity, answered her +questions readily enough. He praised his friend, of course, and thought +he praised him even when he spoke ill of him. He repeated his pungent +sayings, and served up his anecdotes--such of them as were adapted, at +least, for the ears of the ladies--anew. By this means he hoped to bring +his hearers to a better opinion of so capital a fellow; and in Mrs. +Basil's case he apparently succeeded. His mother still reiterated her +opinion that Mr. Balfour was a dangerous personage, and not a fit +companion for any young man. Charles smiled at this, for it was the +almost literal fulfillment of a prophecy which Balfour had made to him, +and believed in that gentleman's sagacity, accordingly, more than ever. +Women were so ludicrously prejudiced; the fact of Mrs. Basil's--"the +white witch"--not being so was an exception that proved the rule. She +had been evidently interested in his anecdotes, of one of which she had +even requested to hear the particulars twice over; not that, in his own +judgment, it was the best, but, being of a weird sort, it had probably +struck her fancy. It had lost in the telling, too--for he did not +pretend to have the gift of narrative, as Mr. Balfour had--and his +mother had seen in the story in question nothing at all. + +Mrs. Basil came down stairs no more after that evening. She grew worse +and worse, and was not only confined to her room, but to her bed. Harry +was not much with her; she seized with avidity this opportunity of being +alone with Charley to undo, as far as she could, Mr. Balfour's work with +him. This was not hard, for the boy was a creature of impulse, and +swayed for good or ill with equal ease. But she discovered that it would +be useless to attempt henceforth to conceal from him the nature of his +future prospects. He was now firmly convinced that he was the heir to a +large fortune, and she regretted too late that she had left the +disclosure to a stranger. What grieved her much more, and with reason, +was that an attempt which she now made to bring the influence of Agnes +to hear upon him proved unsuccessful; the girl resolutely refused to +come to the house in the absence of its master, and contrary, as she +knew, to his express commandment. Charley himself, too, whose visits to +Mr. Aird's studio had been intermitted for some time, was received in +Soho with coldness. It was not in Harry's nature to understand this +independence of spirit, and she deeply deplored it on her son's account. +She had looked to this young girl to be his guardian angel, and had +never anticipated that she could possibly decline to watch over a charge +so precious. She would not allow, even to herself, that her son's own +conduct was as much the cause of this as her husband's ill favor; but +she saw in it, clearly enough, the mark of the cloven hoof, the work of +Balfour. + +Sick Mrs. Basil could give her small comfort, though she did not attempt +to defend their late visitor, as she had so unwarrantably appeared to do +when discussing him with Charley. + +"The man is gone, my dear," said she, wearily; "perhaps he may never +come back: let us not meet troubles half-way. Charley has a kind, good +heart"--for "the white witch" showed great favor to the lad at all +times--"and all will come right at last." + +She seemed too ill and weary to argue the matter, and Harry left her, as +she thought, to repose. No sooner was she gone, however, than the closed +lids of Mrs. Basil were opened wide, and revealed a sleepless and +unutterable woe. Her sharp, pinched face showed pain and fear. Her +parched lips muttered unceasingly words like these, which were, perhaps, +the ravings of her fevered brain: "I am sure of it now, quite sure; +those stags, those stags! There is no room for hope. His heart has +become a stone, which no power can soften. It is no use to speak, or +rather I am like one in a dream who watches murder done, and can not cry +out." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +THE MINE AT MIDNIGHT. + + +Mr. Balfour--for so we must call him now, since he is attired +respectably, travels first-class, and, moreover, even looks like a +gentleman--did not go to the Midlands, as he had given out was his +purpose, but took his ticket to Plymouth, to which place the railway had +just extended in those days. He bought neither book nor newspaper, but +sat in the corner, with his hat drawn over his eyes, for the whole nine +hours, thinking. From Plymouth he posted to Turlock, where he arrived +late at night, and without having broken fast since morning. He took no +pains either to divulge or conceal his name; he asked no questions, nor +was asked any except "whether he preferred to sleep between sheets or +blankets"--for Turlock was still an out-of-the-way region, and the +little inn about three-quarters of a century behind our modern +caravansaries, with their "daily fly-bills" and "electric bells." + +After dinner, which he scarcely touched, he wandered out--it was his +habit to do so, as he told the hostler, who was also the +night-chamberlain--and did not return till long after midnight. He +observed, as he gave the man half a crown for sitting up for him to so +late an hour, that the moon looked very fine upon the sea. + +"You must be a painter, I guess, Sir," said the hostler, with a grin of +intelligence. + +"Why?" asked Balfour, sharply. "What makes you think that?" + +"Well, Sir," returned the man, apologetically, "I mean no offense; but +it is always the gentlemen-painters--or, at least, so they say at +Gethin, and I wish more of 'em came here--as is so free with their +money, and so fond of the moon." + +"Lunatics, eh?" said the new arrival, with a loud, quick laugh. "Well, +I'm no painter, my friend." + +Then he took his candle and retired to his room, but not to bed. He +disarranged the bed-clothes and rumpled the pillow; then walked softly +to and fro in his slippers until morning. On the following day he made +no attempt to visit his newly acquired property, but strolled about the +harbor, or stood, in sheltered and, therefore, secluded places in the +rocks, watching the winter sea. His meals at the inn were sent down +almost as they were served up, yet he showed no sign of weakness or +fatigue, but in the evening sallied forth as before. The night was very +cloudy, with driving showers, and the landlady good-naturedly warned him +of the danger of venturing on the cliff-path, which was narrow, and had +been broken in places by a late storm. + +"I will take care," said he, mechanically. + +"Perhaps you would like supper--some cold meat, or something--since you +have eaten so little, placed in your sitting-room against your return?" + +"Yes, yes," said he, approvingly; "you are right; I shall doubtless be +hungry to-night." Then he went out into the bleak, black night. + +He hung about the harbor as before until near eleven, when all the +lights of the little town had faded away, save that at the inn, which +was burning for him alone; then he climbed the cliff, and pushed +southward along the very path against the dangers of which he had been +cautioned. He walked fast, too, with his gaze fixed before him, like one +who has an appointment of importance for which there is a fear of being +late. Presently he struck inland over the down, when he began to move +less quickly, and to peer cautiously before him. All was dark: the grass +on which he trod seemed to be black, until he suddenly arrived at a +large circular patch of it which _was_ black, and made the surrounding +soil less sombre by contrast. This was the mouth of a great pit; and he +sat on the brink of it, with his face to seaward, and his ear in his +hollowed hand, listening. Nothing was to be heard, however, but the +occasional scud of the rain, and the ceaseless roar of the now distant +waves. Far out to sea there was a round red light, which fell upon him +at regular intervals, its absence making the place which it had filled +more dark than elsewhere. It had a weird effect, as though some evil +spirit was keeping watch upon him, but he knew it for what it was--the +revolving lamp of a light-house. Presently, in the same direction as the +red light, he perceived a white one, which, though moving slowly, was +certainly advancing toward him; nor did it, like the other, become +obscure. + +"He is coming," said Balfour to himself, with a great sigh. He had begun +to have doubts of the other's keeping his appointment; though, indeed, +it was not yet the time that he had himself fixed for it. The light came +on, quite close to the ground, and with two motions--across as well as +along. It was that of a lantern, which guided thus the footsteps of a +tall, stout man, who bore upon his shoulders a ladder so long that it +both projected above his head and trailed behind him. Balfour rose up, +and stood motionless in the path of the new-comer till this light fell +full upon him. "Hollo!" cried the man, a little startled by the white, +worn face that so suddenly confronted him, although he had been looking +for it. "Is that you, Mr. Balfour?" + +"Yes. Hush! There is no need to mention names." + +"Quite true, Sir; but you gave me quite a turn," remonstrated the other, +"coming out of the darkness like a ghost. This Wheal Danes, at midnight, +puts queer thoughts into one's head." + +"John Trevethick was not afraid of coming here," observed Balfour. + +"Well, so he always said. He told me at the last that he only pretended +to believe in any of the foolish stories that folks talk about, and in +favor of which he used to argue. But he's dead and gone, and _that_ +don't make this place less uncanny. Nobody since his time has been +a-near it; they think he haunts the pit, it seems, so every body gives +it a wide berth, both night and day. We shall see, however, and pretty +soon, I hope, whether that notion can not be got over. Why, in six +months' time we ought to have a hundred men at work here." + +"Let us hope so. But in the mean time you say nobody comes here even in +the daytime, eh?" + +"Never. The place lies out of the way, you see: about midway between the +cliff-path and the road." + +"That's well," said Balfour, mechanically. "And you have not been +babbling to any one of our prospects, Mr. Coe--nor of me, I hope?" + +"Certainly not, Sir; that was the first article of our partnership, as I +understood. Not a soul at Gethin has heard a whisper of Wheal Danes, or +of your coming; they think I'm fast asleep at my own house, this +instant. But it's been hard work lugging this cursed ladder up here in +such a breakneck night as this, _I_ can tell you, and I am glad enough +to rest a bit." + +"Well, it's all over now, Mr. Coe." + +"Except that I have got to take it back again," grumbled Solomon. + +"True, I had forgotten that. We must not leave it here, must we?" + +"Of course not. I do not complain of the trouble, however, only you must +admit I've kept my tryst under some little difficulties, eh, partner?" +and Solomon chuckled self-approval. + +"You will be paid in full for all, my good Sir," answered Balfour, +gravely; "that is," he added, hastily, "if the mine should turn out as +you predict. How deep is it? That ladder of yours will surely never +reach the bottom." + +"No, indeed. Did I not tell you that there are three levels, each about +the same depth? The copper lode lies at the bottom of the last, in the +northeastern corner. You will find I have concealed nothing from you. +Well, I have got my breath again now. Are you ready, Mr. Balfour?" + +"Quite; but walk slowly, I beg, for your lantern is very dim." + +"Yes, yes. But wait a minute; I came here yesterday and hid something." +Solomon seated himself upon the edge of the pit, with his legs hanging +over, and began to peer and feel about him. + +"Take care what you are at," cried Balfour, eagerly; "you may slip down +and kill yourself, sliding along like that." + +Solomon laughed contemptuously. "Never fear, Sir; I have had too many +mischances with mines to fear them. I have fallen down worse places, and +been shut up in others far deeper and darker than Wheal Danes, without +food or candle, for a week, and yet lived through it. The shaft has not +yet been dug, I reckon, as will prove--Oh, here's the torch." + +He dragged from under the overhanging rim of the pit a piece of wood +like a bludgeon, one end of which was smeared with pitch; and placing +the lantern with its back to the wind, pushed the stick inside, which +came out a torch, flaming and dropping flame. + +"There's our corpse-candle!" cried Coe, triumphantly; "that would keep +us without witnesses, even if any one were so bold as, in a night like +this, to venture near Wheal Danes, to trespass on Tom Tiddler's ground, +where we shall pick up the gold and the silver." There was a wild +excitement, quite foreign to his habit, about this man, and he whirled +the torch about his head in flaring circles. + +"Keep your wits steady, if you please," observed Balfour, sternly. + +"It is over now, Sir, and I am in the counting-house again," answered +Solomon, submissively. "I felt a little exhilarated at the prospect of +plucking a fruit that has been ripening for fifty years, that's all. +This Wheal Danes is the very aloe of mines, and it is about to blossom +for us only. You had better take the torch yourself; the lantern will +serve for me; but just show a light here while I place the ladder." + +Balfour held the blazing pine aloft, and disclosed the gaping mouth of +the old pit, its margin wet with the rain, and its sheer sides slippery +with the damps of ages. + +"It would be easy enough to get down without this contrivance," observed +Solomon, grimly, as he carefully adjusted the ladder, the foot of which +was lost in gloom; "but it would take us some trouble to find our way +back again without wings." + +"In daylight, however, I dare say it looks easier," said Balfour, +carelessly. + +"It may look so, but it ain't. Nothing but a sea-gull ever goes in and +out of Wheal Danes; even the bats keep there, where indeed they are snug +and warm enough." + +"It doesn't feel very warm at present," replied the other, who did not +seem to be in a hurry to explore this unpromising territory. + +"Ay, but you wait till we get to the lower level; you might live there, +if the rats would let you, for a whole winter, and never need a fire." + +"Oh, there are rats, are there? Why, what do _they_ live upon?" + +"Well, that's _their_ look-out," laughed Solomon; "they would be very +glad to have _us_, no doubt. It would be only just in my case, for I +have lived on them before now; with rats and water a man may do very +well for a week or two." + +"What! there is water laid on in this establishment, is there?" + +"No; the low levels are quite dry. But come, let us see for ourselves. +We are losing time. I will start first, and do you follow close upon me, +but without treading on my fingers;" and Solomon placed his heavy foot +upon the first rung. + +"No, no," said Balfour, drawing back; "I will not trust myself on the +same ladder with a man of your weight. When you are at the bottom give +me a call, and then I'll join you." + +"As you like, Sir," responded Solomon, civilly; but his thick lips +curled contemptuously, and he muttered, "So this man is lily-livered +after all; so much the better: it is well to have a coward for a +partner." + +The next moment his descending form was lost in the gloom. + +Balfour waited, torch in hand, until an "All right," that sounded like a +voice from the tomb, assured him that his companion had reached terra +firma. Then he descended very carefully, and joined him. + +"Stand close to the wall, Sir, while I move the ladder," said Coe; "your +head don't seem made for these deep places. Ah, here's the spot. This is +a drop of twenty feet." + +"And what is the depth of the last level?" + +"Five-and-twenty. But don't you be afraid; the ladder will just reach +it, only you won't have so much to hold on by at the top. It's only the +getting down that's unpleasant; you'll find going back quite easy work. +And then, just think of the lode!" + +Solomon began to be anxious lest his companion's fears should induce him +to give up the expedition altogether. It had never entered into his mind +that what was so easy to himself could prove so formidable to another; +and, besides, he had somehow concluded that Balfour was a man of strong +nerves. + +"Make haste," said the latter, in the tone of one who has achieved some +mental victory: "let us go through with it." + +In the second level it was perceptibly warmer. Dark, noiseless objects +began to flit about the torch, and once something soft struck against +Balfour's foot, and then scampered away. + +He looked behind him, and not a trace of light was to be discerned, +while before him was impenetrable gloom, except for the feeble gleam of +his companion's lantern. Above him the roof was just discernible, from +which long strings of fungi, white and clammy, hung down and brushed +against his face as he moved slowly forward. + +"Come on!" said Solomon, impatiently, whose spirits seemed to rise in +this familiar scene. "We are only a few score yards from Golconda." + +Balfour stopped short. "I thought you said there was another level?" +There was a strange look of disappointment in his face, and even of +rage. + +"Yes, yes, and here it is," cried the other, putting down the ladder, +which he had carried from place to place. "It is only depth that +separates us from it. They dug well, those Romans, but left off, as you +shall see, upon the very threshold of fortune. You have only to be a +little careful, because the ladder does not quite reach." + +He descended, as before, in advance, while Balfour followed slowly and +cautiously. "How steep and smooth the rock is!" observed he, examining +its surface. + +"Yes, indeed; it is like a wall of marble. But what matters that? It +baffles the rats, but not us. Here is the land of gold, here is--What +the devil are you at?" + +Solomon, in his impatience, had stridden on to the object of his +desires; and Balfour, halting midway in his descent, suddenly retraced +his footsteps, and having reached the top, was dragging the ladder up +after him. + +Solomon heard this noise, with which his ear was familiar, and his tone +had some alarm in it as he cried out, "I say, no tricks, Mr. Balfour." + +There was no reply. He hastened back to the spot he had just left, and +from thence could dimly perceive his late companion sitting on the verge +of the steep wall, peering down upon him. + +"Come, come, a joke is a joke," remonstrated Coe. "What a fellow you are +to be at such games when an important matter is at stake! Why, here is +the lode, man." + +"It is very valuable, I dare say, Mr. Coe, but it is worth more to one +man than to two." + +"Great Heaven! what do you mean?" cried Solomon, while a sudden sweat +bedewed his forehead. "You would not murder a man to dissolve a +partnership?" + +"Certainly not. I shall leave him to die, that's all. He and the rats +will have to settle it together. Six months hence, perhaps, we may have +a picnic here, and explore the place. Then we shall find, where you are +now standing, some well-picked bones and the metal part of your lantern. +That will cause quite an excitement; and we shall search further, and in +the northeast corner there will be found a copper lode. I will take your +word for that." + +"Mr. Balfour, I am sure you will not do this," pleaded the wretched man. +"It is not in man's nature to treat a fellow-creature with such +barbarity. You are trying to frighten me, I know, and I own you have +succeeded. I know what it is to be shut up in desolate, dark places +alone, out of reach of succor; and even for eight-and-forty hours or so +it is terrible." + +"_What must it be, then, to suffer so for twenty years?_" + +It was a third voice that seemed to wake the echoes of that lonesome +cavern. Solomon looked up in terror, and beheld a third face, that of +Robert Balfour, but transfigured. He held the glowing brand above him, +so that his deep-lined features could be distinctly seen, and they were +all instinct with a deadly rage and malice. There was a fire in his eyes +that might well have been taken for that of madness, and Solomon's heart +sank within him as he looked. + +"Mr. Balfour," said he, in a coaxing voice, "come and look at your +treasure. It sparkles in the light of my lantern like gold, and you +shall have it all if you please; I do not wish to share it with you." + +"So you take me for a madman, do you? Look again; look fixedly upon me, +Solomon Coe. You do not recognize me even yet? I do not wonder. It is +not you that are dull, but I that am so changed by wrong and misery. My +own mother does not know me, nor the woman of whom you robbed me +nineteen years ago. Yes, you know me now. I am Richard Yorke!" + +"Mercy, mercy!" gasped Solomon, dropping on his knees. + +Richard laughed long and loud. The echoes of his ghastly mirth died +slowly away, and when his voice was heard again it was stern and solemn. +"It is my turn at last, man; I am the judge to-day, as you were the +witness nineteen years ago who doomed me wrongfully to shame and misery. +Night and day I have had this hour in my mind; the thought of it has +been my only joy--in chains and darkness, in toil and torment, fasting +and wakeful on my prison pillow, I have thought of nothing else. I did +not know how it would come about, but I was sure that it would come. You +swore falsely once that I was a thief; I am now about to be a murderer, +and your whitening bones will not be able to witness against me." + +"I never swore it, Mr. Yorke," pleaded Solomon, passionately. + +"Your memory is defective," answered Richard, gloomily; "you forget that +I was in court myself on that occasion. You did your very worst to +blacken me before judge and jury, and you succeeded." + +"But it was Trevethick--it was father-in-law who urged me to do it; it +was indeed." + +"I know it," replied the other, coldly; "he was a greater villain than +yourself, but unhappily an older one. Death has robbed me of him, and +made my vengeance incomplete. Still there is something left for me. +While you die slowly here--But no; I shall wait at Turlock for that to +happen. A strong man like you, who have rats to live upon, may last ten +days, perhaps. Well, when you are dead, I shall return to your London +house, and lead your son to ruin. You permitted me to begin the work in +hopes of getting half this mine; I shall finish it while you are in sole +possession of the whole of it." + +"Devil!" cried Solomon, furiously. + +"The appellation is a true one, my good Sir; but I was a man once. Evil +is now my good, thanks to your teaching. Look at me--look at me, and see +what you have brought me to at eight-and-thirty! You almost drove me +mad, and it was easy, for I had the Carew blood in my veins; but I +contrived to keep my wits for the enjoyment of this hour. I feel very +old, and have few pleasures left, you see. It is impossible, +unfortunately, to return here and see you rot; there would be danger in +it; just the least risk in the world of somebody coming here to look for +us. I must be off now, too, for there is a worthy man sitting up for me +at the inn, and I have got to take this ladder back to Gethin." + +A cry of mingled rage and despair burst forth from Richard's foe. + +"What! you had calculated upon the absence of that ladder producing +suspicion? It is curious how great wits jump together: that had also +struck me. I shall take it back, for I well know where it ought to be; I +am quite familiar with your house at Gethin, as you may remember, +perhaps. You may keep the lantern, which will not be missed; but, if you +will take my advice, you will put out the light, to preserve the +candle--as an article of food. Put it somewhere where the rats can not +eat it, and it may prolong your torments half a day. You can also eat +the horn of the lantern, but you will doubtless preserve that for a +_bonne bouche_. You are not superstitious, else I would suggest that +your father-in-law's spirit is exceedingly likely to haunt that +northeastern corner down yonder." + +Here there was a dull scrambling noise, a violent struggle as of feet +and hands against a wall, and then a heavy thud. + +"Now that is very foolish of you, Solomon, to attempt to get out of a +place which you yourself informed me could never be escaped from without +wings. I sincerely hope you have not hurt yourself much. I hear you +moving slowly about again, so I may leave you without anxiety. Good-by, +Solomon." Richard waited a moment, a frightful figure of hate and +triumph, peering down into the pit beneath, where all was now dark. "You +are too proud to speak to a convict, perhaps. Well, well, that is but +natural in so honest a man. I take my leave, then. You have no message, +I conclude, for home?" + +An inarticulate cry, like that of a wild animal caught in a snare, was +the only reply. + +"That is the worst of letting his candle go out," mused Richard, aloud; +"some rat has got hold of him already." Then, with a steady foot and +smiling face, which showed how all his previous fears had been assumed, +he retraced his steps, and mounted to the upper air. The sky was clearer +now; and, casting the torch, for which he had no further need, far into +the mine, and shouldering the ladder, he started for Gethin at good +speed. It was past two o'clock before he reached his inn at Turlock; but +before he retired to rest he sat down to the supper that had been +prepared for him, but without the appetite which he had anticipated. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +THE SMOKING-ROOM OF THE GEORGE AND VULTURE. + + +Robert Balfour did not remain at Turlock, as he had originally intended. +Perhaps the vicinity to Wheal Danes was not so attractive to him as he +had promised himself that it would be, although not for a single instant +did his purpose of revenge relax. Other considerations, had he needed +them, were powerful, now that he had taken the first step, to keep him +on that terrible path which he had so long marked out for himself. To +disclose the position of his victim now would have been not only to make +void his future plans, but to place his own fate at Solomon's mercy. Yet +he found his heart less hard than the petrifaction it had undergone, the +constant droppings of wrong and hardship for twenty years, should have +rendered it. He did not wake until late, and the first sound that broke +upon his ear was the tinkling of the bell of the little church, for it +was Sunday morning. He compared it for a moment with something that he +had been dreaming of: a man in a well chipping footsteps for himself in +the brick wall, up which he climbed a few feet, and then fell down +again. Then a pitiful, unceasing cry of "Help, help!--help, help!" rang +in his ears, instead of the voice that called people to prayers. Even +when that ceased, the wind and rain--for the weather was wild and +wet--beating against the window-pane, brought with them doleful shrieks. +Sometimes a sudden gust seemed to bear upon it confused voices and the +tramp of hurrying feet; and then he would knit his brow and clench his +hand, with the apprehension that they had found his enemy, and were +bringing him to the door. Not the slightest fear of the consequences to +himself in such a case agitated his mind; he had quite resolved what to +do, and that no prison walls should ever hem him in again; but the bare +idea that Solomon should escape his vengeance drove him to the brink of +frenzy. He would have left the place at once, but that he thought the +coincidence of his departure with the disappearance of his foe might +possibly awaken suspicion; so he staid on through the day, waiting for +the news which he knew must arrive sooner or later. At noon he thought +the landlady wore an unusually grave air, and he felt impelled to ask +her what was the matter. But then, if there was nothing--if she only +looked sour, as folks often did, just because it was Sunday--she might +think him too curious. + +From his window, a little later, he saw a knot of people in the rain +talking eagerly together, and one of them pointing with his hand toward +Gethin. But they were too far off to be overheard, and he did not dare +go down and interrogate them. It was his object to appear utterly +indifferent to local affairs, and as a total stranger. He felt half +stifled within doors, and yet, if he should go out, he knew that he +would be incontrollably impelled to take the cliff path that he had +followed the preceding night, to watch that nobody came near the place +that held his prey, and thereby, like the bird who shows her nest by +keeping guard too near, attract attention. The tidings for which he +waited came at six o'clock, just as he was sitting down to his dinner. +The parlor-maid who served him had that happy and excited look which the +possession of news, whether it be good or bad, but especially the +latter, always imparts to persons of her class. + +"There's strange news come from Gethin, Sir," said she, as she arranged +the dishes. + +"Indeed," said Balfour, carelessly, though he felt his brain spin round +and his heart stop at the same moment. "What is it?" + +"Mr. Coe, Sir, a very rich man--he as owns all Dunloppel--has +disappeared." + +"How's that?" + +"Well, Sir, he went to his room last night, they say, at his usual hour, +but never slept in his bed, and the front-door was found unlocked in the +morning, so that he must have gone away of himself. That would not be so +odd, for he is a secret sort of man, as is always coming and going; but +he has taken nothing with him; only the clothes he stood in." + +"Well, I dare say he has come back again by this time, my good girl. +What's this? Is there no fish?" + +"No, Sir; the weather was too bad yesterday for catching them, and all +last night there was a dreadful sea: that's what they fear about Mr. +Coe--that he has fell into the sea. His footsteps have been tracked to +the cliff edge, and there they stop." + +"Poor fellow! Has he any relatives?" + +"Oh yes, Sir; a wife and son--a very handsome, nice young gentleman." + +"Then his widow will be rich, I suppose?" + +"Oh, pray, don't call her a widow yet, Sir; let us hope her husband may +be found. It's a dreadful thing to be drowned like that on a Sunday +morning; and for one who knows the cliff path so well as he did, too. He +was a hard man, and no favorite, but one forgets that now, of course." + +"You have also forgotten the Harvey Sauce, my good girl; oblige me by +bringing it, will you?" said Mr. Balfour, beginning to whistle something +which did not sound like a psalm tune. "You must excuse my +hard-heartedness, but I had not the pleasure of knowing this gentleman." + +An hour afterward the solitary guest had left the inn, and was on his +road to Plymouth. His departure caused little surprise, for the weather +was such as to induce no visitor to prolong his stay. + +Whether from his long enforced abstinence from society, or from the +unwelcome nature of his thoughts, Robert Balfour was always disinclined +to be alone. His expeditions with Charley in search of pleasure had +been, though he did not find pleasure, more agreeable to him than the +being left to his own resources; and now this was more the case than +ever. He preferred even such company as that which the smoking-room of +an hotel afforded to none at all. The voices of his fellow-creatures +could not shape themselves, as every inarticulate sound did to his +straining ear, into groans and feeble cries for aid. Not twenty-four +hours had elapsed since his prisoner was placed in hold, so that such +sounds of weakness and agony must have been in every sense chimerical; +and yet he heard them. What, then, if these echoes from the tomb should +always be heard? A terrible idea indeed, but one which bred no +repentance. It was not likely that remorse should seize him in the very +place where his hated foe had clutched and consigned him to _his_ living +grave. + +The hotel at which he now put up was the same at which he had then +lodged; this public room was the same in which he had smoked his last +cigar upon his fatal visit to the Miners' Bank. He had had only one +companion then, but now it was full of people. By their talk it was +evident that they were townsfolk, and all known to one another; in fact, +it was a tradesmen's club, which met at the _George and Vulture_ on +Sunday nights through the winter months. In spite of his willingness to +be won from his thoughts, he could not fix his attention on the small +local gossip that was going on about him. Men came in and out without +his observing them; and indeed it was not easy to take note of faces +through the cloud of smoke that filled the room; he was fast relapsing +into his own reflections, wondering what Solomon was doing in the dark, +and if he slept much, when an event occurred which roused him as +thoroughly as the prick of a lance or a sudden douche of cold water. + +"Let us have no misunderstanding and no obligation--that is my motto." + +The speaker was a thin, gray man, whose entrance into the apartment +Balfour had not perceived, and who was seated in an elevated chair, +which had apparently been reserved for him as president of the assembly. +The face was unfamiliar, for twenty years had made an old man of the +astute and lively detective; but his phrase, and the manner of +delivering it, identified him at once as his old friend Mr. Dodge. + +"It was in this very room," continued the latter, "that I sat and talked +with him as sociable as could be, not a quarter of an hour before I put +the darbies on him; and it's a thing that has been upon my mind ever +since. I was only doing my duty, of course, but still it seemed hard to +take advantage of such a frank young fellow. As for stealing them notes, +it's my belief he had no more intention of doing it than I had." + +"And yet he got it hot at the 'sizes, Mr. Dodge, didn't he?" inquired +one of the company. + +"Got it hot, Sir?" replied Mr. Dodge, with dignity; "he got an infamous +and most unjustly severe sentence, if you mean that, Sir. Of course what +he did was contrary to law, but it's my opinion as the law was strained +agin him. There was some as swore hard and fast to get him punished as +knew he deserved no such treatment. Why, the girl as he loved, and whose +picture I found upon him myself when I searched him, and gave it him +back, too--ay, that I did--even she took a false oath, as Weasel himself +told me, who was his lawyer, and had built up his case with that same +hussy for its corner-stone. Ah!" said Mr. Dodge, with a gesture of +abhorrence, "if there ever was a murdered man, it was that poor young +fellow, Richard Yorke." + +"But I thought he got twenty years' penal servitude," observed the same +individual who had interposed before, and whose thankless office it +seemed to be to draw the old gentleman out for the benefit of society. + +"I say he was murdered, Sir. He was shut up for nigh twenty years, and +then shot in the back in trying to get away from Lingmoor. It was the +hardest case I ever knew in all my professional experience. Lord, if you +had seen him--the handsomest, brightest, gayest young chap! And he was +what some folks call well-born, too; he was the son--that is, though, in +a left-handed sort of way, it's true--of mad Carew of Crompton, about +whose death the papers were so full a month ago or so; and that, in my +judgment, was the secret of all his misfortune: it was the Carew blood +as did it. To take his own way in the world; to seek nobody's advice, +nor use it if 'twas given; to be spoiled and petted by all the women and +half the men as came nigh him; to own no master nor authority; to act +without thought, and to scorn consequences--well, all that was bred in +the bone with him." + +"Then he had never any one to look after him at home, I reckon, Mr. +Dodge?" + +"Well, yes; he had a mother; and though she was a queer one too, she +loved him dearly. She was the cleverest woman, Weasel used to say, as +ever he had to do with; and a perfect lady too, mind you. She worked to +get the poor lad off like a slave; and when all was over, instead of +breaking down, as most would, she swallowed her pride, and went down on +her bended knees to that old miserly devil, Trevethick, the prosecutor, +and to his son-in-law, Coe, likewise: they lived down Cross Key +way--where was it?--at Gethin--and begged and prayed him to join in +petitioning in her son's favor. She got down there the very day after +his lying daughter was married to Solomon Coe, he as has got Dunloppel, +and is a big man now. But he'll never be any thing but a scurvy lot, if +he was to be king o' Cornwall. I shall never forget the way he insulted +that poor young fellow when he was took up. Damme, I would have given a +ten-pound note to have had _him_ charged with something, and I'd ha' +seen that the handcuffs weren't none too big for his wrists neither." + +"And this Trevethick refused to help the lady, did he?" + +"Why, of course he did. He broke her heart, poor soul. I saw her when +she passed through Plymouth afterward, and she looked twenty years older +than before that trial. Even then she didn't give the matter up, but +laid it before the crown. But poor Yorke had offended government--helped +some fool or another through one of them public examinations; he had +wits enough for any thing, had that young fellow. But there--I can't +a-bear to talk about him; and yet somehow I can't help doing on it when +I get into this room. He sat just where that gentleman sits yonder. I +think I see him now, smoking the best of cigars, one of which he offered +to me--for he was free as free; but I was necessitated to restore it, +for I couldn't take a gift from one as I was just a-going to nab. 'Thank +you kindly,' says I, 'but let us have no misunderstanding and no +obligation.' Poor fellow! poor fellow!" + +No more was said about the case of Richard Yorke; but it was evidently a +standing topic with the chairman of the _George and Vulture_ club. A +yearning to behold and embrace that mother who had done and suffered so +much for his sake took possession of Richard's soul. His heart had been +steeled against her when he found harbored under her roof the objects of +his rage and loathing; but he felt now that that must have come to pass +with some intention of benefit to himself. The very truth, indeed, +flashed upon him that she entertained some plan of frustrating his +revenge against them, with the idea of protecting him from the +consequences that were likely to ensue from it; and he forgave her, +while he hated his foes the more. He would carry out his design to the +uttermost, but very cautiously, and with a prudence that he would +certainly not have used had his own safety been alone concerned; and +then, when he had avenged himself and her, he would disclose himself to +her. The statement he had just heard affected him deeply, but in +opposite ways. The justification of himself in no way moved him--he did +not need that; it was also far too late for his heart to be touched by +the expression of the old detective's good-will, though the time had +been when he would have thanked him for its utterance with honest tears; +but the revelation of his mother's toil and suffering in his behalf +reawakened all his dormant love for her, while it made his purpose +firmer than ever to be the Nemesis of her enemies and his own. + +As he went to bed that night the clock struck twelve. It was just +four-and-twenty hours since he had left his victim in the bowels of +Wheal Danes. If a free pardon could have been offered to him for the +crime, and the mine been filled with gold for him to its mouth, he would +not have stretched out his hand to save him. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +STILL HUMAN. + + +Mr. Balfour atoned for his previous indifference to the wares of the +news-boy by sending him next morning to the station for all the local +papers. In each, as he expected, there was a paragraph headed +_Mysterious Disappearance_, and as lengthened an account as professional +ingenuity could devise of the unaccountable departure of Mr. Solomon Coe +from his house at Gethin. The missing man was "much respected;" and, "as +the prosperous owner of the Dunloppel mine, which had yielded so largely +for so many years, he could certainly not have been pressed by pecuniary +embarrassments, and therefore the idea of suicide was out of the +question." Unlikely as it seemed in the case of one who knew the country +so well, the most probable explanation of the affair was that the +unfortunate gentleman, in taking a walk by night along the cliff top, +must have slipped into the sea. The weather had been very rough of late +and the wind blowing from off the land, which would have accounted--if +this supposition was correct--for the body not having been washed +ashore. "In the mean time an active search was going on." + +Balfour had resolved not to return to London for at least ten days. Mrs. +Coe and her son would, without doubt, be telegraphed for, and he could +not repair to their house in their absence. The idea of being under the +same roof alone with his mother was now repugnant to him. He felt that +he could not trust himself in such a position. It had been hard and +grievous, notwithstanding his resentment against her, to see her in +company with others, and her absence of late from table had been a great +relief to him. With his present feeling toward her it would be +impossible to maintain his incognito; and, if that was lost, his future +plans--to which he well knew she would oppose herself--would be rendered +futile. He had seen with rage and bitter jealousy that both Harry and +her boy, and especially the latter, were dear to her; and it was certain +she would interfere to protect them, for their sake as well as for his +own. He had other reasons also for not returning immediately to town. It +might hereafter be expedient to show that he _had_ really been to +Midlandshire, where he had given out he had designed to go; and, +moreover, though his purpose was relentless as respected Solomon, he did +not perhaps care to be in a house where hourly suggestions would be +dropped as to the whereabouts of his victim, or the fate that had +happened to him. Harry and her son might even not have gone to Gethin, +and in that case their apprehensions and surmises would have been +insupportable. + +Richard was more human than he would fain believe himself to be. Though +he had gone to bed so inexorable of purpose, it had been somewhat shaken +through the long hours of a night in which he had slept but little, and +waked to think on what his feverish dreams had dwelt upon--the fate of +his unhappy foe, perishing slowly beside his useless treasure. More than +once, indeed, the impulse had been strong upon him that very morning to +send word anonymously where Solomon was to be found to the police at +Plymouth. Remorse had not as yet become chronic with him, but it seized +him by fits and starts. + +There had been a time when he had looked (through his prison bars) on +all men with rage and hatred; but now he caught himself, as it were, at +attempts at self-justification with respect to the retribution he had +exacted even from his enemy. Had he not been rendered miserable, he +argued, supremely wretched, for more than half his lifetime, through +this man's agency? for it was certain that Solomon had sworn falsely, in +the spirit if not in the letter, and caused him to be convicted of a +crime which his rival was well aware he had not in intention committed. +His conduct toward him on the occasion of his arrest had also been most +brutal and insulting; while, after conviction had been obtained, this +wretch's malice, as Mr. Dodge had stated, had known no cessation. In the +arms of his young bride he had been deaf to the piteous cry of a mother +beseeching for her only son. + +But, on the other hand, had not he (Richard) deeply wronged this man in +the first instance? Had he not robbed him--for so much at least must +Solomon have known--of the love of his promised wife? If happiness from +such an ill-assorted union was not to have been anticipated, still, had +he not rendered it impossible? If their positions had been reversed, +would not he have exacted expiation from such an offender to the +uttermost? He would doubtless have scorned to twist the law as Solomon +had done, and make it, as it were, the crooked instrument of his +revenge. He would not, of course, have evoked its aid at all. But was +that to be placed to his credit? He had put himself above the law +throughout his life; he had never acknowledged any authority save that +of his own selfish will; nay, he owned to himself that his bitterness +against his unhappy victim had been caused not so much by the wrong he +had suffered at his hands as by the contempt which he (Richard) had +entertained for him. Without materials such as his father had possessed +to back his pretensions he had imagined himself a sort of irresponsible +and sovereign being. (Such infatuation is by no means rare, nor confined +to despots and brigands, and when it exists in a poor man it is always +fatal to himself.) His education, if it could be called such, had +doubtless fostered this delusion; but Mr. Dodge was right; the Carew +blood had been as poison in his veins, and had destroyed him. + +All this might be true; but such philosophy could scarcely now obtain a +hearing, while his enemy was dying of starvation in his living tomb. It +was in vain for him to repeat mechanically that he had also suffered a +sort of lingering death for twenty years. The present picture of his +rival's torments presented itself in colors so lively and terrible that +it blotted out the reminiscence of his own. The recollection of his +wrongs was no longer sufficient for his vindication. He therefore strove +to behold his victim in another light than as his private foe--as the +murderer of his friend Balfour, the history of whose end may here be +told. + +On the night that Richard escaped from Lingmoor, it was Balfour, of +course, who assisted him, and who was awaiting him in person at the foot +of the prison wall. The old man's arms had received him as he slipped +down the rope; and the object at which the sentry had fired had been two +men, though in the misty night they had seemed but one. Balfour had been +mortally wounded, and it was with the utmost difficulty that, laden +with the burden of his dying friend, Richard had contrived to reach +Bergen Wood. As his own footsteps were alone to be traced along the +moor, the idea of another having accompanied his flight--though they +knew there was complicity--had not occurred to the authorities. Balfour +had hardly reached that wretched asylum when he expired, pressing +Richard's hand, and bidding him remember Earl Street, Spitalfields. +"What you find there is all yours, lad," was his dying testament and +last words of farewell. And over his dead body Richard swore anew his +vow of vengeance against the man that had thus, though indirectly, +deprived him of his only friend. He had watched by the dead body, on its +bed of rotten leaves, through that night and the whole of the next day; +then, changing clothes with it, he had fled under cover of the ensuing +darkness, and got away eventually to town. + +He had found the house in Earl Street a wretched hovel, tenanted by a +few abjects, whom the money found on Balfour--which he had received on +leaving prison--was amply sufficient to buy out. Once alone in this +tenement, he had easily possessed himself of the spoil so long secreted, +and, furnished with it, he had hastened down to Crompton--the news of +Carew's death having reached London on the very day that he found +himself in a position to profit by it. The very plan which he had +suggested to Balfour, whose name he also assumed, he himself put into +execution. He made a private offer for the disused mine, which was +gladly accepted by those who had the disposal of the property, acting +under the advice of Parson Whymper. Trevethick, the only man that had +attached any importance to the possession of it, was dead; and it was +not likely that any one at the sale should bid one-half of the sum which +this stranger was prepared to give for the mere gratification of his +whim. The mine itself, indeed, had scarcely been mentioned in the +transaction; it merely formed a portion in the lot comprising the few +barren acres on which this capricious purchaser had expressed his fancy +to build a home. "Disposed of by private contract" was the marginal note +written in the auctioneer's catalogue which dashed Solomon's +long-cherished hopes to the ground. + +Richard staid on in the neighborhood to attend the sale. It attracted an +immense concourse; and no less than a guinea a head was the price of +admission to those who explored the splendid halls of Crompton, +discussing the character of its late owner, and retailing wild stories +of his eccentricities. Poor Parson Whymper, who had not a shilling left +to him--for Carew had died intestate, though, thanks to him, not +absolutely a beggar--was perhaps the only person present who felt a +touch of regret. He had asked for his patron's signet-ring, as a +keepsake, and this request had been refused on the part of the +creditors; he wandered among the gay and jeering crowd like a ghost, +little thinking that the one man who looked at him with a glance of pity +was he whom he had once regarded as the heir of Crompton. It was the +general opinion now that the unhappy chaplain had been Carew's evil +genius, and had "led him on." Even Richard bestowed but that single +glance upon him; he _was_ looking in vain for the face that had so +terrible an interest for himself. He had not heard that Trevethick was +dead, but he knew it was so the instant that his eyes fell upon Solomon +Coe, and all his hate was at once transferred to his younger enemy. The +business upon which this man had come was as clear to him as though it +had been written on his forehead. The first gleam of pleasure which had +visited his dark soul for twenty years was the sight of Solomon's +countenance when, on the sixth day's sale, the auctioneer gave out that +lot 970 had been withdrawn. Solomon might have received the intimation +long before but for the cautious prudence which had prevented him from +making any inquiries upon the subject. For a minute or two he stood +stunned and silent, then hurriedly made his way to the rostrum. Richard, +who was sitting at the long table with the catalogue before him, kept +his eyes fixed upon its pages while the auctioneer pointed him out as +the purchaser of the lot in question. He knew the inquiry that was being +asked, and its reply; he knew whose burly form it was that thrust itself +the next minute in between him and his neighbor; every drop of blood in +his body, every hair on his head, seemed to be cognizant that the man he +hated most on earth was seated cheek by jowl with him--that the first +step in the road of retribution had been taken voluntarily by his victim +himself. The rest is soon told. Solomon at once commenced his clumsy +efforts at conciliation; and his endeavors to recommend himself to the +stranger's friendship were suffered quickly to bear fruit. He invited +him to his house in London, which, to Richard's astonishment and +indignation, he found to be his mother's home; and, in short, fell of +his own accord into the very snare which the other, had he had the +fixing of it, would himself have laid for him. + +And now, as we have said, when all had gone exactly as Richard would +have had it go, and Solomon was being punished to the uttermost, the +executor of his doom was beginning to feel, if not compunction, at all +events remorse. No adequate retribution had indeed overtaken Harry. To +have made her a widow was, in fact, to have freed her from the yoke of a +harsh and unloved master; but the fact was, notwithstanding the perjury +of which he believed her to have been guilty, he had never hated her as +he had hated the other authors of his wrongs. She had once on the +rock-bound coast at Gethin preserved his life; she had accorded to his +passion all that woman can grant, and had reciprocated it; not even in +his fiercest hour of despair had he harbored the thought of raising his +hand against her; he had hated her, indeed, as his betrayer, and as +Solomon's wife, but never regarded her with that burning detestation +which he felt toward her husband. There was another motive also, though +he did not even admit it to himself, which, now that his chief foe was +expiating his offense, had no inconsiderable weight in the scale of +mercy as regarded the others. + +His endeavors to win Charley's favor had had a reflex action. In spite +of himself, a certain good-will had grown up in him toward this boy, +whom his mission it was to ruin. If there had been less of his mother in +the lad's appearance, or any thing of his father in his character, his +heart might have been steeled against his youth and innocence of +transgression. As a mere son of Solomon Coe's he would have beheld in +him the whelp of a wolf, and treated him accordingly; but between the +wolf and his offspring there was evidently as little of affection as +there was of likeness. The very weaknesses of Charley's character--his +love of pleasure, his credulity, his wayward impulsiveness, of all which +Balfour had made use for his own purposes--were foreign to the nature of +the elder Coe; while the lad's high spirit, demonstrativeness, and +geniality were all his own. If he had one to guide as well as love +him--a woman with sound heart and brain, such as this Agnes Aird was +represented to be, what a happy future might be before this youth! +Without such a wise counselor, how easy it would be, and how likely, for +him to drift on the tide of self-will and self-indulgence to the devil! +The decision rested in Richard's own hands, he knew. Should he blast +this young life in the bud, in revenge for acts for which he was in no +way accountable, and which were already being so bitterly expiated? The +apprehension that Solomon might even yet be found alive perhaps alone +prevented Richard from resolving finally to molest Harry and her son no +further. If his victim should have been rescued, his enmity would have +doubtless blazed forth afresh against them as inextinguishable as ever, +but in the mean time it smouldered, and was dying out for want of fuel. +If he had no penitence with respect to the terrible retribution he had +already wrought, the idea of it disturbed him. If he had no scruples, he +had pangs: when all was over--in a day or two, for even so strong a man +as Solomon could scarcely hold out longer--he would doubtless cease to +be troubled with them; when he was once dead Richard did not fear his +ghost; but the thought of this perishing wretch at present haunted him. +He was still not far from Gethin, and its neighborhood was likely to +encourage such unpleasant feelings. He had only executed a righteous +judgment, since there was no law to right him; but even a judge would +avoid the vicinity of a gallows on which hangs a man on whom he had +passed sentence. + +He would go into Midlandshire--where he was now supposed to be--until +the affair had blown over. That watching and waiting for the Thing to be +discovered would, he foresaw, be disagreeable, nervous work. And when it +happened, how full the newspapers would be of it! How Solomon got to the +place where he would be found would be as much a matter of marvel as the +object of his going there. If the copper lode--the existence of which +Richard did not doubt--were discovered, as it most likely would be when +the mine became the haunt of the curious and the morbid, it was only too +probable that public attention would be drawn to the owner. The +identification of Robert Balfour with the visitor who had visited +Turlock might then be established, whence would rise suspicion, and +perhaps discovery. Richard had no terrors upon his own account, but he +was solicitous to spare his mother this new shame. He had been hitherto +guiltless in her eyes, or, when blameworthy, the victim of +circumstances; but could her love for him survive the knowledge that he +was a murderer? But why encourage these morbid apprehensions? Was it not +just as likely that the Thing would never be discovered at all? Once set +upon a wrong scent, as folks already were, since the papers had +suggested the man was drowned, why should they ever hit upon the right +one? Wheal Danes had not been explored for half a century. Why should +not Solomon's bones lie there till the judgment-day? + +At this point in his reflections the door opened--he was taking his +breakfast in a private sitting-room--and admitted, as he thought, the +waiter. Richard stood in such profound thought that it was almost +stupor, with his arms upon the mantel-piece, and his head resting on his +hands. He did not change his posture; but when the door closed, and +there was silence in place of the expected clatter of the breakfast +things, he turned about, and beheld Harry standing before him--in deep +black, and, as it seemed to him, in widow's weeds! + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +FACE TO FACE. + + +If Solomon himself, half starved and imbecile with despair, had suddenly +presented himself from his living tomb, Richard could not have been more +astonished than at the appearance of his present visitor. He had left +her but three days ago for Midlandshire. How was it possible she had +tracked him hither? With what purpose she had done so he did not ask +himself, for he had already read it in her haggard face and hopeless +eyes. + +"Have I come too late?" moaned she in a piteous, terror-stricken voice. + +"For breakfast?--yes, madam," returned Richard, coldly; "but that can +easily be remedied;" and he feigned to touch the bell. His heart was +steel again; this woman's fear and care he felt were for his enemy, and +for him alone. It was plain she had no longer fear of himself. + +"Where is my husband?" she gasped out. "Is he still alive?" + +"I am not your husband's keeper, madam." + +"But you are his murderer!" She held out her arm, and pointed at him +with a terrible significance. There was something clasped in her +trembling fingers which he could not discern. + +"You speak in riddles, madam; and it seems to me your humor is somewhat +grim." + +"I ask you once more, is my husband dead, and have I come too late?" + +"I have not seen him for some days; I left him alive and well. What +makes you think him otherwise, or that I have harmed him?" + +"This"--she advanced toward him, keeping her eyes steadily fixed upon +his own--"this was found among your things after you left my house!" + +It was a ticket-of-leave--the one that had been given to Balfour on his +discharge from Lingmoor. It seemed impossible that Richard's colorless +face could have become still whiter, but it did so. + +"Yes, that is mine," said he. "It was an imprudence in me to leave such +a token among curious people. You took an interest in my effects, it +seems." + +"It was poor Mrs. Basil who found it, and who gave it to me." Her voice +was calm, and even cold; but the phrase "poor Mrs. Basil" alarmed him. + +"The good lady is still unwell, then, is she?" + +"She is dead." + +"Dead!" Richard staggered to a chair, and pressed his hands to his +forehead. The only creature in the world on whom his slender hopes were +built had, then, departed from it! "When did she die?" inquired he in a +hollow voice, "and how?" + +"On the evening of the day you left, and, as I believe, of a disease +which one like you will scarcely credit--of a broken heart." + +Her manner and tone were hostile; but that moved not Richard one whit; +the cold and measured tones in which she had alluded to his mother's +death angered him, on the other hand, exceedingly. If his mother had +died of a broken heart, it was this woman's falsehood that had broken +it; and yet she could speak with calmness and unconcern of the loss +which had left him utterly forlorn! He forgot all his late remorse; and +in his eyes glittered malice and cruel rage. + +"I do not fear you," cried she, in answer to this look; "for the +wretched have no fear. The hen will do battle with the fox, the rabbit +with the stoat, to save her young. If I can not save my husband, I will +save my son. I have come down here to do it. You are known to me now for +what you are--a jail-bird. If you dare to meet my Charley's honest face +again, I will tell him who and what you are." + +"Did Mrs. Basil tell you that, then?" + +"Thus far she did," cried Harry, pointing to the ticket which Richard +had taken from her hand. "Is not that enough? She warned me with her +latest breath against you. 'Beware of him,' said she; 'and yet pursue +him, if you would save your husband and your son. Where Solomon is, +there will this man also be. Pursue, pursue!' I did but stay to close +her eyes." + +"And so she knew me, did she?" + +"She knew enough, as I do. Of course she could not guess--who +could?--your shameful past, the fruit of which is there!" and again she +pointed to the ticket. + +"_My_ shameful past!" cried Richard, rising and drawing himself to his +full height. "Who are you, that dare to say so? Do you, then, need one +to rise from the dead to remind you of _your_ past! Look at me, Harry +Trevethick--look at _me_!" + +"Richard!" It was but one word; but in the tone which she pronounced it +a thousand memories seemed to mingle. An inexpressible awe pervaded her; +she stood spell-bound, staring at his white hair and withered face. + +"Yes, it _is_ Richard," answered the other, mockingly, "though it is +hard to think so. Twenty years of wretchedness have worked the change. +It is you he has to thank for it, you perjured traitress!" + +"No, no; as Heaven is my judge, Richard, I tell you No!" She threw +herself on her knees before him; and as she did so her bonnet fell, and +the rippling hair that he had once stroked so tenderly escaped from its +bands; the color came into her cheeks, and the light into her eyes, with +the passionate excitement of her appeal; and for the moment she looked +almost as he had known her in the far-back spring-tide of her youth. + +"Fair and false as ever!" cried Richard, bitterly. + +"Listen, listen!" pleaded she; "then call me what you will." + +He sat in silence while she poured forth all the story of the trial, and +of the means by which her evidence had been obtained, listening at first +with a cold, cynical smile, like one who is prepared for falsehood, and +beyond its power; but presently he drooped his head and hid his +features. She knew that she had persuaded him of her fidelity, but +feared that behind those wrinkled hands there still lay a ruthless +purpose. She had exculpated herself, but only (of necessity) by showing +in blacker colors the malice of his enemies. She knew that he had sworn +to destroy them root and branch; and there was one green bough which he +had already done his worst to bend to evil ways. "Richard, Richard!" +said she, softly. + +He withdrew his chair with a movement which she mistook for one of +loathing. + +"He hates me for their sake," thought she, "although he knows me to be +innocent. How much more must he hate those who made me seem so guilty!" +But, in truth, his withdrawal from her touch had a very different +explanation. He would have kissed her, and held out both his hands, but +for the blood which he dreaded might be even now upon them. He saw that +she loved him still, and had ever done so, even when she seemed his foe: +all the old affection that he thought had been dead within him awoke to +life, and yet he dared not give it voice. + +"You have said my husband was alive and well, Richard?" + +"I said I had left him so," answered he, hoarsely. + +"Then you have spared him thus far; spare him still, even for my sake; +and, for Heaven's sake, spare my son! Harden not your heart against one +more dear to me by far than life itself. He has done you no wrong." + +Richard shook his head; he yearned to clasp her to his breast; he could +have cried, "I forgive them all," but he could not trust himself to +speak, lest he should say, "I love you." + +"You have seen my boy, Richard, many times. The friendship you have +simulated for him must have made you know how warm-hearted and kind and +unsuspicious his nature is. You have listened to his merry laugh, and +felt the sunshine of his gayety. Oh! can you have the heart to harm +him?" + +Still he did not speak; he scarcely heard her words. The murdered man +was standing between her and him; and he would always stand there, seen +by him, though not by her. From the grave itself he had come forth to +triumph over him to the end. + +"Richard"--her voice had sunk to a tremulous whisper--"I must save my +son, and save you from yourself, no matter what it costs me. You little +know on the brink of what a crime you stand." + +He laughed a bitter laugh; for was he not already steeped in crime? She +thought him pitiless and malignant when he was only hopeless and +self-condemned. + +"Do you remember Gethin, Richard, and all that happened there? Can you +not guess why I was made to marry--within--what was it?--a month, a +week, a day--it seemed but the next hour--after I lost you? You have had +twenty years of misery for my sake; but so have I for yours. Did my +husband love me, think you? Did he love my child? He had good cause, if +he had only known, to hate us both. Can you not guess it?" + +He looked at her with eager hope--a trembling joy pervaded him. But hope +and joy had been strangers to him so long that he could scarce recognize +them for what they were. + +"My Charley is yours also, Richard--your own son." + +Richard burst into tears. There was somebody still to love him in the +world--his own flesh and blood--somebody to live for! The thought +intoxicated him with delight; a vision of happiness floated before him +for an instant; then was swallowed up in darkness, as a single star by +the gloom of night. His own flesh and blood; ay, perhaps inheriting the +same nature as his father. It was only too likely, from what he had seen +of the lad; and he had himself done his best to develop the evil in him, +and to crush the good. + +"Don't weep, dear Richard: kiss me." + +He shrank from her proffered lips with a cold shudder. "Nay, I can not +kiss you. Do not ask me why, Harry. Never ask me; but I never can." + +She looked at him with wonder, for she saw that his wrath had vanished. +His tone was tender, though woeful, and his touch as he put her aside +was as gentle as a child's. + +"As you please, Richard," said she, humbly, and with a deep blush. "I +only wished for it as a token of your forgiveness. It is not necessary; +those tears have told me we are reconciled. But you will kiss Charley." + +"Nay; he must never know," answered Richard gloomily. + +"I had forgotten," said Harry, simply. "You can guess by that the +loyalty of my heart toward you, Richard. I forgot that to reveal it +would be to tell my darling of his mother's shame. But you will be kind +and good to him; you will undo what you have done of harm; you will lead +him back to Agnes, and then he will be safe." + +"Yes, yes," muttered Richard, mechanically; "I will undo so far as I can +what I have done of harm. I will do my best, as I have done my worst." + +He rose hastily, and rang the bell. Harry eyed him like some attached +creature that sympathizes with but can not comprehend its master. + +The waiter entered. + +"I shall not go by the train," said Richard; "let a carriage and pair be +brought round instantly, without a moment's delay." + +The waiter hurried out to execute the order. + +"But you will surely return home, Richard, after what has happened?" +said Harry, thinking of his mother's funeral. + +"The dead can wait," returned he, solemnly. "Go you back to town. In +three days' time, if you do not hear from me, come down to Gethin with +Charles and Agnes." + +"But I dare not, unless my husband send for me." + +"He _will_ send for you," said Richard, solemnly; "or others will in his +behalf." + +Without one word or sign of farewell he suddenly rushed by her, and was +gone. A carriage stood at the front-door of the hotel, which had just +returned from taking a bride and bridegroom to the railway station, and +she saw him hurry into it. + +"Fast! fast!" she heard him cry, through the open window; and then he +was whirled away. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +CURTIUS. + + +Richard had many subjects for thought to beguile his lonely way to +Gethin, but one was paramount, and absorbed the rest, though he strove +to dismiss it all he could. + +He endeavored to think of his dead mother. His heart was full of her +patient love and weary, childless life; but her portrait faded from his +mind like a dissolving view, and in its place stood that of Solomon Coe, +haggard, emaciated, hideous. Still less could he think of Harry and her +son, between whom and himself this spectre of the unhappy man rose up at +once, summoned by the thought of them, as by a spell. It did not occur +to Richard even now that he had had no right to kill him; but he +shuddered to think, if he had really done so, how this late opening +flower of love which he had just discovered would blossom into fear and +loathing. In that case his heart would have been softened only to be +pierced. His mother's death, the knowledge of Harry's fidelity, and of +the existence of his son, to whom his affection had been already drawn, +unknowingly and in spite of himself, had dissolved his cruel purpose. He +was eager to spare his mother's memory the shame of the foul crime he +had contemplated, and passionately anxious that in the veins of his +new-found son there should at least run no murderer's blood. + +"Faster! faster!" was still his cry, though the horses galloped whenever +it was practicable, and the wheels cast the winter's mire into his eager +face. This haste was made, as he well knew, upon the road to his own +ruin. To find Solomon alive was to be accused of having compassed his +death. There was no hope in the magnanimity of such a foe. But yesterday +Richard had cared little or nothing for his own safety, and was only +bent upon the prosecution of his scheme against his foe; now life had +mysteriously become dear to him, and he was about to risk it in saving +the man he had hated most on earth from the doom to which he had himself +consigned him. He had calculated the possibilities which were in his own +favor, and they had resolved themselves into this single chance--that +Solomon might be induced, by the unconditional offer of Wheal Danes and +its golden treasure, to forego his revenge. His greed was great; but his +malice, as Richard had good cause to know, was also not easily +satisfied. Moreover, even if his victim should decline to be his +prosecutor, he would still stand in great peril. It was only too +probable that he would be recognized at Gethin for the stranger that had +so lately been staying at Turlock; he had not, indeed, mentioned his +assumed name at the latter place; but his lack of interest in the fate +of Solomon--whose disappearance had been narrated to him by the +waitress--and his departure from the town under such circumstances, +would (in case of his identification) be doubtless contrasted with this +post-haste journey of his to deliver this same man. He had made up his +mind, however, to neglect no precautions to avoid this contingency. It +would be dark when he got to Gethin; and his purpose once accomplished +he might easily escape recognition, unless he should be denounced by +Solomon himself. In that case Richard was fully determined that he would +glut no more the curiosity of the crowd. He would never stand in the +prisoner's dock, or be consigned again to stone walls. The gossips +should have a dead man's face to gaze at, and welcome; they might make +what sport they pleased of that, but not again of his living agony. +Then, instead of his being Solomon's murderer, he would be his victim. +To judge by his present feeling, thought Richard, bitterly, this man +would not enjoy his triumph even then. Revenge, as his mother had once +told him, was like a game of battle-door--it is never certain who gets +the last stroke. If Solomon was now dead, starved skeleton or rat-eaten +corpse as he might be, Richard felt that he would still have had the +advantage over him. + +"What is it? Why are we stopping?" cried he, frantically, as the man +pulled up on the top of a hill. + +"Let me breathe the horses for an instant," pleaded the driver; "we +shall gain time in the end." + +"How far are we still from Gethin?" inquired Richard, impatiently. + +"In time, two hours, Sir, for the road is bad, though me and the horses +will do our best; but the distance is scarce twelve miles. Do you see +that black thing out to seaward yonder? That's the castled rock. He +stands out fine against the sunset, don't he?" + +"Yes, yes; make haste;" and on they sped again at a gallop. + +Within a mile or two of this spot Richard had first caught sight of that +same object twenty years ago. The occasion flashed upon him with every +minutest circumstance, even to the fact of how hungry he had been at the +moment. The world was all before him then, and life was young. Now, +prematurely aged, his interest centred in three human beings, and one of +those was his bitter enemy. + +The dusk thickened into dark; and the tired horses--for the stage had +been a very long one--made but slow way. + +"Faster! faster!" was Richard's constant cry, till the brow of the last +hill was gained, and the scanty lights of Gethin showed themselves. Then +it suddenly struck him for the first time what unnecessary speed had +been made. Why, this man, Solomon, strong and inured to privation, had, +after all, been but eight-and-forty hours in the mine, and would surely +be alive, unless the rats had killed him. Where had he somewhere read of +a strong man overpowered in a single night by a legion of rats, and +discovered a heap of clean-picked bones by morning? + +The inn, as usual at that season, showed few signs of life; but there +were some half dozen miners drinking at the bar. + +"Keep those men," said Richard to the inn-keeper; for Solomon had long +delegated that office to another, though his own name was still over the +door, and the _Gethin Castle_ was still his home. "I shall want their +help to-night." + +"Their help, Sir?" said the astonished landlord. + +"Yes; but say nothing for the present. Bring me a bottle of brandy and +some meat--cold chicken, if you have it; then let me have a word with +you." + +Richard did not order the food for himself. While it was being brought +he sat down in the very chair that he had used so often--for he had been +ushered into his old parlor--and gazed about him. There were the same +tawdry ornaments on the mantel-piece, and the same books on the dusty +shelf. Nothing was altered except the tenant of that room; but how great +a change had taken place in _him_! What a face the dingy mirror offered +him in place of that which it had shown him last! When the inn-keeper +returned his mind involuntarily conjured up old Trevethick, as he had +received from him the key of the ruin, and doggedly taken his +compliments upon its workmanship. Truly, "there is no such thing as +forgetting;" and to recall our past to its minutest details at the +judgment-day will not be so impracticable as some of us would desire. + +Richard had made up his mind exactly as to what he would say to this +man, but a question suddenly presented itself, which had been absent +from his thoughts from the moment that he had resolved to rescue his +enemy. It was a very simple one, too, and would have occurred to any one +else, as it had done already many times to himself. + +"Has Mr. Coe been found yet?" + +He listened for the answer eagerly, for if such was the case, not only +was his journey useless, but had brought him into the very jaws of +destruction. He would have thrown away his life for nothing. + +"No, Sir, indeed--and he never will be," replied the inn-keeper. "When +the sea don't give a man up in four-and-twenty hours, it keeps him for +good--at least we always find it so at Gethin." + +"Well, listen to me. My name is Balfour. I knew Mr. Coe, and have had +dealings with him. We had arranged a partnership together in a certain +mine; and it is my opinion that he came down here upon that business." + +"Very like, Sir. He was much engaged that way, and made, they say, a +pretty penny at it." + +"I was at Plymouth, on my way to join him, when I heard this sad news. I +came to-day post-haste in consequence of it. The search for him must be +renewed to-night." + +"Lor, Sir, it is easy to see you are a stranger in these parts! I +wouldn't like to go myself where poor Mr. Coe met his end, on so dark a +night as this. It's a bad path even in daylight along Turlock cliff." + +"He did not take that way, at least I think not. Have you a ladder about +the premises?" + +"Yes, sure." + +"And a lantern?" + +"Now that's strange enough, Sir, that you should have inquired for a +lantern; for we wanted one just now to see to your horses, and, though +they're looking for it high and low, it can't be found nowhere." + +"It doesn't strike you, then, that Mr. Coe might have taken it with +him?" + +"Lor, Sir," cried the inn-keeper, with admiration, "and so he must ha' +done! Of course it strikes one when the thing has been put into one's +head. Well, 'twas a good lantern, and now 'tis lost. Dear me, dear me!" + +Golden visions of succeeding to the management of the inn, and of taking +to the furniture and fixings in the gross, had flitted across this +honest gentleman's brain, and the disappearance of the lantern affected +him with the acute sense of pecuniary damage. The general valuation +would probably be no less because of the absence of this article. + +"Send out and borrow another, as many, in fact, as you can get," said +Richard, impatiently; "and get ready a torch or two besides. Pick out +four of the strongest men yonder, and bid them come with me, and search +Wheal Danes." + +"What! that old pit. Sir? You'll not find a man to do it--no, not if +they knowed as master was at the bottom of it. You wait till morning." + +"Your master _is_ at the bottom of it. I feel sure he took the lantern +with him to search that mine. I will give them a pound apiece to start +at once. Pack up this food, and lend them a mattress to bring him home +upon. Be quick! be quick!" + +Richard's energy fairly overpowered the phlegmatic inn-keeper, whose +conscience, perhaps, also smote him with respect to his missing master; +and he set about the execution of these orders promptly. Wheal Danes, he +had truly hinted, was a very unpopular spot with its neighbors after +nightfall; but, on the other hand, sovereigns were rare in Gethin, and +greatly prized. In less than half an hour the necessaries which Richard +had indicated were procured, and a party, consisting of himself, four +stalwart miners, and the inn-keeper, started for the pit. These were +followed by half the inhabitants of the little village, attracted by the +rumor of their purpose, which had oozed out from the bar of the _Gethin +Castle_. The windy down had probably never known so strange a concourse +as that which presently streamed over it, with torch and lantern, and +stood around the mouth of the disused mine. The night was dark, and +nothing could be seen save what the flare of the lights they carried +showed them--a jagged rim of pit without a bottom. Notwithstanding their +numbers there was but little talk among them; they had a native dread of +this dismal place, and, besides, there might now be a ghastly secret +hidden within it. A muffled exclamation, half of admiration, half of +awe, broke from the circling crowd as, the ladder planted, Richard was +seen descending it torch in hand. No other man followed; none had +volunteered, and he had asked for no companion. They watched him, as the +countrymen of those who had formerly worked Wheal Danes might have +watched Curtius when he leaped into the gulf; and as in _his_ case, when +they saw the ladder removed, and the light grow dim, and finally die out +before their eyes, it seemed that the pit had closed on Richard--that he +was swallowed up alive. No one, unless the strange story about their +missing neighbor which this man had brought was true, had ventured into +Wheal Danes for these fifty years! They kept an awe-struck silence, +straining eye and ear. Some thought they could still see a far-off +glimmer, others that they could hear a stifled cry, when the less +fortunate or the less imaginative could hear or see nothing. But after a +little darkness and silence reigned supreme beneath them; they seemed +standing on the threshold of a tomb. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +WHAT WAS FOUND IN WHEAL DANES. + + +A full half hour--which to the watchers above seemed a much longer +interval--had elapsed since Richard had disappeared in the depths of +Wheal Danes, and not a sign of his return had reached the attentive +throng. + +"I thought he'd come to harm," muttered a fisherman to his neighbor; "it +was a sin and a shame to let him venture." + +"Ay, you may say that," returned the other, aloud. "I call it downright +murder in them as sent him." + +"It was not I as sent him," observed the inn-keeper, with the honest +indignation of a man that has not right habitually on his own side. +"What _I_ said to the gentleman was, 'Wait till morning.' Why should _I_ +send him?" Here he stopped, though his reasons for not wishing to hurry +matters would have been quite conclusive. + +"Why was he let to go down at all, being a stranger?" resumed the first +speaker. "Why didn't somebody show him the way?" + +"Because nobody knowed it," answered one of the four miners whose +services Richard had retained, and who justly imagined that the +fisherman's remark had been a reflection on his own profession. "I'd ha' +gone down Dunloppel with him at midnight, or any other mine as can be +called such; but this is different." + +"Ay, ay, that's so," said a second miner. "We know no more of this place +than you fishermen. There may be as much water in it as in the sea, for +aught we can tell." + +"It's my belief they're more afraid of the Dead Hand than the water," +observed a voice from the crowd, the great majority of which was +composed of fisher folk. + +No reply was given to this; perhaps because the speaker, an old cripple, +the Thersites of the village, was beneath notice, perhaps because the +remark was unanswerable. The miners were bold enough against material +enemies, but they were superstitious to a man. + +"If Solomon Coe were alive," continued the same voice, "he wouldn't ha' +feared nothin'." + +"That's the first word, old man, as ever I heard you speak in his +favor," said a miner, contemptuously; "and you've waited for that till +he's dead." + +"Still, he would ha' gone, and you durstn't," observed the old fellow, +cunningly, "and that's the p'int." + +These allusions to the Dead Hand and to the missing Solomon were not of +a nature to inspire courage in those to whom it was already lacking, and +a silence again ensued. There was less light, for a torch or two had +gone out, and the mine looked blacker than ever. + +"Well, who's a-going down?" croaked the old cripple. "The gentleman came +from your inn, Jonathan, and it's your place, I should think, to look +after him." + +"Certainly not," answered the inn-keeper, hastily. "These men here were +hired for this very service." + +"That's true," said the first miner. "But what's the use of talking when +the gentleman has got the ladder with him?" + +"There's more ladders in the world than one," observed the cripple. +"Here's my grandson, John; he and half a dozen of these young fellows +would fetch Farmer Gray's in less than no time. Come, lads--be off with +ye." + +This suggestion was highly applauded, except by the miner who had so +injudiciously compromised himself, and was carried out at once. + +When the ladder arrived the three other miners, ashamed of deserting +their comrade, volunteered to descend with him. The excitement among the +spectators was great, indeed, when these four men disappeared in the +levels of Wheal Danes, as Richard had done before them. The light of +their combined torches lingered a little in their rear; the sound of +their voices, as they halloed to one another or to the missing man, was +heard for several minutes. But darkness and silence swallowed _them_ up +also, and the watchers gazed on one another aghast. + +It is not an easy thing, even for those accustomed to underground labor, +to search an unfamiliar spot by torch-light; the fitful gleam makes the +objects on which it falls difficult of identification. It is doubtful +whether one has seen this or that before or not--whether we are not +retracing old ground. Even to practiced eyes these objects, too, are not +so salient as the tree or the stone which marks a locality above-ground; +add to this, in the present case, that the searchers were momently in +expectation of coming upon something which they sought and yet feared to +find, and it will be seen that their progress was of necessity but slow. +They kept together, too, as close as sheep, which narrowed the compass +of their researches, and caused their combined torches to distribute +only as much light as one man would have done provided with a +chandelier. They knew, however, that their predecessor had descended +into the second level, so that they did not need to explore the first at +all. The ground was hard, and gave forth echoes to their cautious but +heavy tread; their cries of "Hollo!" "Are you there?" which they +reiterated, like nervous children playing hide-and-seek, reverberated +from roof to wall. + +Presently, when they stopped to listen for these voices of the rock to +cease, there was heard a human moan. It seemed to come up from a great +depth out of the darkness before them. They listened earnestly, and the +sound was repeated--the faint cry of a man in grievous pain. + +"There must be another level," observed the miner who had volunteered +the search. "This man has fallen down it." + +They had therefore to go back for the ladder. Pushing this before them, +the end began presently to run freely, and then stopped; it had adjusted +itself by the side of the shorter ladder which Richard had brought down +with him. + +"He could not have fallen, then," observed a miner, answering his +comrade's remark--as is the custom with this class of great doers and +small talkers--at a considerable interval. + +"Yes, he could," replied the one who had first spoken. "See, his ladder +was short, and he may have pitched over." + +They stood and listened, peering down into the darkness beneath them; +but there was no repetition of the cries. The wounded man had apparently +spent his last strength, perhaps his last breath, in uttering them. + +"He must be down here somewhere. Come on." + +The situation was sufficiently appalling; but these men had lost half +their terrors, now that they knew there was a fellow-creature needing +help. They descended slowly; and he who was foremost presently cried +out, "I see him; here he is." + +The man was lying on his face quite still; and when they lifted him, +each looked at the other with a grave significance--they had carried too +many from the bowels of the earth to the pit's mouth not to know when a +man was dead. Even a senseless body is not the same to an experienced +bearer as a dead weight. The corpse was still warm, but the head fell +back with a movement not of life. + +"You were right, mate. His neck is broke; the poor gentleman pitched +over on his head." + +"Stop a bit," exclaimed the man addressed; "see here. Why, it ain't him +at all--it's Solomon Coe." + +An exclamation of astonishment burst involuntarily from the other three. + +"Then where's the other?" cried they all together. + +"I am here," answered a ghastly whisper. + +Within but a few feet of Solomon, so that they could hardly have +overlooked him had not the former monopolized their attention, lay +Richard, grievously hurt. Some ribs were broken, and one of them was +pressed in upon the lungs. Still he was alive, and the men turned their +attention first to him, since Solomon was beyond their aid. By help of +the two ladders, side by side, they bore him up the wall of rock; and so +from level to level--a tedious and painful journey to the wounded +man--to the upper air. + +He was carried to the inn upon the mattress which his own care had +provided for another; while the four miners, to the amazement of the +throng, once more descended into the pit for a still more ghastly +burden. + +Richard could speak a little, though with pain. By his orders a +messenger was dispatched that night to Plymouth to telegraph the news of +the discovery of her husband's body to Mrs. Coe. His next anxiety was to +hear the surgeon's report, not on his own condition, but on that of +Solomon. This gentleman did not arrive for some hours, and Richard was +secretly well pleased at his delay. It was his hope, for a certain +reason, that he would not arrive until the body was stiff and cold. + +He saw Richard first, of course. The case was very serious; so much so +that he thought it right to mention the fact, in order that his patient +might settle his worldly affairs if they needed settlement. + +"There is no immediate danger, my good Sir; but it is always well in +such cases to have the mind free from anxiety." + +"I understand; it is quite right," said Richard, gravely. "Moreover, +since the opportunity may not occur again, let me now state how it all +happened." + +"Nay, you must not talk. We know it all, or at least enough of it for +the present." + +"What do you know?" asked Richard, with his eyes half shut, but with +eager ears. + +"That in your benevolent attempt to seek after Mr. Coe you met with the +same accident--though I trust it will not have the same ending--as that +unfortunate gentleman himself. He pitched upon his head and broke his +neck, while you fell upon your side." + +"That is so," murmured Richard. "He and I were partners, you see--" + +"There, there; not a word more," insisted the doctor; "your deposition +can wait." + +And having done what he could for his patient, he left him, in order to +examine the unfortunate Solomon. His investigation corroborated all that +he had already heard of the circumstances of his death, with which also +Richard's evidence accorded. An observation made by one of the miners +who had found the body, to the effect that it was yet warm when they had +come upon it, excited the surgeon's ridicule. + +"It is now Tuesday morning, my friend," said he, "and this poor fellow +met with his death on Saturday night for certain. He could not, +therefore, have been much warmer when you found him than he is now." + +"Well, me and my mate here we both fancied--" + +"I dare say you did, my man," interrupted the doctor; "and fancy is a +very proper word to apply to such an impression. If you take my advice, +however, you will not repeat such a piece of evidence when put upon your +oath, for the thing is simply impossible." + +"Then I suppose we be in the wrong," said Dick to Jack; and on that +supposition they acted. + +In this way too self-reliant Science, whose mission it is to explode +fallacies, occasionally assists in the explosion or suffocation of a +fact, for Solomon Coe had not been dead half an hour when his body was +found. + +When Richard, alone on his errand of mercy, was approaching the brink of +the third level, he could hear Solomon calling lustily for help. Nay, it +was not only "Help!" but "Murder!" that he cried out; and +notwithstanding the menace that that word implied toward himself, +Richard hurried on, well pleased to hear it; the vigor of the cry +assured him that his enemy was not only living, but unhurt. As the light +he carried grew more distinct to him, indeed, these shouts redoubled; +but when it came quite near, and disclosed the features of its bearer, +there was a dead silence. The two men stood confronting one another--the +one in light, distinctly seen, looking down upon the other in shade, +just as they had parted only eight-and-forty hours ago. To one of them, +as we know, this space had been eventful; but to the other it had seemed +a lifetime--an age of hopes and fears, and latterly of cold despair, +which had now been warmed once more to hope only to freeze again. For +was not this man, to whom he had looked for aid, his cruel foe come back +to taunt him--to behold him already half-way toward death, and to make +its slow approach more bitter? But great as was his agony Solomon held +his peace, nor offered to this monarch of his fate the tribute of a +groan. + +"I am come to rescue you," said Richard, in low but distinct tones; "to +undo the evil that I have already done, although it was no less than you +deserved, nor an overpayment of the debt I owed you. In return you will +doubtless denounce me as having meant to murder you." + +No answer. If Richard had not heard his cries, it would have seemed that +this poor wretch had lost the power of speech. His huge head drooped +upon his shoulder, and he leaned against the rocky wall as though his +limbs could not have otherwise supported themselves; they shook, +indeed--but was it with weakness or with hate?--as though he had the +palsy. + +"Well, you will have reason to do so," continued Richard, calmly, "for I +did mean to murder you. In ten minutes hence you will find yourself +among your neighbors, free to act as you please. I shall make no appeal +to your mercy; it would, I know, be as fruitless as was yours to mine +the other day; but if you abstain from molesting me, this mine, with all +its hidden treasure, shall be your own. I have nothing more to say." + +Solomon answered nothing. "Perhaps," thought Richard, "he still doubts +me.--Well, here is the ladder;" and he suited the action to the word. +Solomon's great hand flew out from his side, and clutched a rung as a +dog's teeth close upon a bone; a dog's growl, too, half triumph and half +threat, came from his deep chest; then he began slowly to ascend, +keeping his eyes fixed on Richard. The latter drew back a little to give +him space, and watched him with folded arms. + +"Now," said Solomon, stepping off the ladder with the prolonged "Ha!" of +one who breathes freely after long oppression, "it is _my_ turn!" + +"What are you about to do?" asked Richard, calmly. + +"What! you think we are quits, Richard Yorke, do you? or at least that +when I had seen you hung it would seem so to me? You don't know what it +is to die here slowly in the dark; you are about to learn that." + +"Indeed." + +"Yes. You complained the other day of my having used the law against +you. Well, you shall not have to reproach me with that a second time. We +are about to change places, you and I, that's all. You shall keep sentry +down yonder till Death comes to relieve _you_. It was indiscreet in you +to venture here alone to dictate terms, my friend." + +Solomon's voice was grating and terrible; it had grown hoarse with +calling. His form was gaunt and pinched with hunger; his eyes flashed +like those of some starving beast of prey. + +"I swear to you I came here to rescue you, and with no other purpose," +said Richard, earnestly. "I was not afraid of you when you were hale and +strong, and much less now when you are weakened with privation; but I do +not wish to have your blood upon my hands. I came here to-night--" + +"Is it night?" interrupted the other, eagerly. "I did not know that it +was night; how should I, in this place, where there is no day? Well, +that was still more indiscreet of you, for I shall get away unseen, +while you lie here unsought." + +"Your scheme is futile. There are fifty men about the pit's mouth now. I +have told them--" + +"Liar!" Solomon darted forward; and Richard, throwing away the torch, as +though disdaining to use any advantage in the way of weapon, grappled +with him at once. At the touch of his foe his scruples vanished, and his +hate returned with tenfold fury. But he was in the grasp of a giant. +Privation had doubtless weakened Solomon, but he had still the strength +of a powerful man, and his rage supplied him for the time with all that +he had lost. They clung to one another like snakes, and whirled about +with frantic violence. Whichever fell undermost was a dead man for +certain. For a few moments the expiring torch still showed them each +other's hot, vindictive faces; then they battled in the dark, with +laboring breath and eager strain, swaying they knew not whither. At last +the huge weight of Solomon overbore his lesser antagonist. Richard's +limbs gave way beneath him, and he fell, but fell through space; for in +their gyrations they had, without knowing it, returned to the top of the +ladder. His foe, fast clutched, fell with him, but, pitching on his +head, was killed, as we have seen, upon the instant. + +This was the true history of what had occurred in the mine, as Richard, +on his bed of pain, recalled it step by step, and strove to shape it to +his ends. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +MAKING PEACE. + + +Whether Richard's own injuries proved fatal or not was with him a matter +of secondary importance. His anxiety was to prove that they were +received by misadventure; upon the whole, matters promised favorably for +this, and were in other respects as satisfactory as could reasonably be +expected. The blood of Solomon Coe was upon his own head. Richard had no +need even to reproach himself with having struck in self-defense the +blow that killed his enemy; and he did not reflect that he was still to +blame for having, in the first instance, placed him in the mine. He had +at least done his best to extricate him, and his conscience was (perhaps +naturally) not very tender respecting the man who had repaid his attempt +at atonement with such implacable animosity. At all events, Richard's +mind was too much engaged in calculating the consequences of what had +happened to entertain remorse. The question that now monopolized it was, +what conclusion was likely to be arrived at by the coroner's inquest +that would, of course, be held upon the body. The verdict was of the +most paramount importance to him, not because upon it depended his own +safety (for he valued his life but lightly, and, besides, his inward +pain convinced him that it was already forfeited), but all that now made +life worth having--the good regards of Harry and her son. He had no +longer any scruple on his own part with respect to accepting or +returning their affection. His fear was, lest, having been compelled to +take so active a part in the rescue of the unhappy Solomon, something +should arise to implicate him in his incarceration. + +Fortunately he was far too ill to be summoned as a witness. His +deposition alone could be taken, and that he framed with the utmost +caution, and as briefly as was possible. His wounded lung defended him +from protracted inquiries. Solomon himself had proposed the idea of a +partnership in Wheal Danes, and his interest in the mine, the knowledge +of which had suggested to Richard the place of his concealment, had +evidently proved fatal to him. That he should have broken his neck just +as Richard had broken his ribs on such a quest was by no means +extraordinary; but how he ever reached the spot where he was found at +all, without the aid of a ladder, was inexplicable. The line of evidence +was smooth enough but for this ugly knot, and it troubled Richard much, +though, as it happened, unnecessarily. Had the place of the calamity +been a gravel-pit at Highgate, it would have been guarded by +constabulary, and all things preserved as they were until after the +official investigation. But Wheal Danes, from having been a deserted +mine, had suddenly become the haunt of the curious and the morbid. There +was nothing more likely than that Solomon's ladder had been carried off, +and perhaps disposed of at a high price per foot as an interesting +relic. The presence of the half-extinguished torch that Richard had +flung away in the second level (and which should by rights have been +found in the third) was still more easily explained: there were a score +of such things now lying about the mine, which had been left there by +visitors. In short, an "active" coroner and an "intelligent" jury could +have come to no other conclusion than that of "accidental death;" and +they came to it accordingly. + +Other comforters had arrived to the wounded man, before the receipt of +that good news, in the persons of Harry and her son and Agnes. There was +a reason why all three should be now warmly attracted toward him, which, +while it effectually worked his will in that way, gave him many a +twinge. They looked upon him, as did the rest of the world, as the man +who had lost his life (for his wound was by this time pronounced to be +fatal) to save his friend. He told them that it was not so, and they did +not believe him. He had not the heart to tell them how matters really +stood; but their praise pained him more than the agony of his wound, and +he peremptorily forbade the subject to be alluded to. This command was +not difficult to obey. Solomon's death, although the awful character of +it shocked them much, was, in reality, regretted neither by wife nor +son: such must be the case with every husband and father who has been a +domestic tyrant, no matter how dutifully wife and son may strive to +mourn: his loss was a release, and his memory a burden that they very +willingly put aside; and, in particular, his name was never mentioned +before Agnes without strong necessity. + +Mrs. Coe, always at her best and wisest in matters wherein her son was +concerned, had never told this girl of the part which Robert Balfour had +taken against her. It would have wounded her self-love to have learned +that the influence of a comparative stranger had been used, and with +some effect, to estrange her Charley. She would scarcely have made +sufficient allowance for a man of the world's insidious arts, +notwithstanding the circumstances that had so favored them. Thus Harry +had justly reasoned, and kept silence concerning him. Agnes had +therefore set down the gradual cessation of her lover's visits to Soho, +and his growing coldness, solely to the hostility of Solomon. They had +pained her deeply, though she had been too proud to evince aught but +indignation; still she strove to persuade herself it was but natural +that this lad, entirely dependent upon his father for the means of +livelihood, and daily exposed to his menaces or arguments, should +endeavor to steel himself against her; that he really loved her less she +did not in her own faithful heart believe. It was, however, with no +thought of regaining his affection that she had obeyed the widow's hasty +summons on the news of the catastrophe at Wheal Danes, but solely from +sympathy and affection. She had always loved and pitied her, for Harry +had shown her kindness and great good-will; and, notwithstanding the +girl's high spirit, she did not now forget, as many would have done, all +other debts in that obligation so easy of discharge, namely, "what she +owed to herself." + +Her presence, notwithstanding the sad occasion of it, at once reawakened +Charley's slumbering passion, and the coldness with which she received +its advances only made it burn more brightly, like fire in frost. He +felt that he had not even deserved the friendship she now offered him in +place of her former love, and was patient and submissive under his just +punishment. He hoped in time to re-establish himself in her affections; +but at present, somewhat to Mrs. Coe's indignation, she had showed no +sign of yielding. He did in reality occupy the same position in her +heart as of old; but now that he was rich, and his own master (for his +mother was his slave), she was not inclined to confess it. Had he been +poor and dependent, she would have forgiven him readily enough; nor are +such natures unparalleled in her sex, notwithstanding the pictures which +are nowadays presented to us as types of girlhood. + +Such, then, was the mutual relation in which these two young people +stood, who ministered by turns (for Harry was always with him) to the +wants of the dying Balfour. The feelings with which he was regarded by +all three were in curious contrast with their former ones. What those of +Harry were now toward him we can easily guess; her hate and fear had +vanished to make room for love--not the love of old times, indeed, but a +deeper and a purer passion; it could never bear fruit, she knew--it was +but a prolonged farewell. To-morrow, or the next day, Death would +interpose between them; but in the mean time they were together, and she +clung to him. + +Charley, on the other hand, with whom Balfour had once been such a +favorite, felt, though attentive to his needs, by no means cordially +toward him. Gratitude for the fancied service he had done to his late +father compelled him to give Richard his company; but it was not +accorded willingly, as heretofore. He could not but set down to the +account of his companionship the present frigidity of Agnes, and at +first he had even seen him a material obstacle to his hopes. This +audacious man of the world, who had at one time so excited his +admiration, had suddenly become in his eyes an impudent _roue_, who even +on his sick-bed was only too likely to make their past adventures +together the subject of his talk. True, his mother had told him that Mr. +Balfour was now an altered man; but the young gentleman had entertained +some reasonable doubts of this conversion. His manner to the sick man +was so reserved and cool, indeed, that it seemed to all but Richard (who +guessed the cause of it, and yet felt its effect more bitterly than all) +unkind. This behavior on the part of his former ally did not injure +Balfour in the regards of Agnes; she resented Charley's conduct, and did +her best to redress it by manifesting her own good-will; she had herself +had experience of his shifting moods and causeless changes of demeanor, +and perhaps she was willing to show what small importance she attached +to his capricious humors. Thus it happened that Richard and herself "got +on" together much better (as well, of course, as much more speedily) +than the former could have hoped for; for indeed he had, with reason, +expected to find a bitter enemy in Agnes. He improved this advantage to +the utmost by taking occasion, in Charley's absence, to praise the lad, +under whose displeasure he manifestly lay. She answered that he had not, +at least from Mr. Balfour's lips, deserved such praise. + +"Nay, nay," said Richard, gently; "it is I who have not deserved the +lad's good-will; and you, my dear young lady, ought to be the last to +pity me, as I see you do." + +"How so?" asked she, in surprise. + +"Because," answered he, gravely, "I once strove to keep him from you." + +She looked annoyed, and cast a hurried glance toward the place where +Mrs. Coe had been sitting; but there was now only an empty chair there. +The widow had purposely withdrawn herself, in accordance with Richard's +wish. Agnes could scarcely leave the sick man without attendance. + +"When I say, 'keep him from you,'" continued Richard, "I mean that, +being lonely and friendless (as you see I am but for you three), the +society of this bright boy was very dear to me, and I selfishly strove +to secure it when he would fain have been elsewhere. I needed, as you +may well imagine, authority to back me in such efforts, but, unhappily +for him, I possessed its aid. He now resents, and very naturally, the +restraint which my companionship once imposed upon him, and sets down to +my account the estrangement which he so bitterly rues. An old man's +friendship is of no great worth at any time; but weighed in the balance +against a woman's love--" + +"Sir!" interrupted Agnes, with indignation. + +"Pardon me," continued Richard, gently; "I see you do not love him. I am +deeply grieved, for the sake of this poor lad, who is as devoted to you +as ever, to find it so, and to feel that it was in part my fault. I will +ask him to forgive me if he can." + +"Nay, Mr. Balfour, I beseech you, don't do that," cried Agnes, with +crimson cheeks. + +"As you please," murmured he, gravely. "But, remember, a few days hence, +or perhaps a few hours, and I may be beyond his forgiveness. It will +then rest with you, young lady, to clear my memory. You are not angry +with me--you can not be vexed with a dying man." + +"No, no." She was sobbing violently; her heart was touched, not only by +his own condition, as she would have had him believe, but by these +confidences respecting Charley. There is nothing more dear to a young +girl than the testimony of another man to her lover's fealty; the +witness himself is even guerdoned with some payment of the rich store he +bears; and from that moment Balfour was not only forgiven by Agnes, but +even beloved by her. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +REST AT LAST. + + +That the termination of Richard's malady would be fatal did not from the +first admit of doubt, but he lingered on beyond all expectation. The +spring came on and found him yet alive at Gethin. He was never moved +from the room to which he had been carried after his mischance--the same +which had been his bedroom in the old times, when he was full of +strength and vigor--wherein he had so often lain awake, revolving +schemes to win his Harry, or slept and dreamed of her. The comparison of +his "now" and "then" was melancholy enough, but it was not bitter. His +pain was great, but not out of proportion to his comfort. He had still +Harry's love, and he had even that of two other hearts besides, which he +had reconciled and drawn together. In him Charles had had an unwearying +advocate with Agnes, and at last he had won his cause. She had been +driven to take refuge in her last intrenchment--her poverty--and +Richard had made that untenable. + +"You will not be an heiress, perhaps, my dear," he had said to her, +"though you deserve to be one; but neither will you be undowered. I have +left you all I have. Nay, it is not much--a few score acres by the +sea--but they will soon be yours." + +She had accepted them unwillingly, and under protest; but a day came +when it became necessary for her to remonstrate with the sick man once +again concerning this matter, sorry as she was to thwart or vex him; she +therefore requested, to have a few minutes' talk alone with him. + +"Dear Mr. Balfour," said she, gently, "I am going to disobey you in once +more reopening the matter of your kind bequest. Something has happened +which has given the affair a wholly different aspect. Among the visitors +yesterday to that dreadful mine, to which people still flock, there was +a Mr. Stratum--a young engineer, it seems, of some reputation; and in +his researches in Wheal Danes they say he has hit upon a great treasure, +or what may turn out to be such." + +"Ay," said Richard, with a smile; "what's that?" + +"A copper lode. It is curious that so many folks should have come and +gone there and never found it before; but there it is, for certain. Mr. +Stratum has seen Charles, and tells him that he can hardly trust himself +to speak of its probable value." + +"Well, I congratulate you, my dear, on being an heiress." + +"Nay, my dear Mr. Balfour, but this must not be. Overborne by your kind +pressure I consented to receive this bequest--a considerable one in +itself, indeed--for what it was. I could not now take advantage of your +ignorance of its real value; it distresses me deeply to give you trouble +in your present sad condition, but you must see yourself that +circumstances compel me." + +"Give me the will, my dear; it is in yonder drawer. Here is a letter +folded in it in my handwriting. What does the superscription say?" + +"_To Agnes Aird_." + +"Just so. You were to have opened it after my death, but you may read it +now. Please to do so aloud." + + + +"MY DEAR YOUNG LADY,--When I am gone, it is my earnest desire that your +marriage with Charles Coe shall take place as early as may be found +convenient. He will make a good husband to you, I think; I am sure you +will make him a good wife. He loves you for your own sake, which is the +only love worth having. But, as it happens, you are very rich. In the +mine which I have left you--in the northeastern corner of the bottom +level--there is a copper lode, the existence of which is known to me, +and to me only. I have every reason to believe that it will be found in +the highest degree productive, and for your dear sake I trust it may be +so. True, you will have money enough and to spare for your own needs, +but wealth will not spoil you--in your hands it will be a great good. To +the two injunctions which here follow I have no means to give effect, +and must trust solely to your loyal heart to carry them out. I do so +with the most perfect confidence. (1.) I wish that this bequest of mine, +be the value of it ever so great, be strictly settled, upon your +marriage, on yourself and your children, so that it can not be alienated +by any act of your husband; and this I do not from any preference to +yourself over him, or from any prejudice against him, God knows. (2.) In +case the estate of Crompton, of which Wheal Danes formed a fragment, +should again be in the market, and the mine turn out so valuable that +its proceeds should enable you to purchase such estate (without +inconvenience or damage to your interests), I do enjoin that you do so +purchase it, and make Crompton your future home. This is a 'sick man's +fancy,' some will tell you; and yet you will not neglect it." + + * * * * * + +"And you _will_ not, Agnes dear?" whispered Richard, eagerly, when she +had thus finished. "This is the last favor I shall ever ask of you. +Promise me! promise me!" + +"Oh, Sir, I promise you," cried Agnes, earnestly, and scared by his +anxious feebleness; "your wishes shall be obeyed in all points." + +"Good girl, good girl," sighed he; and though the effort pained him +sharply, his face exhibited a great content. "Send Charley to me," said +he, presently, in a faint voice. + +"But you are tired already," remonstrated Agnes. "You have talked enough +for to-day; see him to-morrow." + +"To-morrow!" repeated Richard, with a smile that chilled her heart. +"There will be no to-morrow, dear, for me. Reflect hereafter that you +made my last day a happy one. Kiss me, daughter." This term, which was +uttered very fondly, did not surprise her, for she little guessed its +full significance. She bent down, and kissed his forehead. "Send me +Charley." + +Those were the last words she ever heard him speak. + +Agnes had told the young fellow how much feebler Mr. Balfour seemed that +day, and warned him to make his interview as brief as possible; but +Charley was of a sanguine temperament, and to his view the sick man +looked better. The recent excitement had heightened his color, and, +besides, he always strove to look his best and cheerfulest with Charley. + +Balfour told him all that he had already said to Agnes respecting the +provision he had made for her; he thought it better to relieve her from +that task. But, to do Charley justice, he was neither grasping nor +jealous. Nothing seemed more natural to him, or even more reasonable, +than that Agnes should be made sole heiress. + +"As for me, I should only make a mess of so much money," said he, +laughing. "_She_ understands how to manage"--meaning that she had a +talent for administration of affairs--"five thousand times better than I +do. Her father has taught her all sorts of good things, and that among +them. You see the poor governor and I--we never pulled together. Perhaps +if I had had a father a little less unlike myself, I might have been a +better son, and a wiser one. It was unfortunate, as Mrs. Basil used to +say. You remember her, of course?" + +"Yes, indeed." + +The sick man's tone was so full of interest that Charley, with great +cheerfulness, proceeded to pursue this subject. + +"She was an excellent old soul; and, for her age, how sprightly and +appreciative! I remember--the very last time she came down to +dinner--telling her that story of yours about the stags in harness, and +it so interested her that she made me repeat it. It seemed to remind her +of something that she had heard before; and yet the incident was +original, and happened within your own experience, did it not?" + +"It did," said Balfour, hoarsely. + +"I am tiring you, my dear Sir," said Charley, anxiously. "What a fool I +have been to chatter on so, when Agnes particularly told me to be brief! +I shall leave you now, Sir; I shall indeed. Is there any thing I can do +for you before I leave?" + +"Nothing, nothing. If I strove to take Agnes from you, lad, I did my +best to make her yours again. You don't dislike me now, dear boy, do +you?" + +"Dislike you, Sir!" cried the young man. "That would indeed be base +ingratitude; you were always most kind to me, and you have loaded my +Agnes with benefits. I can not say, Sir, how unhappy it makes me to see +you lying here in pain, and--" + +"And dying, Charley. Yes, you are sorry for me, good lad." + +"Indeed, indeed I am, Sir." + +"When your Agnes left me last she kissed me on the forehead--here. I +would not ask it else--but--kiss me, Charley." + +The sick man's voice was very weak and faint, but its tones were full of +pathos. In some surprise, but without the least hesitation, the young +man stooped down and kissed him. "I shall leave you now, dear Mr. +Balfour, and only hope my thoughtless chatter may not have done you +mischief. I will send my mother to you, who is so quiet, and so good a +nurse, as an antidote. Good-by for the present, Sir." + +"Good-by, dear lad--good-by." + +Richard well knew it was good-by, not for the present, but forever. + +When Mrs. Coe came into the sick man's room she perceived in him a +change for the worse, so marked that it alarmed her greatly, and she was +about to softly pull the bell, when Richard stopped her with a look. + +"Don't ring," whispered he, faintly. "Sit down by me, Harry; put your +little hand in mine. I am quite happy. Our boy has kissed me." + +"You did not tell him? He does not know?" inquired Harry, anxiously. + +"Nay, dear, nay; I am not quite so selfish as that," answered he, +gently. + +There was a long pause. + +"Do you think my mother knew about him?" asked Richard, presently. + +"Oh yes--though I strove to deceive her--from the first moment she saw +him, Richard, she knew it well. We never spoke of it, but it was a +secret we had in common. She loved him as though he had been your very +self; I am sure of that." + +"And she knew _me_ too, Harry." + +"Impossible! She could never have concealed that knowledge--with you +before her; for you were her idol, Richard." + +"It was afterward," murmured the dying man. "When I had left the house +Charley told her something I had related to him, which convinced her of +my identity. I see it all now. She felt that I was bent on vengeance, +and sent you after me to use that weapon of which she knew you were +possessed. If we once came face to face, and you reproached me, my +secret was certain to come out--just as it did, Harry--and then you had +but to say, 'Charley is your son.'" + +"But why did she not tell me who you were?" + +"Because, if you were too late--if the mischief had been done on which +she deemed me bent--if your--if Solomon had come to harm, she would not +have had you know that Richard Yorke--the father of your child--had +blood upon his hands. Oh, mother, mother, your last thought was to keep +my memory free from stain!" + +He spoke no more for full a minute; no sound was heard except the +distant murmur of the sea, for the day was fine and windless. The April +sun shone brightly in upon the pair, as if to bless their parting. + +"Where is Charley?" murmured he. + +"He is gone with Agnes for a walk; they will not be long; they talked of +going to the Watch Tower. You remember the old Watch Tower, Richard?" + +"Well, ah, well!" answered he, smiling. "It is just twenty years ago. +How often have I thought of it!" + +For a moment--before they separated forever--these two seemed to +themselves to relive the youth to which another generation had +succeeded. + +"Agnes is a far better girl than I was, Richard; but she can not love +our boy more than _I_ loved _you_." + +Richard answered with a smile that glorified each ghastly feature, and +brought out in them a likeness to himself of old. + +"She will be his good angel, Harry," whispered Richard, gravely, "and +will guard him from himself. He will need her aid, but it will be +sufficient. I trust, I believe, that evil is not Bred in the Bone with +him, as it was with me." + +There was a long, long silence, broken by a silvery laugh, which came +through the half-opened window like a strain of cheerful music, then was +suddenly cut short. + +"Hush, Charley; you forget," said the soft voice of Agnes; "he may be +sleeping." + +Through the calm spring air the reproof was borne into the sick man's +room as clearly as the sound which had called it forth. + +"He is so happy," whispered Harry, gently; "you must forgive him; +remember he does not know." + +"Yes, yes; it is better so. Dear Charley--happy, happy Charley!" + +And a smile once more came over the sick man's face, which did not pass +away, for Death had frozen it there. + + + + +L'ENVOI. + + +Years have passed since Richard Yorke was laid in the church-yard on the +hill at Gethin, close beside his mother, whose bones Harry's pious care +had caused to be transported thither. + + If aught of things that here befall + Touch a spirit among things divine-- + If love has force to move us there at all, + +her ghost was glad. "In time," thought Harry, "I too shall lie by his +side, at last, once more." + +Old Trevethick's prophecy was accomplished in the almost fabulous +success that attended the working of Wheal Danes. If its shares are not +quoted in the market, that is because the family have retained it in +their own hands, in spite of the most dazzling offers. + +Mr. Dodge has a codicil to his story at _The George and Vulture_ now, +and expresses his infinite satisfaction at the fact that "that 'ere Coe" +came to grief in the end, as he had so richly deserved to do. "I don't +doubt," says he, "that while he was underground with the bats and rats +he thought of that poor lad as he had treated so spiteful. Things mostly +does work round all right" (he would add) "under Providence, whose motto +(if I may say so without disrespect) is summat like mine: 'Let us have +no misunderstandings and no obligation.'" On the other hand, what +"sticks in Mr. Dodge's throat," as he expresses it, and is "a'most +enough to make a man an infidel," is, that "the widow of that 'ere +Coe--she as was young Yorke's ruin--is living at Crompton (in the very +house his father had) with all her brood." + +Mr. Dodge is right in his facts, if not in his deductions. Out of the +proceeds of the mine the whole home-estate of Crompton has been +purchased by Charles Coe, or rather by his wife; and they both dwell +there quite unconscious that he is the lineal descendant of the mad +Carew, with whose wild exploits the country side still teems. If the old +blood shows itself, it is but in quick starts of temper, and occasional +"cursory remarks," which sound quite harmless in halls that have echoed +to the Squire's thunderous tones; and even at such times Agnes can calm +him with a word. If the open hand which is Bred in the Bone with him +scatters its _largesse_ somewhat broadcast, the revenues of Crompton, +thanks to her, are in the main directed to good ends. In that stately +mansion, whose hospitality is as proverbial though less promiscuous than +of old, not only is there room for Mrs. Coe the elder to dwell with her +young folks, without jar, but in a certain ground-floor chamber, the +same he used to inhabit in old times, there dwells an ancient divine, +once Carew's chaplain. He is still hale and stout, and has a quiet air +that becomes his age and calling. Life's fitful fever is past, and he +lives on in calm. The children--for there is small chance of Crompton +being heirless in time to come--are very fond of him; and grandmamma +spends so much time in the old gentleman's apartments, that Charley +declares it is quite scandalous. What _can_ Parson Whymper and she have +to talk about in common? In spite of the attractions of her beautiful +home, and the infirmities of advancing years, not a summer passes +without Mrs. Coe the elder revisiting Gethin. The castled rock, up which +she used to run so lightly, is beyond her powers; she is content to gaze +on that with dewy eyes; but she never fails to seek the church-yard on +the hill. + +"He was what one would call a hardish husband to her, was old Solomon," +say the neighbors; "and yet you see, when a man is dead, how a wife will +keep his memory green!" + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bred in the Bone, by James Payn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRED IN THE BONE *** + +***** This file should be named 12024.txt or 12024.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/0/2/12024/ + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Graeme Mackreth and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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