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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 <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Edward Barnett; a Neglected Child of South Carolina, Who Rose to Be a Peer of Great Britain,--and the Stormy Life of His Grandfather, Captain Williams</p> +<p> or, The Earle's Victims: with an Account of the Terrible End of the Proud Earl De Montford, the Lamentable Fate of the Victim of His Passion, and the Shadow's Punishment</p> +<p>Author: Tobias Aconite</p> +<p>Release Date: June 23, 2005 [eBook #16112]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDWARD BARNETT; A NEGLECTED CHILD OF SOUTH CAROLINA, WHO ROSE TO BE A PEER OF GREAT BRITAIN,--AND THE STORMY LIFE OF HIS GRANDFATHER, CAPTAIN WILLIAMS***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (https://www.pgdp.net)<br /> + from page images generously made availabe by<br /> + the Wright American Fiction Project, Indiana University Digital Library Program<br /> + (http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/web/w/wright2/)</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through the Wright + American Fiction Project, Indiana University Digital Library + Program. See + <a href="http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?sid=1a8b0a10bc4cb8d39c32ac704ab8c82f&c=wright2&view=reslist&type=simple&q1=Aconite%2C%20Tobias&rgn=author"> + http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?sid=1a8b0a10bc4cb8d39c32ac704ab8c82f&c=wright2&view=reslist&type=simple&q1=Aconite%2C%20Tobias&rgn=author</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> + +<h3>A NARRATIVE OF STARTLING INTEREST!!</h3> + +<h1>EDWARD BARNETT,</h1> + +<p>A NEGLECTED CHILD OF SOUTH CAROLINA, WHO ROSE TO BE A PEER OF GREAT +BRITAIN,—AND THE STORMY LIFE OF HIS GRANDFATHER, CAPTAIN WILLIAMS,</p> + +<h3>OR</h3> + +<h2>THE EARL'S VICTIMS:</h2> + +<p>WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE TERRIBLE END OF THE PROUD EARL DE MONTFORD, THE +LAMENTABLE FATE OF THE VICTIM OF HIS PASSION,</p> + +<h3>AND</h3> + +<h3>THE SHADOW'S PUNISHMENT,</h3> + +<h3>'TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION.'</h3> + +<h2>BY TOBIAS ACONITE,</h2> + +<h3>THE MAYOR OF HOLE CUM CORNER.</h3> + +<h3>1855</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.--THE STEWARD.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.--THE VILLAGE ALE-HOUSE.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.--THE AGENT.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.--THE POOR MAN'S HOME.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.--THE CAPTURE.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.--THE BEGINNING OF RETRIBUTION.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.--THE SEAMAN'S STORY.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.--THE END OF TWO VICTIMS.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.--THE AGENT'S PUNISHMENT.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.--RETRIBUTION.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.--CONCLUSION.</a><br /> +<a href="#POSTSCRIPT">POSTSCRIPT.--THE AUTHOR TO THE READER.</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> +<p> </p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1><a name="THE_EARLS_VICTIMS" id="THE_EARLS_VICTIMS"></a>THE EARL'S VICTIMS.</h1> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>THE STEWARD.</h3> + + +<p>Earl de Montford sat in a plainly furnished room in his stately mansion. +Gorgeously decorated as were the other apartments of his princely +residence, this apartment, with its plain business-look—its hard +benches for such of the tenantry as came to him or his agent on +business—its walls garnished with abstracts of the Game and Poor Law +Enactments—its worn old chairs and heavy oak presses, the open doors of +some of which disclosed bundles of old papers, parchments, etc.—this +little room, the only one almost ever seen by any save the aristocracy +and their followers—exercised and contained frequently more of human +hope and fear than any other or the whole of the others of this +sumptuous edifice. Here the toil-worn farmer came to pay his dues to the +Lord of the Manor—here often too with beating heart and quivering lip, +the old servant of the soil came to beg for time—time to enable him by +hard pinching to make up his proportion of the sum spent in luxury by +his landlord. Ah! reader! could those old walls reveal the sounds, the +tales of human suffering, of heartless avarice, and callous +indifference—of sneering assumption and hopeless woe, thy brain would +be as fire, thy heart would sicken, and thy blood would boil, till +rushing over every prudent thought, through grinding teeth and +passion-paling lips would start, the one wild word, Revenge!</p> + +<p>I have said the room was plainly furnished, but there was one +exception—the chair in which the Earl sat. This was an old one, +formerly the chair of state in which the old Barons his ancestors had +presided at many a scene of wassail, with their retainers. It had been +stuffed and new-covered to suit modern luxury, but the armorial bearings +remained still carved in the wood of the high back, with the proud +motto, "Nulli Secundi," second to none.</p> + +<p>The Earl was not alone. His agent, a hard-featured man of business, sat +at a desk, busy with papers, and a venerable old man, who had been his +father's steward, stood a little behind his chair. There was a frown on +the brow of the nobleman, as after a stern glance at the old man, he +asked,</p> + +<p>'Has that scoundrel been apprehended yet?'</p> + +<p>'He has not, your lordship,' said the agent, slowly folding up a +document; 'nor does it seem likely he will be. I have had the old haunts +searched—I have, as you directed, promised large rewards for his +apprehension, and threatened the tenants if they harbor him, but no clue +to his hiding-place has yet been discovered. I am afraid he has left.'</p> + +<p>'He has not,' interrupted the Earl. 'He is here, in this neighbourhood. +I feel his hated presence. He must have harborers, Johnson. The parvenu +millionaire—the cotton lord—harbors these ruffians by refusing to +prosecute poachers. He preaches equal rights, forsooth! Break down his +fences—send my deer to stray into his park—get some one to fire his +barns—I will pay them. He has thwarted me, and he shall feel the agony +of a long and fluctuating law-suit. Oh! for one day of my Norman +ancestors! I would sweep such vermin from the earth. Waters!' said he, +turning to the steward, 'beware! I have, from respect to my father's +memory, somewhat restrained myself towards you. You have pleaded this +man's cause. Say no more. He has threatened me—dared to use reproaches +and threats to a peer of the realm—he shall be crushed as a noxious +reptile!'</p> + +<p>'My lord,' said the old man firmly, 'I was your father's steward—I was +your grandfather's foster-brother and playmate—man and boy, I have been +in the service of your family for over seventy years, and for the love +of your house have I withstood you in wrong-doing—I beseech you again, +let this man go. You well know he is an injured man. Add not more to +that final account which you as well as I must one day render before +God.'</p> + +<p>'Palter such trash to coward fools!—I want none of your priestcraft,' +returned the nobleman. 'Do I not know the reason of all this affected +love for justice and mercy. Your grand-daughter was to have married this +midnight robber—they were betrothed, or some such trash. Find +him—doubtless <i>she</i> knows how—let them marry—such a son-in-law will +be an honor to your family, and a comfort to your declining years.'</p> + +<p>'Your insinuations and your sneers fall as harmless upon me as your +threats,' said the steward with dignity. 'I am eighty-nine, and shall +soon be beyond them: but when you brand with undeserved infamy one who +never injured you—when you accuse my innocent grandchild of being +privy to the concealment of a midnight robber, as you but now called the +unhappy man whom your ill-usage, whom your misdeeds drove from a happy +home and honorable course of life, you commit an action, only equalled +in its baseness, by its cowardice!'</p> + +<p>The Earl started up, purple with rage. For a moment, he seemed about to +strike the aged form before him. He paused, however, and stood regarding +him with clenched hands and furious look, and every evil passion glaring +from his eyes. The steward moved not one inch, but confronted him in the +majesty of venerable age.</p> + +<p>The agent paused not for one moment in his task, but quietly labelling +and tying up a pile of documents, placed it in its proper pigeon hole, +and went on with methodical exactness to the next. They were a strange +group. The man of business in his chair, pursuing his work as if no +other were present, but observing all that took place nevertheless; the +nobleman in the prime of glorious manhood, noble, as far as physical +beauty could go; handsome, rich, accomplished, intellectual, but +distorted as that face was now, in his rage, ugly, hideous in the +extreme as he gazed upon the calm face slightly flushed with virtuous +indignation, the spare form and silver locks of the aged man who dared +to stand between him and the victims of his wrath.</p> + +<p>Gradually the face of the nobleman became calmer, one by one the lines +of passion disappeared and an expression of cold sarcasm took possession +of his features; he threw himself into his chair and turned to the +agent.</p> + +<p>'Mr. Lambert, be pleased to pay particular attention to my orders, that +is if your nerves are not too much discomposed by the exciting piece of +eloquence Mr. Waters has just favored us with for my especial benefit. +Gad! Waters, you'd do the heavy fathers finely on the stage. I'll write +to Davidge for you, that last speech of yours was capital; couldn't you +favor us with a finishing touch, we are all attention.' The agent placed +his papers on the table, and wheeling his chair round, sat in imitation +of his master as if in expectation of hearing some rich joke.</p> + +<p>The single word 'God!' escaped the steward as he turned to leave the +room; he gave one glance around as if for the last time looking on those +familiar objects, cast a sorrowful glance at his master, and was about +to quit, when his eye was arrested by a picture; it was that of frank +and noble boy in the pride of youth and beauty, his face ruddy with +exercise, his eye bright with intellect. It was a portrait of the Earl +when a boy.</p> + +<p>He turned towards them once more.</p> + +<p>'My lord,' said he, 'I pass by your harsh speeches of me and mine. It +may be I spoke too rudely myself. I will dwell no longer on the past, it +is irrevocable; of my broken-hearted grandchild; of her young love, +which was twined too strong around her heart, for one to perish without +the other; of my own head grey in your service I will never more +speak—but oh! for the love that bright boy once bore me, here on my +knees, I entreat you, spare this man, who once was your playmate, spare +him as you would be spared yourself; for let not your proud heart +deceive you, not all your array of domestics, not all your barred doors, +can save you from a violent death, or the guilt of murder, if you do not +stop this unrighteous prosecution—for your own sake I entreat you stop, +ere it be too late. Spurn this grey head if you will into the dust, but +listen and spare.'</p> + +<p>The Earl was unmoved as marble.</p> + +<p>The old man left with bent head and slow step. 'Lambert, you will issue +a notice, offering £500 to any one who captures Horace Hunter, dead or +alive—also on pain of expulsion from the property, forbid any one +harboring him; send for two London officers. These country bumpkins will +never find him. Enquire for a dissolute fellow, known by the name of +Curly Tom—pay him well: he perhaps may track him, in short, find this +man and punishment to death shall follow.'</p> + +<p>'It shall on you!' said a loud voice, apparently near them.</p> + +<p>The Earl sprang to the window, and jumped out, the agent trembling +remained, not a living being was in sight—the window opened upon a +smooth lawn, there was not a chance of a person escaping notice, but no +one was there; he summoned the domestics; they searched—no one was +found, they had seen no one. Frantic with rage, yet with an ill-defined +sensation of fear, the nobleman, re-entered the mansion, and dismissing +every one, locked himself in an inner chamber.</p> + +<p>The agent waited until his master was gone; then seated himself in the +chair of state, and mused. 'Let me see! £500, too much to slip from my +hands. I will find this Curly Tom myself—I think I know him—and if I +can but keep him sober—and promise him a good carouse when Hunter's +caught, he will entrap him—for these scoundrels all know how to find +one another—£500, too much for any of these bumpkins constables, no, +no, I must have it—there is danger though—I must think over it—that +voice was queer, where could it come from—could any one be in the +presses?' After screwing up his courage to the task, he opened them +fearfully one by one; there was nothing there but the old papers before +mentioned. He stooped and stood leaning against the mantelpiece, over +which was the Earl's picture—then puzzled, but determined on his course +of action, he left the room and took his way to the village. He was not +far from the house, when a servant called to him. 'You have a paper on +your back, Mr. Lambert,' said he. He took his coat off; on the back, +fastened with a pin, was a paper, with the single word, doomed, written +upon it. The man of business was puzzled; he was not altogether a +coward, but this was not a business proceeding; he said nothing, +however, but methodically folded it up, placed it in his pocket book, +and proceeded.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>THE VILLAGE ALE-HOUSE.</h3> + + +<p>Railroads were unknown in the times in which our story occurred, and the +village ale-house was still the rendezvous of the villagers of an +evening; the parson still occasionally looked in and smoked his pipe +with the lawyer, the exciseman, the sexton, and the parish-clerk; while +the sturdy farmers, the smith, the butcher, and baker formed another +circle; while the laborers and ploughmen, the butcher-boy and the +tailor's apprentice lounged in to drink with greedy ears the news; to +listen to the wise saws of the village politicians, and become in due +time convinced that by some strange freak of fortune the only persons +incompetent to rule the country were those in power at the time. Mrs. +Alice Goodfellow, the landlady and proprietress of this village elysium, +fair, fat, and forty, was a buxom widow, shrewd, good-humored and fond +of pleasure, but careful withal and fond of admiration. She never, +however, allowed any one of her admirers, to suppose himself more +favored than the rest; neither did she suffer any of them to languish in +despair. If she allowed the smith to hand her to her pew in church on +Sunday, she, nevertheless, smiled sweetly on the baker; and if she took +a drive in Farmer Dobson's pony-chaise for her health, yet, Farmer +Thomas would sit for hours inside her bar; the truth was, the good widow +was perfectly well aware that her snug little free-hold and thriving +little trade were quite as great objects of attraction as her delectable +self, and acting on the same principle as that old humbug 'Elizabeth,' +insanely called 'the good Queen Bess,' viz: the balancing opposite +interests, she drew custom to her house and grist to her mill, without +troubling herself as to selection from her numerous admirers, which, +besides displeasing the others, would place another in authority over +that bar, which, for the last ten years, she had ruled monarch of all +she surveyed. She had no relative, save one nephew, a wild, shy boy, +strange and moody in his habits, passing whole days no one knew +where—holding little or no communication with any of those who visited +the tavern—none at all with the boys of the village, poring over some +book of wild adventure when at home, ranging the woods with an old duck +gun on his shoulders, or laying down beneath some shady tree poring over +the same wild legends when abroad. His aunt could make nothing of him, +and nobody else took the trouble. The curate, indeed, tried to teach him +once or twice, but he disconcerted the old man so by discharging his +musket at an old wig, hanging by the wall in the midst of a lecture on +the propriety of going to school, that he gave him up as hopeless.</p> + +<p>The tap-room presented its usual evening appearance when the agent +entered. The curate and lawyer were deep in a discussion on the beauties +of the new poor-law; the farmers grumbling at the weather; the landlady +quietly seated behind the bar, while the bar-maid, a smart, coquettish +girl of nineteen, carried the ale and brandy around to the thirsty +customers, and all the usual concomitants of a scene then common, but, +what we must now call of the olden time, though half a century has +scarce passed away since it occurred. The agent was a great man there, +few liked him—in fact, all hated him, for though generally a just man, +he was entirely a man of business; punctuality was his deity—there was +no excuse with him for not meeting rent or bills when due; he did not +overcharge or wrong anyone, but he must have his bond, like Shylock, +without his ferocity. If money was due it must be paid; sickness, bad +crops, death itself was nothing to him; if not, he proceeded <i>legally</i>; +oh, what a world of anguish! what a number of crimes, crying aloud to +Heaven for justice and retribution, are committed under the cloak of +Man's legality. The type was forged in Hell that stamped the letter of +the law.</p> + +<p>The agent, after exchanging courtesies, lip-deep, with the principal +farmers, the curate, etc., walked up to the bar and entered into +conversation with Mrs. Ally, as she was usually called.</p> + +<p>'His lordship has desired me, Mrs. Ally, to put this notice up in a +conspicuous place in your tavern, perhaps you will oblige me by placing +it in a proper position.' So saying, he handed her the paper containing +the reward, etc., offered for the apprehension of Hunter.</p> + +<p>'You may stick it up yourself on the parish pump, Mr. Lambert, if you +like, but my bar is no station-house or cage; give it to the town +crier,' said the dame bristling, for she hated the agent, and feared him +not.</p> + +<p>'Dang my buttons!' said a burly farmer, 'Mrs. Ally ha the agent +dumbfoundered—what be the matter?'</p> + +<p>'It is simply this, good friends,' said the agent: 'his lordship has +offered a reward of £500;—£500,' said the agent, slowly repeating the +sum, 'for the apprehension of the notorious poacher, Horace Hunter, who +has threatened his life, and will visit with his gravest displeasure any +one who harbors him, or in any way countenances him; if a tenant he +shall be discharged; and Mrs. Ally here, refuses to let me place the +notice in her bar, thereby showing great disregard for my lord's wishes, +to say the least.'</p> + +<p>The farmers mostly shrunk back on this speech; the name of a lord, and +that lord their landlord, appalled them. They knew the bitter wrong he +had heaped upon Hunter's devoted head; they well could sympathize with +him; they had known him a gay and thriving farmer, their lord's especial +favorite—fatal favor—the companionship of the tiger and the deer. The +beauty of Hunter's sister had struck the libidinous eye of the +aristocratic villain—need I say more? ruin and desolation followed—no +one knew what had become of her. The brother had been kidnapped by a +press-gang, but of course the Earl knew nothing of that; he was now, +however, supposed to be lurking in the neighborhood. The Earl had +received a letter in which the brother's heart had been poured out in +bitterness; he had injured, therefore he could not forgive. Not so, +however, Mrs. Alice; she did not fear the lord one jot, and folks did +say, she knew more about him than he would like told; be that as it may, +she loudly protested against its being placed there at all; and was +still indignantly haranguing; now crying shame upon his lordship; now +bewailing poor Ellen, who had been a great favorite of hers, when her +eccentric nephew entered; he looked dusty and fatigued, but there was a +strange smile upon his lips as he looked at the agent. Without saying a +word he walked straight up to the agent, and taking the paper from his +hand procured a hammer and some tacks and nailed it up in the most +conspicuous place in the bar, displacing some of his aunt's ornaments in +so doing; then drinking a mug of ale, he threw himself along a bench and +was or seemed to be sound asleep.</p> + +<p>'Dash ma wig,' said the farmer, who had before spoken, 'that dangs all, +the boy be daft and Mrs. Ally doant say nuthen—he be queer for +sartain.'</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ally said not a word, but gazed on her nephew with mute +astonishment; she did not, however, attempt to remove the obnoxious +paper. The agent having in this unexpected manner gained his point, +called for wine and sat down with the curate, lawyer, etc. He had yet +another object—to find Curly Tom, no easy matter, that worthy being by +no means a welcome guest there; that he did come there sometimes, +however, Lambert knew, for as long as no warrant was out against him, +however bad his character, he could not be turned away from the inn when +he paid his shot; he did not like openly to ask for such a character, +but sat down trusting that when the ale made the farmers loquacious he +should gain some clue to his whereabouts. Fortune seemed destined to be +his friend in more than one way that evening. The sound of a pistol shot +was heard in the road leading towards the seaport, which was some ten +miles distant; and a few moments after, a burly seafaring man entered +the tap-room, dragging after him, in his powerful grasp, a ruffianly +ill-looking countryman; no other indeed than the man of all others +Lambert wished most to see, viz: Curly Tom.</p> + +<p>'Cast your anchor there,' said the seaman, 'and if you attempt to slip +moorings, afore you've been over-hauled by the skipper, split my +topsails but I'll bring you up all standing with this barking iron,' +pressing the muzzle of a pistol to the fellow's forehead.</p> + +<p>'Put up your pistol,' said the fellow sullenly. 'I beant going to run; +you've broke my head and dinged all the wind oot of ma body.'</p> + +<p>'What is the matter, my good man?' said Mr. Lambert, coming forward. 'I +am a magistrate, and can take your deposition.'</p> + +<p>'Matter!' said the sailor, 'piracy is the matter. I was making for this +ere port, charged with despatches from my commanding officer, when this +ere shark ranges alongside and pops his barking iron into my face, and +wants me to break cargo and hand over to him, but I brought my harpoon +handle to bear on his figure head and he capsized, and his barker got +foul of his rigging, then I roused him up and brought him along to this +port.'</p> + +<p>'Highway robbery and attempt at murder,' said the agent. 'Simpkins, you +are constable, take this man in charge, while I make out his committal. +Stay!' he added, 'the cage is very insecure, and this is no trifling +case. You had better take him up to the castle, my lord will examine him +in the morning, and there is a strong room there; meantime, Mrs. Ally +will perhaps see to his wound, it looks an ugly one.'</p> + +<p>The kind hearted landlady readily undertook this latter office, even for +so repulsive a being; his head had indeed received a terrific blow, a +fur cap had somewhat deadened the force or he must have been killed on +the spot; she bound his head up, and in charge of the constable and two +stout laborers he was marched up to the castle. The agent after warning +the mariner to attend in the morning at his examination, going with +them, well pleased, not only to have found the man he sought, but also +to have him in such a situation that he could only choose between doing +his bidding or the gallows. The boy, had never stirred from his sleep +during this scene. The company at the ale house also broke up, and each +wended his way home, where, no doubt, each in his own way, regaled his +family with the marvels of the evening, and the seaman alone remained, +eating his supper as coolly as though nothing had happened, a combat of +life and death seeming to him a thing too common to excite any emotion +in his breast. Had it been daylight it is not likely he would have been +attacked by one man; few that gazed upon his square muscular form, his +brawny chest and strong hard hands, would have liked to cope with him in +personal conflict, though his iron grey beard told that more than fifty +years of storm had rolled over his head. His face had been handsome, +scarred with storm and conflict, it still bore the impress of manly +beauty, and there was a look of settled determination, upon it, that +told was indeed,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'In close fight a warrior grim,'</p></div> + +<p>and traces of fierce passion also showed him to be one whom no one would +like for an enemy. His dress was finer than an ordinary seaman's, and +though perfectly nautical, was free from any stain of tar or pitch, +generally considered absolutely necessary in a sailor's attire. The boy +gazed intently on him as he took his meal, closing his eyes however +whenever the sailor looked at him, and preserving the appearance of +slumber.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ally waited with becoming patience while her guest ate his fill and +then approaching him with a brimming tumbler of punch said, 'Drink to +the memory of old times, Walter.'</p> + +<p>'You know me then!' said he, 'strange that but one eye alone of those +who knew me in my boyhood should recognize me, but sea and storm do much +to alter a man, human passion does more.' (He spoke now without any of +the sea jargon that had made his account of the encounter with Curly Tom +almost unintelligible to the farmers); 'but,' he added, 'you had better +send this lad to bed.'</p> + +<p>'You need not,' said the boy, rising as he spoke, 'I remembered you +instantly. I will not betray you if you wish to remain unknown.'</p> + +<p>'You may safely trust him,' said his aunt, 'he never breaks his word.'</p> + +<p>'A good sign that,' said the seaman, 'and a bold boy I warrant, he is +well grown too for his years, and like—'</p> + +<p>'Like who?' asked aunt and nephew in one breath.</p> + +<p>'Like one I never wish to speak of,' was the answer, 'let be, let be, I +have much to ask you; first of my father, does he live?'</p> + +<p>'He does, bowed down by age and now by sorrow, Walter. When you and I +were younger—years ago—when my sister, who is now an angel in heaven, +I hope, married you, I never thought the day would come when my lips +should be the ones to tell you of the desolation of your child.'</p> + +<p>Walter recoiled, and rising from his seat grasped the back of the chair +he had been seated on with such a nervous gripe that the strong oak rail +broke in two with the pressure, and his heaving chest and quivering lip +told the fierce emotions that were struggling for utterance.—The +landlady understood his look.</p> + +<p>'Do not fear, Walter—your child is as pure as an angel. It is the +desolation of her heart I speak of—not the pollution. It is the blight +that has fallen upon her young love—upon a woman's first and holiest +impressions—a virtuous love for a deserving object. Are you calm enough +to hear the tale?'</p> + +<p>'I am—proceed.'</p> + +<p>'My tale will not be a long one, but sad—sad for more than one victim +has and will fall yet to the fell passions of him, who rules this +neighborhood with a rod of iron. You remember Geoffry Hunter, of the +Toll gate farm?'</p> + +<p>'Well; he and I were schoolmates.'</p> + +<p>'He died some few years after you went on that voyage from which no one +ever expected to see you return—I for one. Though remembering your +daring courage and hardihood, I did not credit the tale that was brought +here that you had perished in the woods attempting to escape. I felt +confident you would one day return—as you did ten years ago, and +brought this boy with you. Geoffry Hunter left two children. You knew +them—Horace and Ellen. Poor Ellen! victim of a titled villain!' and the +good woman paused, and tears filled her eyes. It was some moments ere +she could proceed. 'Horace grew up a fine young-man. As a boy he was a +playmate of our proud master; and when Ellen returned from Canterbury, +where she had been educated by an aunt, she was the pride of the +village, the joy of her widowed mother's heart, and the apple of her +brother's eye. It was a beautiful thing to see, Walter, the strong love +of those two—the exultant pride of the brother in his sister's +loveliness—in her accomplishments, for she knew many things our country +folks were unacquainted with. The deep affection of the sister—oh, it +was a happy and a handsome picture, that mother, sister and brother. She +took more pleasure in the society of your daughter than in any other of +the village girls, and they were much together. Ellen taught her what +she had learned, and thus it came about that her brother first noticed +and finally loved her. And she loved him in return. A handsomer or more +fitting pair never trod the sod together. You would have approved the +match. Your father gave his consent—he had long mourned you as +dead—and they were to have been married when she became 20 years of +age. It yet wanted two years of this time when our lord returned from +abroad. He soon visited the house of his old playfellow, and was struck +with the beauty of Ellen Hunter—but he too well knew the character of +Horace Hunter to openly show it. The first step he took was to dismiss +your father from the stewardship, under pretence of his being too old, +and settling a pension on him. He did not wish the good old man near +him—it was a living reproach on his bad deeds.'</p> + +<p>'On the infamous practices of his race,' said the seaman sternly; 'bad +father and bad son—but proceed.'</p> + +<p>'He installed this man Lambert in your father's place—a cold, unfeeling +man—a money-worshiper, and suspected of being only too willing an +instrument in furthering his master's infamous designs. Lambert +sedulously cultivated an intimacy with the Hunters—condoled with the +mother, ingratiated himself with the young man, and affected unbounded +friendship. Ellen, however, with the true instinct of a pure and +innocent girl, shrank from his companionship; innocence will ever shrink +with innate consciousness from baseness. He persuaded Hunter to rent a +farm in addition to his own, and lent him money to speculate largely in +breeding fancy sheep. The speculation failed—the agent pressed for +payment. His master came forward and paid the amount. Thus he appeared +as a benefactor, and Ellen's gratitude soon ripened into love; but her +brother was in the way. He went to Erith to make some purchases for his +mother and sister, and was kidnapped by a press-gang. Lambert had been +there a few days before.'</p> + +<p>'Ah, I understand,' said the seaman—'too plain. Fire them—what right +have they to seize a free man as if he were a negro slave?'</p> + +<p>'It's a shame,' said Mrs. Ally, 'but good King George—'</p> + +<p>'Imbecile old ass,' said the mariner—'go on with your story.'</p> + +<p>'The mother grieved for her son's absence—he wrote from the tender ship +asking for his clothes, and to buy off his discharge. She applied to the +Earl. He deceived her—gave her hope—promised to write to the +Admiralty—was sorry, but the necessities of the war were such, +substitutes were not allowed, and a discharge could not be granted. +Within a year the mother died, and Ellen was left alone. Beautiful, +helpless, with no one to protect her, was it a wonder she fell a victim +to the vile plot laid for her? Her seducer wearied of her after two +years, and offered to settle a pension upon her and wed her to his base +instrument Lambert. She spurned the offer, and left the cottage where he +had established her in splendid infamy. None knew whither she went, and +no tidings have since been heard of her.'</p> + +<p>The seaman was pacing the floor in stern and gloomy silence. He paused. +'And him?—what became of him?'</p> + +<p>'He came back three years after,' said the landlady, 'in sailor's garb, +but without a seaman's manner. He had learned dissipation, and was +gloomy and fierce. He had heard of his sister's shame, and he swore a +terrible revenge. The Earl was in London at the time, but had he been +here, Horace would have attempted nothing then. "I will not strike him +now," said he—"no! that were a poor revenge. I will tame his pride +first—then destroy him. Mine shall be no vulgar vengeance."—He however +wrote a passionate letter to the Earl demanding his acknowledgment of +his sister as his lawful wife, and threatening terrible vengeance. This +was idle, but I suppose it merely done to cover deeper designs. He +returned to sea—was absent two more years, but re-appeared here some +three months ago, since when he has been frequently seen about the +neighborhood, and is supposed to subsist by poaching. Curly Tom, the +ruffian you captured last night, has been much with him. He has again +written to the Earl something which has made him furious—so your father +told me, who had been there, the good old man, trying to make him forego +his pursuit of poor Horace. There will be something terrible, I am sure. +God help us, and avert it.'</p> + +<p>'Say rather, let his righteous judgments fall upon that base man and his +infamous house,' said the mariner sternly. 'You need tell me no more. I +can picture my sweet child, pining, grieving over the lost character of +him she loved—two families of victims. But shall not vengeance take its +course? It shall—terrible and full. But a short space of time shall +elapse ere he shall be stripped of rank and title, and then—'</p> + +<p>'Walter, you rave.'</p> + +<p>'I speak in earnest. I never threaten in vain. But I must act now. I +must find Hunter. How to do that—'</p> + +<p>'I will take you to him,' said the boy, 'to-morrow evening.'</p> + +<p>'Good. I must have some talk with you, but now I must rest. To-morrow +night I shall have none.'</p> + +<p>So saying, the burly seaman, preceded by the landlady, retired to his +chamber. The house was soon in quiet, but the boy sat long by the +decaying embers of the fire, musing over the words "he shall be stripped +of his rank and titles"—then took from his vest a small gold locket. It +contained a lock of hair—two persons' hair entwined together, dark and +fair—but it bore the impress of a coronet, and the proud motto, "Nulli +Secundi."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>THE AGENT.</h3> + + +<p>Great was the concourse that thronged the room to which we first +introduced our reader, on the morning after the events we have +detailed—the weather-beaten mariner was there to state his charge—the +parish clerk with more than usual importance was ready to act as +secretary—the lawyer, the curate, all prepared to play their part in +the approaching drama of real life. The Earl in his magisterial +seat—bitter mockery of justice—prepared to sit in judgment on a wretch +not half so guilty as himself. But he belonged to a privileged +class—the other was one of the "lower orders."</p> + +<p>The entrance of Mr. Simpkins the constable, with rueful countenance and +faltering voice, with the intelligence that the prisoner had escaped, +created a great sensation. No one was more indignant than the +Earl—though how far this was real may be judged when we inform the +reader that Lambert had held a long conversation with the prisoner, +Simpkins and his two assistants being first treated to a powerful opiate +in a mug of ale. This conversation had resulted in Curly Tom's +departing—a pensioned tool, a hired slave, to do the will, even to +murder, of his titled employer—he had no choice save the gallows. The +constable was severely reprimanded, a reward offered for the +apprehension of the fugitive—the seaman's deposition taken in due form, +and all the forms of law gone through with as if it had indeed been a +court of justice. The seaman treated the affair lightly, laughed and +joked with the farmers, and the crowd began to disperse, when a burst of +musical laughter, bitter mocking in its tones, was heard in the +apartment. It came from no one there. All stood aghast. Many a +stout-hearted countryman who would have faced a cannon without +shrinking, trembled and turned pale. The women shrieked; the nobleman +started up.</p> + +<p>'Let no one quit the apartment,' said he. 'Search the walls—there must +be some secret panel there.' It was done, but not a trace, not a knob +was visible; all sounded hard and solid.</p> + +<p>'You have a shipmate with you, my lord,' said the mariner, 'whose name +is not upon the ship's books. I have heard of such things at sea.'</p> + +<p>'And what might your wisdom suppose them to be?' said the Earl, with a +sneer.</p> + +<p>'It is hard for man to tell,' said the seaman, who had not been the +slightest discomposed by the voice. 'He who made the ocean and the dry +land alone knows; but a conscience void of offence is the sheet anchor +for man to rely upon in the voyage of life. I never knew such a thing to +happen save to a wicked man.'</p> + +<p>'Ha,' said the Earl sarcastically, 'a moralizing tar-bucket. Truly, this +age is prolific in wonders. The march of intellect is abroad with a +vengeance. But since these good people have been disappointed of their +expected morning's amusement, perhaps you will favor them and myself +with this yarn, I think they call it; and Lambert, order some ale to be +served round, and let them bring a cup of brandy for our maritime friend +here; he must wet his whistle, I suppose, or he will never be able to +spin a yarn in true, orthodox, sailor fashion. Sit down, friend, and +begin.'</p> + +<p>'I drink when I am dry, my lord,' said the seaman, 'and I prefer +standing to casting anchor here.'</p> + +<p>'Have it your own way, then, but proceed, we are all attention.'</p> + +<p>'I had shipped as mate on board a vessel bound from Valparaiso to +Virginia, some years ago, when, getting short of provisions, we put into +Lima, on the coast of Peru. Here we took on as passenger, an English +gentleman in bad health, who was said to be enormously rich, but who +bore a very bad character, people said he had murdered his brother's +child, or had him put out of the way, to obtain his inheritance, but he +was a rich man and justice was quiet. He had noble blood in his veins, +and had been sent out by government as ambassador, or something of that +sort. One of our crew came from his native village, and he told me these +particulars.'</p> + +<p>A singular expression came over the Earl's features for a moment, and +the same low, mocking laugh was again heard, the listeners shuddered and +drew closer together: the mariner proceeded.</p> + +<p>'We had a rough passage, but when we neared Cape Horn, of all the gales +that ever blew in five-and-forty years that I have been at sea, I never +saw one like that. One night when the storm was at its utmost, when the +lightning, blue and vivid, seemed to surround us with an atmosphere of +flame, he rushed upon deck, pale and trembling, declaring he could not +stay below, for there was a woman and child there, mocking him and +dancing in the lightning's flash.' A groan of horror burst from the +listeners. The Earl's cheek flushed for a moment, then turned pale, but +he was motionless and passionless in seeming. The seaman glanced at the +Earl from under his shaggy eyebrows, and proceeded.</p> + +<p>'The sailors spoke together in angry whispers, some of them were for +throwing him overboard, and I had hard work to persuade them to leave +him to his Maker and his conscience; soon, however, we all heard the +wailing cry of a child, then stifling sobs, sounds mingled with the +storm like a woman's voice in agony of supplication, bitter, mocking +laughter. I could restrain the men no longer, "we will free our craft +from this Jonah," said they, "the storm is sent for him." But the +vengeance of the Almighty was swifter than theirs, he had climbed the +rigging—the stoutest seaman that ever handled rope could not have +passed the futtoch shrouds in such a storm, yet he reached the top-mast +cross-trees, clinging to the top-gallant mast he stood, and in the +lightning we had seen his face, ghastly with terror. There was a vivid +flash—it seemed to wrap the mast in one blue sheet of flame, while all +around was dark, we saw it then, a female with a child in her arms, +floating, as it seemed, upon the wind, now drifting towards him, now +whirled upon the blast to a distance. A tremendous sea struck us upon +the beam at this moment, and every mast went by the board. The gale +abated soon, and we got jury-masts up, and put back to Lima, but of all +that ship's crew, no man was hurt by the storm or the spirit, save he +whose deeds had been evil;—and that is why, my lord, I say I fear not +these sounds, for a good conscience is the best sheet-anchor.'</p> + +<p>'A truly edifying tale,' said the Earl sneering, 'you must be Chaplain +to the fleet, doubtless. The bad boy got whipped and the good boys went +scot free, just as it should be. And now, good folks, you have had your +amusement, and had best seek your homes, and Old Boreas here may go to +his ship or the Devil. I care not.' With this parting benediction the +Earl quitted the apartment, and the crowd soon dispersed. The agent +remained, and a few of the tenantry who had business with him. The +mariner with a grave, quiet look, remained seated on one of the benches. +There was a slight bustle at the door, as of repelling some intruder, +who, however, succeeded in gaining an entrance, and a man whose garments +bespoke extreme poverty, entered and approached the man of business.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lambert lifted up his head and looked coldly at him. 'What is it you +want now?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'If you please—' began the man.</p> + +<p>'Oh! It's all of no use, unless you have brought the money. My Lord +can't wait any longer, and I have a warrant out now.'</p> + +<p>'But I have the money,' said the man, and he laid five one pound notes +on the table.</p> + +<p>'This is not sufficient,' said Lambert, 'the costs of the summons, +warrant of distress, etc., amount to £14 more.'</p> + +<p>'My God!' said he, 'what am I to do?'</p> + +<p>'I can take this on account, and stop further proceedings, if you can +procure security to pay the remainder within a month.'</p> + +<p>'I cannot. Great God! have you no mercy? I have not tasted food these +three days, and I am weak with fever. I cannot work yet; wait till I am +better.'</p> + +<p>This man's attenuated form, his bony hands and cadaverous cheeks—eyes +staring with hunger, told a tale too common, alas, of fearful suffering; +but no marble was colder than the agent.</p> + +<p>'I am not your physician, Mr. Johnson, and therefore cannot say any +thing about your fitness for work. One thing I have to say, that is, you +cannot sit rent free in my lord's cottage; the money must be paid or out +you pack. I have an attachment on your tools, so you cannot remove them. +You have had the usual legal notice, and my offer just now was +liberal—very liberal.'</p> + +<p>'And my children—'</p> + +<p>'There are institutions provided by the laws, Mr. Johnson, for the +reception of paupers. But we are wasting time. Do you accept my +proposition or not?'</p> + +<p>'I cannot do it; give me time.'</p> + +<p>'Too much has been already wasted. Take back your money. You doubtless +can obtain more in the same manner you did this. It looks very +suspicious, I must say.'</p> + +<p>'And this is called a Christian land!' said the poor fellow, holding his +wasted hands up to heaven. 'O God, that these things should be! The +earth is covered with food for sustaining life, and hundreds, aye, +thousands, like myself, are perishing at home. Oh, where is Christian +charity?'</p> + +<p>'Charity begins at home,' said the seaman, 'and seldom casts anchor in +any other port. If you'll take my advice, you will stow your cargo and +make sail, and hark ye—' He whispered a word in the man's ear; the +other clasped his hands together, and with a tear in his eye, left the +apartment.</p> + +<p>'Woe! woe! doomed!' cried the mysterious voice.</p> + +<p>Lambert shook like a leaf—the seaman seemed to enjoy his terror.</p> + +<p>'How much does Mr. Johnson owe?' said he,</p> + +<p>'£5 rent, and £14 costs and taxes.'</p> + +<p>'Write a receipt.'</p> + +<p>The mariner paid the sum, and asked how he came so low.</p> + +<p>'The usual story, captain.'</p> + +<p>'Williams is my name.'</p> + +<p>'The usual story, Captain Williams—sick wife, large family, broke a +leg, wife died, behind-hand in his rent, steady man, but not punctual in +paying his bills.'</p> + +<p>'Why how the thunder could he? Couldn't his lordship wait till the poor +fellow was a little recovered?'</p> + +<p>'Business, captain, must be conducted in a business-like manner.'</p> + +<p>'You thought otherwise once.'</p> + +<p>'When was that, pray?'</p> + +<p>'When the father of that man, whom your relentless cruelty pursues with +such vindictive malice, took you, a friendless boy, fed and clothed you, +educated you along with his own son—the very man whose misery you +insult—when his father saved <i>you</i> from the "charitable institution" +you would send his children to, and finally paid the fee for articling +you to the attorney at Canterbury, where you learned your present +devotion to business.'</p> + +<p>The agent stared in speechless astonishment—the low musical laugh again +rang through the room.</p> + +<p>'Listen!' said the mariner. 'The creatures of the air, the beings of +another world denounce you; the victims of your lust for gold, though +buried fathoms deep in the grave, still find a voice to chill the marrow +in your bones: the dead shall rise from their graves and confront +you—the hidden perfidy of years shall be disclosed, base tool of a +baser master—all your machinations against the wronged and the humble +shall fail, and recoil upon yourselves. Repent ere it will be too late; +you will never more be warned by me.'</p> + +<p>So saying, the stout seaman left the astonished agent and wended his way +towards the cottage of the poor man Johnson, whither we shall precede +him. It is needless to remind the reader that the way was perfectly +familiar to him.</p> + +<p>Dark are the shadows that cross the poor man's path, and few and far +between are the glimpses of hope that come to lighten them. The Eternal +in his wisdom has ordained that such should be—but Oh! woe! woe! ten +thousand times ten thousand woes, does he deserve who oppresses where he +should relieve, who becomes the destroyer where he should have been the +comforter; and yet there exist ten thousand such who thrive and roll in +luxury, while human hearts are bursting in their agony.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>THE POOR MAN'S HOME.</h3> + + +<p>Standing a little aloof from the other cottages, as if conscious of its +poor appearance, was a shed; it could hardly be called any thing else, +for it appeared originally to have been nothing more than an out-house +belonging to another building, and such in fact it had been. The roof +was decayed in many places, and covered partly with rank moss. It was +situated in a hollow, and the marshy soil around bore evident proof that +it was subject to be overflowed in rainy weather. Four or five squalid, +ragged children, with pinched features and thin limbs, sat huddled in a +heap on the muddy ground, watching the road with anxious eyes—eyes so +bright with hunger that they seemed like those of so many rats. The +youngest—it was not two years old, cried—the elder beat it. Start not, +reader, it is human nature. The little creature hid her wizen face in +her withered little hands and sobbed. A man rode by just then. It was +the agent on his way to the castle, for this was the morning of Curly +Tom's escape. Instinctively the children drew closer together and +shuddered. They did not know why, but they knew their father feared him. +He passed on, and the little faces seemed to brighten for a moment; the +eldest was but seven. Long ere the dawn their father had started for the +market town, some five miles off, in the vain hope that an old friend +there would help him. Ah, poor children! there they sat from the first +ray of daylight, and the bright sun was now glittering high above their +heads, shining upon their desolation and upon the castle turrets, +wherein dwelt in luxury their oppressor. The events we have described as +taking place at the castle were still in progress, when a female was +seen slowly coming along the road, bearing a basket on her arm that +seemed too heavy for her.</p> + +<p>'That is Mary Walters,' said the eldest, 'and she will give us something +to eat—I am sure she will. Jenny, dear, don't cry,' and the urchin +wiped the little face she had struck before, and tenderly took her in +her own spare little arms. The child was not much weight. Gentle Mary +Waters! who that gazed upon thy placid face, as thou earnest on thine +errand of mercy—who that saw thee as thou ministered to the necessities +of those poor desolate children, would not have loved thee—who that had +seen thee in the first blush of thy beauty, when thy foot was as elastic +as the fawn's, and thy countenance radiant with joy and life's young +morning hope—who, who could dream that there existed one who had seen +all this, who had known the tie that bound thee to earth and its +promised happiness, the innocent love that abounded in thy heart—yet +ruthlessly snapped that tie asunder, and buried the love nought could +eradicate, deep in her bosom—a shattered wreck amid the memories of the +past. Gentle Mary Walters! alas for thy experience!</p> + +<p>What avails it to describe her—perished as we know that fair form to +be, withered in its bloom. Yet she was handsome. It was not in any +particular feature; it was in the whole expression of her face and form. +Her auburn hair, in its plain quiet braid—her neat and scrupulously +plain attire, her mild blue eye, the air of placid resignation about her +presence, seemed so lovely, for she bore no outward token of the grief +within; she had never wailed or cried her sorrow away; but though her +gay smile had passed away forever, she had not become the gloomy +misanthrope or the fretful querulous invalid. She had complained to no +one. Her old grandfather knew her griefs, but he also knew that it was a +subject he could not offer her consolation upon. To aid the suffering as +far as her slender means would allow, to tend the couch of sickness, to +cheer the desponding heart in its hour of darkness, these were the +occupations with which she strove, not to forget her sorrows—that could +never be—but to afford an outlet for that love for her fellow creatures +which no selfish grief could lessen. And she could smile and speak in +cheering tones to others in their hour of woe, shedding over their +darkened paths the light of hope, while deep in the fountains of her own +heart that sweet flame was extinguished forever on earth, and dust and +ashes alone remained.</p> + +<p>But over that lovely countenance, so serene and beautiful, the shadow of +death had already fallen;—that dread disease that beautifies ere it +kills its victims, had placed its fell stamp upon her. Daily her figure +became thinner and sharper, her breath grew shorter and a hacking cough +commenced, while a hectic flush sometimes came over her pallid +cheek—but too plainly warning those who looked upon her, that +consumption had marked her for its victim.</p> + +<p>Hastily giving the children some victuals she had brought for them, she +entered the hovel, furniture there was none;—a chest of tools and a +heap of straw was all its contents. The grate had evidently been +unconscious of a fire for weeks past,—but it was summer. She shuddered +as she looked around. This was the home for which the proud lord of +those domains exacted a rent of £10 per year. She was not one, however, +to give way to idle speculation when there was good to be done: she +opened the shutters, swept the floor, and threw a quilt she had brought +with her over the heap of straw, then made the children wash themselves, +and proceeded to dress them in some hastily made clothes, which her +basket contained. Then taking the little one in her lap, and making the +others lay down on the bed—for hunger had awoke them far before they +had their needful rest, she sat down upon the tool-chest lulling the +child to sleep, and patiently awaiting the arrival of the father. A step +approached, it was not the man, however, but the landlady's wayward +nephew:—he, too, carried a basket, and seemed pleased, but not at all +surprised at seeing Mary.</p> + +<p>'I knew I should find you here,' said he, sitting beside her, (he was +much more companionable with her than with any other person,) 'I knew as +soon as you came back and heard how badly off these poor creatures were, +you would come to relieve them. It's like you, Mary, you seem the only +Angel amongst a race of fiends.'</p> + +<p>'It is our duty to help the poor and needy, Edward: I only grieve I was +absent from the village. Things ought never to have come to this pass. +Why did not the neighbors help them?'</p> + +<p>'Why, Mary, in the first place you know poor Johnson was no favorite of +theirs—he was better educated than any of them, you know he was not +bred a carpenter, but intended for a minister,—so he has often told me +himself, for he has been my schoolmaster, it's because we are both +lonely, I suppose, that he talked to me, but he kept aloof from the +others, and they all said pride would have a fall, and so would not come +near him in his trouble. My aunt and he had quarrelled, but she would +gladly help him for all that if he would only accept of it, but his +pride sticks in the way. I knew he was away, or I would not have brought +this with me; however, you can say you brought it.'</p> + +<p>'I can never tell an untruth, Edward, but you can leave it, perhaps he +will ask no questions.'</p> + +<p>'I'm not quite sure of that, Mary; but I've played him one trick this +morning for his own good, and if you won't help me to play another, e'en +let it alone—all have their weak side,—that abstract idea of truth you +worship, Mary, is yours.'</p> + +<p>'And do you not love the truth too, Edward?'</p> + +<p>'I never tell a wilful lie, Mary, you know. I'd scorn it, and I never +break my word,—but still, look at truth's reward,—here! the home of an +honest man, and there!' he pointed towards the castle. 'Ah! forgive me, +Mary, stupid dolt, that I am.'</p> + +<p>'You have not hurt me, Edward, but must never think honesty and truth +has no reward even on earth; a good conscience is a blessing none can +take away from us, and there is hope in Heaven.'</p> + +<p>'There had need be, Mary,—I won't contradict you, though I don't know +much about it. The Bible says so, and I suppose it's true: but poor +Johnson, I'm thinking will be more glad of the five pounds I tricked him +into accepting this morning than a dozen good consciences.'</p> + +<p>'How was that done, Edward?'</p> + +<p>'Why, my aunt wanted to help him, but did not know how,—but I was up at +grey dawn this morning, and saw him pass in the direction of Elverton. I +knew he was gone on a fool's errand to appeal to an old friend; he had, +it seems, bowed his proud heart to that. True, he had saved this man's +life: more, he had saved him from dishonor and disgrace, but I felt none +the less certain he would get no aid there. So I took £5 from Aunt +Ally's cash-box, and putting them inside a blank letter, I directed it +in a feigned hand, only adding the words, "from one who sympathises with +learning and ability in distress," for he's proud of his learning, and +rode like mad over the hills to get there before him; there I watched +for him, and got a footmail to give him the letter, and came back as +fast as I went.'</p> + +<p>'Now, God bless you for it, Edward, you are a wild boy, but you have a +good heart.'</p> + +<p>'Boy! Man, you mean, Mary. I'm eighteen this summer.'</p> + +<p>'I should not have thought you so old.'</p> + +<p>'Aye, aye, you judge like the rest, because my carcase is not as big as +Lumping Dick's the butcher boy's, and because you have known me as a +child when you were a grown woman, you think I am to remain a child +always.' And he petulantly shook back the masses of long dark hair that +shadowed his wild but handsome countenance.</p> + +<p>At this moment Johnson entered the room. His step was feeble and slow, +but his countenance no longer bore the look of deep dejection that had +in the morning characterized it. His eye brightened still more when he +saw Mary.</p> + +<p>'Now God bless you, Miss Waters, for thinking of my poor lambs,' said +he. 'I scarcely dared to hope for them. I have brought food for +them—see!' he added. 'I little dreamed anyone would have been here +before me.'</p> + +<p>'Sit down,' said Mary, rising; 'you are fatigued and weak. I must go +now, as my grandfather will need me, but we will send you something to +make your house more comfortable.'</p> + +<p>'I shall not require it, Miss Mary: I have nearly five pounds here.'</p> + +<p>'Why, how is that?'</p> + +<p>'It was handed me this morning by a strange footman in Elverton, after +the door was shut in my face of the only man I ever tamed my spirit to +ask aid from: yes, the cowardly hypocrite that dared not deny me to my +face, sent his lacquey to tell me he was unwell, and could not be +disturbed by beggars. May the curse—'</p> + +<p>'Stay!' said Mary, 'curse him not, leave his punishment to his Maker; +but did not the agent take the five pounds for the rent?'</p> + +<p>'No; he said there was a warrant and costs of suit that made it fourteen +pounds more, and was going to send the bailiffs to turn me out this very +evening; but a strange old seaman came forward and paid the amount. I +should have been here sooner, but I went round to the village shop to +buy food for the little ones.'</p> + +<p>'You must allow me to have my way, Johnson,' said Mary. 'Sit down now +and eat; then rest. You will need the little money you have, and more +too, to recruit your health, for you must not dream of working again +until you are strong. I will send what is necessary, and some one to +mind the children; Edward, will you walk home with me?' and before the +man could reply, not giving him time to utter a word of thanks, she took +the arm of the youth and quitted the cottage. The man knelt down on the +floor, and famishing as he was, prayed for a blessing on her head ere he +touched the food that was there. Another had been a witness to this +interview. Looking through the casement was the visage of the mariner, +no longer stern, but moved with unutterable emotion, and tears, yes, +tears trickling down his weather-beaten cheeks. This soon ceased, +however, and a frown dark and terrible passed over his face; his +powerful frame quivered, then settled down into one look of deep, +determined, implacable resolve. He entered the hut, and laying the +agent's receipt upon the chest, quitted without a word.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>THE CAPTURE.</h3> + + +<p>The sun had set about an hour on the evening of the same day, when Mr. +Lambert, with two stout attendants, set out from his residence on the +outskirts of the village, and took his way through the intervening wood +towards the sea shore. The two men with him were London officers, adepts +at thief catching, resolute and determined; they were well armed, but +bore no badge of their occupation outside. The agent had screwed his +courage to the point of accompanying them, with some difficulty, but he +was well aware that if they failed in capturing their man, he would have +to encounter the nobleman's rage, and he feared the loss of his favor +more than the chance of being shot or stabbed by Hunter; but he knew +well it was an errand of no small danger he was upon; yet they were +three to one, and he counted much upon the instructions he had given to +Curly Tom; much also on Hunter's habit of drink, still he felt by no +means easy and would have given much then to have been quietly in his +bed; not so the officers; they were in high glee, the prospect of a +desperate encounter being by men inured to deal with ruffians as they +were, but small in comparison with the hope of a large reward.</p> + +<p>They proceeded in silence, however—the agent, who was perfectly +familiar with the way, leading. They soon emerged into the open country, +and after a few miles began to ascend, and felt the keen air from the +sea blow upon their faces—the path soon became rugged and uneven, but +sloping towards the sea. In a short time they reached the beach. Here +they dismounted and tied their beasts up under a shed, placed there for +the purpose of drying fish. There was no moon, but it was a bright +starlight night, and the tide was out. Creeping cautiously along, they +skirted the base of a large cliff which projected far beyond low water +mark, and against which the sea beat in fury when the tide was in; and +keeping on its inner side; crept along until they reached the entrance +of a cave. Not a word was spoken. Their instructions had been +precise—for Lambert, who was born and had spent his earliest years +there, knew every spot of the ground. They took their shoes off, and +walking upon the hard sand which formed the ground, entered the pitchy +darkness. Lambert going first, and knowing that a sound would be +fatal—for they would have little chance in that narrow passage—he +turned every angle as accurately as if it had been daylight, and the +officers holding, one behind the other, followed stealthily along. Soon +their path widened, and a glimmering light allowed them that the cavern +was tenanted, or had been so. A few paces more, and they stopped. Some +large masses of fallen rock here almost blocked up the path, leaving an +opening so narrow as to require stooping to enter. Cautiously peeping +through some spaces between the rocks, the agent and his myrmidons gazed +upon a scene Salvator would have loved to paint. The cavern here +expanded into a semicircular hall, stalactites hanging from its roof +nearly to the ground. Here and there a niche and recess which seemed +done by human art, but which in fact was Nature's handiwork, was seen, +and every point of spar, from the lofty roof to the stalagmites below, +was glittering in the light of a huge fire of brushwood fed by Curly +Tom. A small rill of water trickled from a fissure in the rock above, +and wound its way through the sand towards the sea. It was the very +beau-ideal of a robber's cave. Its existence was known to few: only +accessible at low water, the entrance had escaped notice, and the few +that did find it were discouraged on entering by the long and tortuous +way which led to this chamber, and did not track it far. The smoke found +vent above, as the fire burnt clear and bright, and did not incommode +the watchers.</p> + +<p>Horace Hunter was pacing the cave with unsteady step, and with delight +the officers saw that he was more than half intoxicated. No one could +have recognized in the bloated countenance and reckless air of the +hunted man, the gay and handsome young farmer of seven years before. +There was still the same manly form and intelligent features, but the +rich brown hair that then curled round his open brow, now wild and +matted, only added to the desperate appearance of his sunken eyes and +overhanging brows. Drink did not make him merry. On the contrary he was +more bitter then than ever. Gloomy and ferocious as he had become since +his sister's shame had been known to him, when he drank he only brooded +heavier upon it; and the hope of a more complete revenge only restrained +him then from some desperate act of violence. As he walked to and fro, +chafing with inward passion, he might have been compared to a caged wild +beast, hungry and with food in sight, yet unattainable.</p> + +<p>'A curse upon you, Tom!' said he. 'Would you roast us alive, this hot +night? Leave the fire alone and bring your hang-dog face here!'</p> + +<p>He treated his associate with the most bitter contempt.</p> + +<p>'I doant fancy biding here with narra light!' said the fellow. 'There be +a mort of ugly things here!'</p> + +<p>'There's nothing uglier than your own carcase. Drink and get courage. If +your heart is cold with fear, warm it with brandy.'</p> + +<p>So saying he took a deep draught himself and handed the bottle to his +companion.</p> + +<p>'I hate the stuff!' said he. 'Bah! it's poison—but it rouses me. Fire +this infernal cave! What's that?' A bat, disturbed by the smoke, flitted +close before his face. 'I have had nothing but evil omens to-day. What +is the day of the month?'</p> + +<p>'I heern lawyer say the 26th, yesterday.'</p> + +<p>'The 27th of August, then. By twelve o'clock to-night my time will be +up—then I shall be free to act. If that old seaman should play me false +now! I promised him to wait three years, and I have kept my word!' He +was speaking more to himself than to his companion. 'Three long +years—too long for vengeance for wrongs like mine to wait. But that he +swore, I should tame his pride—but that he spoke of hurling him from +his high estate, ere this I would have had the heart's blood of that +proud man. But to-night I shall be free, and then—'</p> + +<p>He took from his vest a miniature, and gazed upon it long and earnestly. +Gradually his features softened, and burying his face in his hands, he +wept. There was yet one green spot in the desert of his heart—love for +the fair girl he had been betrothed to. Reader, it was a terrible thing +to see that man weep—it would have made your heart sicken and your +blood boil, while every scalding tear that fell would cry aloud in your +thoughts, 'Vengeance, vengeance!'</p> + +<p>A strange proceeding now took place. Curly Tom took from his pocket a +small phial, and previously filling his own cup with brandy, poured the +contents into the bottle. He watched his companion intently during this +process, but his terrible emotion too completely mastered him for the +moment. It was but momentary. He arose and commenced to pace the floor +again. 'My Mary! you too sacrificed! O, fiend! fiend! But my vengeance +shall be terrible! To-night I shall be free from my oath!' He walked up +to the table and drank. Curly Tom watched him intently as he resumed his +unsteady walk.</p> + +<p>'He little dreams that I can enter his very chamber at any hour. Oh! +coward, fool, dolt, that I have been, to delay my just revenge on the +word of that old pirate. I believe him,—some paid minion of this proud +man; for he has them in every guise, perhaps the very appointment made +three years ago in the West Indies, was a trap, perhaps,—even this clod +is a spy and accomplice;' he took a pistol from an inner pocket and +cocking it, pressed it to the ear of his companion. 'Tom,' said he, 'if +I thought you would betray me.' The ruffian possessed that brute +indifference to danger too often mistaken for true courage,—he did not +tremble, though a slight paleness was visible on his repulsive +countenance as he felt the touch of the iron barrel. 'Whoy! Measter +Horace,' said he, 'didn't you save moy old mawther from being drowned by +the boys vor a witch, noa, noa,—I be true, and hate yearl and lawyer, +and all the great volk.'</p> + +<p>'I believe you,' said the other, replacing the pistol, 'but' he began to +mutter indistinctly, took a few steps in a wild, uncertain way;—'I feel +dizzy,—d——nation,' he staggered to a seat and dropped his head upon +the piece of rock that served them for a table;—the opiate had done its +work.</p> + +<p>Curly Tom cautiously arose, and walking up to him, looked upon him long +and steadily, listening to the heavy breathing,—he wished to remove his +arms, but the position Hunter was lying in, prevented his doing so. The +ruffian felt no remorse; it was true that Hunter had saved the wretch's +mother from being abused and ill-treated, perhaps murdered, by the +superstitious villagers: true that he had regularly allowed the poor old +woman support till her death,—while her ruffian son was pursuing his +career of crime,—but the villain knew his own neck was in danger, and +being conscious of perfidy, now hated Hunter for his momentary +suspicion. As he leaned over the insensible man, his light, bleary eyes +gleaming with ferocious satisfaction, his lank, shambling figure, and +yellow, matted hair hanging in elf locks round his sharp visage, he +looked like an unclean bird of prey hovering over a carcase. And a +carcase it was over which he bent his head; dead now to every honorable +hope, worse than useless to his kind, a hunted outcast, a mass of +decaying matter, kept alive only by the fiery hope of vengeance that +burnt within. The ruffian had hitherto been faithful, and procured +Hunter those necessaries that he could not venture in quest of himself, +for he was a deserter from that service, which kidnaps men to do its +work, and hunts down the poor slaves when they escape, even in the land +whose inhabitants are singing, 'Britons ever will be free.' Bitter, +mockery of freedom. Curly Tom now held up his hand, and cautiously the +officers emerged from their hiding place, slowly they came forward, +anticipating an easy capture; they were mistaken. The opiate, as it +frequently does on excitable natures, had only partially stupefied him, +and the first effect wearing off, it now began to act as a +stimulant;—the officers had traversed about half the distance to the +rock on which Hunter's head reclined, when he started up and looked +wildly around him,—for a moment he seemed stupefied, and passed his +hand before his face as if to assure himself he was not dreaming—the +officers rushed forward. He saw it all now,—he drew a pistol, but Curly +Tom threw his long arms round him,—too late to prevent the explosion, +however. The ball whizzed by the side of the foremost officer, and +struck the agent in the leg—he fell. Curly Tom possessed more strength +than his lank figure promised,—but Hunter, thoroughly sobered by his +danger; tore his hold away, and striking the ruffian a tremendous blow +with the butt end of the discharged pistol, felled him to the +ground,—and snatching a knife from the rock close at hand, stabbed the +foremost officer to the heart,—he fell with a heavy groan, and the next +moment the remaining officer, a man of herculean strength had closed +upon him. Terrible was now the struggle—the officer had dexterously +struck the knife from his hand as he closed with him, but he could not +draw his pistols. Locked in each other's grasp they wrestled together +for life: each one well knew that death would be the lot of the +vanquished,—the officer burning to revenge his comrade's death:—Hunter +struggling for life and his cherished vengeance. Gradually they +approached the spot where the agent sat watching the conflict with +terrible anxiety, so absorbing as to make him forgetful of the pain of +his wound; here, by a tremendous effort the officer succeeded in +throwing his antagonist; falling, however, with him. Hunter made +desperate efforts to rise, but getting within reach of the agent in the +struggle, Lambert seized his hair, and held his head firmly down; to +master his hands now, and slip a pair of handcuffs over his wrists, was, +to the powerful and practised officer, the work of a moment,—and +furious with passion, but exhausted by the struggle, Hunter lay upon the +earth, a captive.</p> + +<p>'A game fellow,' said the officer, wiping the perspiration from his +brow, 'and strong as a bear, but I've tackled as tough hands as him in +my day, and so has poor Bill Maddox there. I hope the Earl will settle a +good pension on his widow—it will be sad news for her and her four poor +children:—stone dead. He took the famous highwayman, Jack Blount summut +in this way, five years ago. Well, he's gone, and as the tide is coming +in, we had best be smart. That shot was unlucky for you, Mr. Lambert, +but such accidents will happen. You behaved beautifully. I'm blowed if I +thought you so fly to these things. Poor Bill—we can't move him until +next tide, but sea-water can't hurt him now. I must rouse this +chuckle-headed yokel and get him to help me.' So saying, the veteran +thief-catcher lighted a dark lantern, and taking some water sprinkled it +freely over the head and face of Curly Tom. The fellow returned to +consciousness, and gazed around him—a look of ferocious joy animated +his eyes, as he saw that Hunter was taken, and drinking the brandy he +had reserved unmixed in the cup, he professed his readiness to help +them.</p> + +<p>Leaving him to guard the prisoner, first, however, removing Hunter's +remaining pistol, and even securing the discharged one, the sturdy +official took the wounded agent on his back, and crept out of the +cavern. He soon returned, and with Tom's assistance removed Hunter also, +who now from the combined effects of exhaustion, liquor and the opiate, +was fast becoming insensible. Leaving one of his pistols with the agent, +in case of treachery on the part of Tom, he once more returned, and +taking off the outer clothing of the dead man, fastened a cord to his +feet, and tied it firmly round a piece of rock near by. He was too used +to scenes of blood to shed a tear, but he shook the dead man's hand and +said, 'Poor Bill,' as he quitted the cave. His precautions with regard +to Tom were unneeded. The ruffian's hatred had been aroused by Hunter's +suspicion, and confirmed by the blow. Nor did he refuse to start to +Erith for assistance to convey the prisoner and the wounded man there. +He had been assured by the agent that no harm should come to him, +protected by the powerful influence of the nobleman; and to allow +himself to be captured had been part of the plan from the first. He had +not sense enough to know that the heavier crime of murder, now laying +upon the soul of the unfortunate man, did away with the necessity of his +appearing as a witness, as it had been done in the presence of Mr. +Lambert and the officer, and they were both too wise to undeceive him. +Indeed the wily agent had determined, now that the service was rendered, +to sacrifice his ruffianly tool, as his presence might be troublesome. +Tom soon returned with a posse of police officers and a cart, to convey +the prisoner and the wounded. A surgeon was with them, who dressed Mr. +Lambert's wound temporarily, and pronounced it trifling, and the party +departed—Tom going with them as a voluntary prisoner.</p> + +<p>Great were the encomiums bestowed upon the officer by his brother +official, for his conduct and bravery, and the agent also came in for +his share of praise—and the whole party were in high glee at the +result, which brought one poor hunted human being under the dread ban of +the law, while he whose lust had driven him to crime revelled in luxury, +and mingled with the fair and good, courted and caressed by those who +would have shrunk from expressing any sympathy for the poor victims of +his pride. Weep, angels, weep! and devils, shout for joy! Hell has no +minister so powerful as the proud man's lust.</p> + +<p>It may be as well to mention here at once, that the agent, pursuing his +plan of getting rid of Curly Tom, much to that worthy's astonishment, +pressed the charge of highway robbery against him, before the trial of +Hunter, which was postponed through the influence of the Earl, which was +indirectly exerted also to procure the condemnation of his base tool; +and so it came to pass, that after a trial, which was a mere form—for +the seaman's bare deposition, which Mr. Lambert had taken, was admitted +as evidence—the good citizens of Canterbury being in want of a little +excitement, that interesting individual performed a dance upon nothing, +in company with a sheep-stealer and a forger, for their especial behoof, +one fine day in September, under the personal superintendence of that +accomplished artist, Mr. John Ketch, in the presence of a highly +respectable and numerous audience, who all retired to their homes in +peace, much gratified with the exhibition, and duly impressed with a +deep sense of the blessing of being permitted to vegetate under the +protection of a government so wise in its councils, so strong in +<i>execution</i>, and so paternal in its care for the morals of the people. +So said the newspapers next day; and thus ended the career of a +heartless ruffian, it is true, but who had ever sought to make him +otherwise?</p> + +<p>To proceed with our tale. Day was now fast breaking; and as the cortege +moved away with their prisoner, two horsemen appeared on the cliffs +above, and dismounting, watched the party with eager but disappointed +looks. They were the old seaman and Edward Barnett, the village +landlady's eccentric nephew.</p> + +<p>'A plague upon my awkward riding,' said the seaman, 'we are too late! +They have taken him, and that rascal too with him! Fool that he was to +place any confidence in such a hound.'</p> + +<p>'He had been kind to Tom's mother,' said Edward, 'and he supposed that +gratitude.'</p> + +<p>'Bah!' said the sailor; 'when you have buffeted as many of the storms of +life as I have, you will learn that gratitude is rarely found on +earth—least of all in such a brutified nature as that fellow's. But why +do I blame him? He was but what the law made him. Punished for a venial +fault—sent to herd with hardened malefactors, is it wonderful that he +should become schooled in crime? And now the law will punish the +criminal it made. We can do no good here—we had best proceed to Erith. +I have much to say to you, and much to do. But fear not; Hunter shall +not perish without an effort, even if I tear him from the gallows.' So +saying, he remounted, and the two slowly pursued their way towards +Erith.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>THE BEGINNING OF RETRIBUTION.</h3> + + +<p>The seaman and his young companion were seated together in a little room +overlooking the sea, on the evening succeeding the events we have +related. It was one of those calm, lovely evenings when summer, seeming +loth to give over her reign to the approaching fall, exerts herself to +display her utmost beauty, and withholds her scorching heat. The +declining sun gave a rose colored tint to the landscape, and the vessels +passing to or from the modern Babylon added animation to the scene. The +mariner was gazing at the distant horizon, lost in thought. That +memories of other days were recalled to his mind, was evident from the +working of his features; that it required a strong effort to restrain +his emotion, was perceivable from the compression of his lips. There was +a massive grandeur in his aspect as he sat, well befitting the scene. +His young companion had his thoughts also, and they were not the usual +ones of his age. The meeting with the seaman and subsequent events had +roused him from his usual listless, wayward fancies, and he was going +back in memory to past scenes—shadowy and indistinct—but all in some +way mixed with the locket he wore suspended, unseen, around his neck. +That the time had now arrived when he was to receive an explanation of +the past, he felt sure; for his aunt had often told him that when Walter +arrived he should know all: and from the seaman's manner he conjectured +that the long wished for hour was come.</p> + +<p>'Edward,' said the mariner, 'I wish you to tell me all that you +recollect—not of your life at your aunt's, but before that.'</p> + +<p>'And then,' said the boy, 'in return you promise to tell me of my +parentage?'</p> + +<p>'You shall know all.'</p> + +<p>The boy paced the floor for a few moments. His figure was slender, but +lithe and active, of medium stature; and there was a restlessness about +his movements that told of a wild spirit within. His face was remarkably +handsome; features chiselled in a form that would have served a Grecian +sculptor for a model—and his long dark hair fell in glossy locks even +over his shoulders. He stood holding the back of a chair, and looking +more to seaward than at his companion, began:</p> + +<p>'It was not in this country, I am sure, that I first recollect myself, +in a handsome house, but built different from these. There were +cocoa-nut trees growing near it; and other trees that do not grow here; +but I have seen something like them in the Earl's green house. There +were luscious fruits, but not English ones—oranges and bananas I am +sure. The people around us too were black. I remember I was frightened +when I came here first at seeing so many white people and no blacks.'</p> + +<p>Walter regarded him steadily—but the young man's eye was seaward. He +seemed to see before him the scenes he was depicting.</p> + +<p>'There was a piazza round the house, where I used to play, and a sweet +lady, very like poor Mary, but dark-haired, whom I used to call mother.' +There was powerful emotion depicted on the listener's face, but he said +nothing. 'I remember a handsome gentleman, but he was not there often. +He wore a uniform, but not like the officers here. I think now he must +have been in the navy. I used to call him papa. I am sure he must have +been my father, and he was a sailor; for my mother was always looking +out to sea when he was absent, and he took me onboard a man of war ship +once, where, from the deference every one showed to him, I judge, now +that I am older, that he must have been the Captain of. These things +seem to me like shadows, for I was not more than five years old then.'</p> + +<p>'True,' said his auditor, 'your memory is good.'</p> + +<p>'There was a party. I think my father was not there, but I was +handsomely dressed, and ladies caressed me, and the negroes were +dancing. I think it must have been my birth-day. I remember a servant +bringing in a letter, and my mother fainting, and talk about a great +fight at sea, and my father's name mentioned—I have forgotten it—but +ladies told me not to cry, and I knew that he was dead; but I did not +know what it meant. After this another gentleman used to come there, +very handsome too, but not like my father, for he had a dark face and +dark hair, and my father's hair was light. I did not like him, for he +spoke very stern to my mother, and she used to weep, and was very much +frightened by him. It was some paper he wanted from her, and he offered +her gold once. I saw him, for I hid myself and watched him. Then my +mother got sick—they said she was getting better, and I remember being +much surprised one morning, when the old nurse came down and told me she +was dead. She had died suddenly in the night, they said, and yet she had +been better the evening before.'</p> + +<p>A deep groan burst from the seaman's lips, and his face was ashy pale. +The young man trembled as he proceeded.</p> + +<p>'The dark gentleman came and took me away from the house, and I never +saw it again. My old nurse went with me. I was six years old then, and I +lived with her, in a poorer place than before, and not close to the old +house, for we went a long way in a carriage to reach it. We lived +together so till I was near eight years old. The dark gentleman never +came near us—but one day a man came, and said he had bought her, I +think, and she must go with him; and they took her away from me. I clung +to her, but they beat me away. Unseen by them she tied this ribbon with +the locket to it round my neck, and telling me never to part with it, +for it had been my mother's, and would one day bring me rank and +fortune, she went with her new master. A kind old colored woman, who +used to say she was free, took me to her house, and I remember nothing +more until you found me there, but that I hid the locket even from her, +for I was afraid she would take it away, and that the man who took Nurse +away, said, looking at me, "What a pity he is white!"'</p> + +<p>The youth had been so intent upon collecting the reminiscences of his +childhood, that he had failed to perceive the effect it had upon his +companion, and the darkness now prevented his face from being seen—but +the agonized sobs that broke from him now and then told that the +fountains of his heart were stirred, and his very soul harrowed up, and +memory had conjured up a series of terrible recollections. Lights were +brought into the room, but all traces of agitation had disappeared, and +his countenance bore only the look of stern, implacable resolve.</p> + +<p>'Edward, tell me one thing more. Have you ever seen the dark-haired man +since?'</p> + +<p>'Daily, for these ten years almost. I knew him instantly.'</p> + +<p>'His name?'</p> + +<p>'De Montford! It was by accident I discovered the secret of the picture +in the justice-room, and I have availed myself of it to play spirit to +him and his base agent sometimes.'</p> + +<p>'It was a boyish trick—but you have sterner work now in hand than +playing ghost—you have to avenge a murdered mother!'</p> + +<p>'Ah! then my mother's sudden death, when she was recovering—'</p> + +<p>'Was the work of poison!'</p> + +<p>'I see it all!' said the young man. 'The papers he wanted, and she +refused—but I will kill him!' He started up, and was rushing to the +door. The iron grasp of the seaman arrested him.</p> + +<p>'You must be calm, Edward. He shall die, but he must not perish by your +hand. He is your uncle. But he shall first be stripped of his assumed +rank and title, and his proud spirit humbled. Then he shall answer in a +court of justice for the murder of your mother.'</p> + +<p>'Who, then, was my father?'</p> + +<p>'The eldest lawful son of the late Earl De Montford!'</p> + +<p>Edward gazed proudly around him for a moment, then sank into a chair, +and burying his face in his hands, burst into tears. Walter did not +disturb him, but sat regarding him with a look in which affection was +strangely mingled with his stern resolve. At length Edward raised his +head.</p> + +<p>'I am composed now,' said he, 'and will be guided by you, for I am +convinced you have been a true friend to me. But there must be no +reservation—you must tell me all.'</p> + +<p>'Or you will doubt me. It was never my intention to keep you in the dark +or in leading strings longer than necessary. I am above the petty spirit +which, to magnify its importance, keeps to itself half a secret, to be +told at another time. You shall know all, and we will concert our +measures together as man and man, for I can easily guess from this +moment you have put off the boy for ever.'</p> + +<p>It was true. Even in that short time a marked change had come upon him, +and it was with the resolved air of a man prepared to hear, determine, +and to act, if need be, with firmness and deliberation, that he pushed +his chair from the table, and folding his arms upon his chest, sat +waiting for the mariner to proceed in his tale. That burst of tears +which followed the announcement of his rank was a last farewell to +boyhood, and his firm attitude and handsome features looked worthy to +uphold the proud motto of his house, "Nulli Secundi."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>THE SEAMAN'S STORY.</h3> + + +<p>'I was little more than twelve years of age when I entered the British +Navy as a midshipman, much against my good father's will, for I was his +only child, and my mother died the day I first saw the light. But I was +a wayward, unruly boy, and he feared I might take to bad courses if +restrained. It was a time of stirring action, and before I was twenty +years of age I bore upon my shoulder the epaulette of a lieutenant, +earned in many a bloody fight. The naval service was then in high +favour, and many sprigs of nobility condescended to walk the +quarter-deck as captains and commanders, though they seldom knew as much +about a ship as the ship's boys. One of these was the late Earl de +Montford—He had the haughty courage of his race; few of them were +deficient in that; but he had disdained to learn his profession, and +when he was appointed to command a corvette, I was sent on board as +first lieutenant, but in fact as what is called a nurse—to do the work, +while my incapable but titled commander reaped the glory. We were +anchored in the bay of Naples, having borne despatches to the fleet then +stationed there, and were under orders to sail the next morning, when he +sent for me into his cabin, and with more familiarity and kindness than +he had ever used to me before, he confided to me that he was in love, +and wanted my assistance to rescue her he loved from a convent. Fond of +adventure, I consented, and we succeeded, so they were that very evening +united by the chaplain on board the corvette. She was very beautiful, +and he was both proud and fond of her. His father was alive, however, +and as the old Earl had negotiated for him a marriage with the daughter +of some proud Marquis in England, he did not dare to acquaint him of +it—for though the title and the estate could not be alienated, yet the +enormous personal property could, and even his love for the fair Italian +could not reconcile him to risk the chance of enduring what he would +have called poverty. He purchased a villa at Leghorn, and leaving the +ship almost entirely at my command, lived for the time at least as +though there was nothing on this earth to care for but love and beauty. +The chaplain had been sworn to secresy, and the other officers of the +ship thought it was merely some amour of their commander's, and whatever +they thought of his morals, they of course took good care to say +nothing. The chaplain died soon after, and I remained the sole living +witness of the marriage. The birth of a son, however, instead of linking +their hearts closer together, became the apple of discord between them. +She pressed him to acknowledge her as his wife to the numerous English +families who were settled around Leghorn, and who refused to associate +with one in her equivocal position. She had borne their slights +patiently when only directed against herself, but the feelings of a +mother were aroused when the finger of scorn was pointed at her child. +It was too evident, also, that his affection for her was on the wane. He +was absent from her more frequently—spoke of the necessity of attending +to his duty—his duty! oh, the ready excuse man finds to do evil. Better +far for that poor girl would it have been to have been buried in the +deepest recesses of the cloister, than to have attracted the notice of +that vile unprincipled nobleman. It was about this time the old Earl +died, and he quitted the service. There was no bar now for his +acknowledging her as his wife—but he was satiated—his fleeting passion +had evaporated. He had visited England in the interval, and seen the +bride destined for him by his father: and her beauty, the enormous +addition to his wealth and power which would accrue from the marriage, +tempted him, and he now regarded the woman who had surrendered to him +the most sacred of man's earthly trusts—her young heart's first +affections, her hopes of earthly happiness—as a barrier to his pride +and the vile passion he dared to dignify with the name of love: and when +she now asked him to do her the justice which he could no longer plead +his father's anger for denying—O God, where were thy thunderbolts!—he +told her that their marriage was a sham one, that the chaplain was but a +servant in disguise, and that in truth she was only his mistress. I had +been dismissed the service through him—I will speak of that anon—the +chaplain was dead—she did not even know his name or mine—how could she +help herself? She never held up her head after this. She refused all +support from him, though he offered to settle upon her a considerable +pension. For five years she supported herself by teaching music at +Florence, whither she removed with an attendant whom her gentle manners +had attached to her, and from whom, years after, I learned these +particulars. She never would, however, consent to sign any papers which +would affect her own or her son's rights, nor would she part with the +certificate of marriage the chaplain had given her, though he tried hard +to obtain them, as also the letters he had written to her from the ship +at different times in which he had always addressed her as his wife. But +her constitution had received a shock from which it never recovered, and +at the expiration of that time she died. His agent, who had been +secretly watching her by his orders, took the boy to England, where he +was sent to a distant school for education under a feigned name, and at +the age of fifteen sent to sea—where, as he was believed to be a +natural son of the Earl, and the latter favored that assumption, his +advancement was rapid; not more so, however, than his gallantry and good +conduct deserved, for I often heard his name mentioned with applause, +though I little dreamed then who he was, or how closely the fortunes of +those I loved the best were connected with him. He was your father, +Edward, and the proud man who now usurps your title and your fortune is +a bastard!'</p> + +<p>The look of high reserve that flashed in the young man's eyes as he +listened to the tale, contrasted well while it agreed with the stern, +implacable, expression of the mariner's countenance, which deepened, if +possible, as he proceeded.</p> + +<p>'It was many years afterwards that I learned these particulars, but I +must now speak of my dismissal and its cause. From the day that your +grandfather's love for his young bride began to decline, he hated me, +yet he feared me—and took good care to conceal it: I was young and +unsuspicious, and when he procured my appointment as first-lieutenant in +a frigate bound to the West Indies, I thanked the man who was plotting +my ruin. The commander of the frigate was one of the meanest wretches +that ever disgraced a command—an impoverished rake who gained the means +of continuing his excesses by flattering the vanity and aiding the +schemes of his richer companions in vice, and duping the more +inexperienced. He had received his directions evidently, and every +studied insult, everything that petty spite and malice could inflict was +tried to provoke me, but the contempt I felt for the reptile restrained +me full as much as the iron bands of discipline. We arrived at Jamaica +and cruised about the Bay of Mexico for some time, when the daughter of +a rich planter, in South Carolina, (then one of his Majesty's colonies, +now one of the brightest stars in the flag of the Great Republic,) took +a passage with her governess in our ship to New Orleans, whither we were +ordered on service. The Captain tried to make himself agreeable to her, +but she treated his advances with coldness so marked as to enrage him. +She saw through, with ease, the flimsy veil he attempted to throw over +his vices. It was my happy fortune to save her from a watery grave. In +landing, she incautiously stepped from the ladder before the boat was +sufficiently near to receive her, and fell, into the sea. I dashed over +the taffrail, the tide was running strong, but I caught her in my arms, +and bore her up, until the boat came to our relief. Her father, who +awaited her arrival, was unbounded in his expressions of gratitude, and +invited me often to his hotel, he also gave me a cordial invitation to +his plantation in Carolina. The Captain made many unseemly jokes upon +the affair, but I bore them all,—for now I felt I loved and I hoped, +who does not hope at twenty-three? I hoped I was beloved in return. +Annoyed by my patience, galled and mortified by his rejection, he lost +his usual prudence, and one day boasted before a knot of loose +companions in my presence, of favors he had received from her,—from her +who was purity itself, and had scarcely deigned to exchange the common +courtesies of life with him. I struck him to the deck for his detested +lie, and gave myself up as prisoner. I was tried by a Court Martial and +declared incapable of serving his Majesty again. I had expected death, +and his powerful friends did their utmost to procure a sentence, but the +Admiral was a just though a rigid man, and well knew the character of my +accuser,—the provocation was taken into consideration, and the services +I had rendered during eleven years in storm and battle. I was dismissed. +Mr. Elliott, the planter, offered me a home. I had saved considerable +prize money. I was disgusted with England, and I loved. He, himself, +offered me his daughter, and she did not refuse me. We lived together +three happy years, when she died in giving birth to a daughter. Oh! she +was beautiful,—most beautiful, but linked to my wayward fate, she +perished.'</p> + +<p>There was a softened shade over the seaman's face, and the stern +expression had gone,—he brushed some moisture from his eyes with his +strong hand, and turned aside for a moment; the young man was deeply +moved.</p> + +<p>'A life of inactivity gave no balm to my wounded spirit, and I burned +for action. Mr. Elliott saw it; "Side with us," said he, "there has been +a Tea Party in Boston harbor that will bring thunder ere long, and I +will procure you a command;" he did so. I joined the Navy of the United +States, and bore the stars and stripes aloft through many a scene of +peril and of death. Mr. Elliott doted on his grandchild, and she +remained with him. Those were times that tried men's hearts, and my +father-in-law was chivalrous as he was generous—he gave the bulk of his +fortune to his country's need, and confiding my daughter, then a child +some two years old, to a distant relative, carried his grey head and +feeble limbs to join the ranks of those who fought for liberty. He fell +gloriously in battle, and when, after years of active service, peace was +declared, and I came home to seek my daughter, the lady who had her in +charge had died of fever, and my child had been taken away, no one could +tell me by whom or where:—all traces of her were lost. I now longed to +see my father, peace was declared, the Independence of America admitted, +and as I had fought under an assumed name, I anticipated no danger. I +was received as one from the grave. I never mentioned my marriage, even +to my father, but accounted for my absence and my silence, by saying +that, ashamed to come home after being dismissed, I had gone in a +merchant vessel to India, and had there been taken prisoner by the +Lootees, a species of banditti, while on an excursion inland. My tale +was easily believed; to please my father, I married again. The sister of +good Mrs. Ally, my second wife, was a good and kind woman, and after the +birth of my daughter Mary, I again hoped for happiness. Vain hope. The +malice of the De Montford family was again let loose upon me. Your +grandfather was dead. I knew nothing of the events that had occurred +during my absence, and supposed that his first wife had died in Italy, +and her son also. But the countess had found among her husband's papers, +so I suppose, at least, for on this point I am uninformed, something +which threw light upon the past, and, supposing that I knew of the +existence of your father resolved on removing me. I was fond of +shooting, and one day shot a hare in a distant part of the manor. I had +been watched, by her orders, and a charge of poaching was instituted +against me. Her son was absent then, upon his murderous errand, as I +afterwards knew. I was tried on a charge of poaching; the game laws were +severe; the justice was her creature, and despite the entreaties of my +father, and the tears of my wife, I was condemned to transportation for +seven years.'</p> + +<p>A bitter sneer was curling on the young man's lip; the mariner's face +had resumed its stern expression. 'The details of my escape from Botany +Bay are unimportant. Suffice it, that I once more reached America, and +devoted my energies to tracing the fate of my child. In Savannah I was +fortunate enough to meet with the attendant of your grandmother. She had +accompanied a family of refugees from European disturbances, and from +her I learned not only what I have told you already—but that my +daughter had been married, and that her husband was no other than the +son of her old mistress and your father!'</p> + +<p>The young man threw his hands towards heaven and fell on his knees.</p> + +<p>'O Thou, whose ways are inscrutable, blessed be thy name, for out of +darkness thou hast brought light, and turned the misdeeds of the guilty +upon themselves, and made the promptings of nature yearn in the heart of +the orphan boy towards the father of my mother.'</p> + +<p>He fell upon the old man's neck and sobbed. Such emotions are no +disgrace to manhood. The mariner strained him to his heart, and it was +some time ere the emotion of both had subsided sufficiently to enable +the one to ask or the other to give further explanation. At length the +mariner resumed. 'From this woman, who had recognised your father by a +peculiar mark on his hand, I learned that she had kept the papers of +your grandmother and the locket, and gave them to your father; but he +treated them as fabulous, and her as an impostor. Your mother, however, +gave credence to her tale, and even consulted a lawyer; but they were +not sufficient without my evidence, and your father would not take any +steps in the affair. Your mother kept her as an attendant till her own +death, but your uncle must have heard from some source of the existence +of his brother; and after his death, which happened in battle at sea, he +tried to induce the widow to give up these papers. Failing in this, by a +large sum of money he tempted your nurse to poison her, and possessed +himself of them, representing himself as her husband's brother, but +concealing his rank. She was also to make away with you; but repenting +of the murder of your mother, she concealed you for some time in a +distant part of the State, but he discovered her and sold her to a +Tennessee planter. It was but this year I succeeded in tracing her, and +finding her almost at the point of death, got these facts from her, +regularly drawn up and witnessed. I bought her freedom first to enable +her to give evidence, and soon after her earthly account was closed. +Violetta D'Arista, your grand-mother's faithful attendant, gave me a +clue by which I traced you; and she is now in London, anxious to fold +you to her breast, and to aid you as far as in her power, to restore to +you your birthright and inheritance.'</p> + +<p>'And the papers?'</p> + +<p>'If not destroyed, are in his possession.'</p> + +<p>'Then I can obtain them, although he has had, as he thinks, all the +subterranean passages stopped up, yet there remains one, by which I can +penetrate to his very bed-room unseen, although a stout man could not.' +The seaman mused. 'It would be dangerous. Your uncle is a brave man, and +powerful. If he awoke—and such consciences must be bad sleeping +companions, you would be sacrificed.'</p> + +<p>'I fear not—for vengeance on my mother's murderer I would dare +anything.'</p> + +<p>'It must not be, young man. You have a sacred duty to perform, more +binding far than vengeance, which is the Lord's alone. You have to heal +the sorrows of those who will be in a great measure dependent upon you +to redress the wrongs of years of oppression, to be a father to the +tenants of your wide domain, and your life must not be idly risked.'</p> + +<p>'I have it!' said Edward, eagerly. 'You say my father was fair-haired, +and I am like my mother.'</p> + +<p>The seaman took a miniature from his vest, and handed it to him. It +contained two portraits—one of a captain in the British navy, in full +uniform, his head bare, and locks of fair hair falling even over his +shoulders, for he had disdained the peruke then in fashion—and that of +a lady, whose dark eyes and raven ringlets told that her nativity had +been the sunny south.</p> + +<p>'Johnson is not unlike the portrait of my father, and is a slim man,' +said Edward. 'He will readily go with me. I will personate my mother. I +am confident the papers are not destroyed, for I have often seen him +when he little dreamed an eye was upon him, examining some papers he +keeps in a small casket on his toilet, and one in particular, a document +of some length, which he has often seemed to me about to tear, but +always replaced.'</p> + +<p>'It will do,' said his grandfather. 'Good Mrs. Ally will procure you the +necessary attire. She can be trusted fully, and I will reconcile her and +Johnson, so that we can all work in concert. Those papers secured, with +the evidence of Violetta and the dying deposition of your nurse, with +the evidence of the lady who took charge of your mother, and who is also +alive and in London, I doubt not soon to see you in the enjoyment of +your rights. It will be a strange anomaly—an American a British peer.'</p> + +<p>'And then, dear grandfather, you will allow me to repay you, in a small +measure, by my affection and care of your declining years, for all the +anxiety you have endured in securing my interests.'</p> + +<p>'Not to me, young man, not to me. My lot on earth is cast. I am here a +fugitive, in danger of a felon's doom. I shall return to honest, plain +America, and there devote the remainder of my life to succoring the poor +and afflicted. Do you likewise here, remembering that you are but the +steward of your wealth. Let the former oppressions of your house be +forgotten in your good deeds. Let your voice be heard in the high court +of which you will be a member, whenever the artizan and the laborer need +a defender from the foul enactments that are there consummated. Let your +passions be subjected to the control of religion and morality—let no +avaricious knave oppress the hard-toiling farmer in your name, but see +to these things yourself. Let your ear be easy of access, and your heart +be open, and then, my Lord, I shall be more than repaid, you will have +had a nobler vengeance than any man could give you, and will earn in +truth a right to bear the proud motto which your fathers arrogated to +themselves, emblazoned, not on your escutcheon, but in the hearts of +grateful men—</p> + +<p>"<i>Second to none in deeds of charity.</i>"'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE END OF TWO VICTIMS.</h3> + + +<p>Walter Waters, or Captain Williams, as he called himself now, and in +fact He had come to England ostensibly as the commander of a trading +vessel, had determined to effect the escape of Horace Hunter. That his +own plans might not be disarranged by any violence towards the Earl, he +had on an accidental meeting in the West Indies promised Hunter a more +full revenge if he waited for three years; and feeling that his capture +had in some measure been owing to his appointment, he revolved in his +mind many plans for his rescue. His trial had taken place, and as the +evidence was conclusive, he was condemned to death. As his friends were +now permitted to see him, Walter with his daughter to whom and his +father he had made himself known in private, although he still stopped +at Mrs. Ally's when not in London, obtained permission to visit the +doomed man. Who shall attempt to portray the feelings of Mary Waters, as +in company with the parent so long mourned as dead, she set forth to +hold the last communication on earth with him to whom the treasure of +her young love had been given. Joy at once more beholding her father +mingled in painful intensity with her heart's desolation when she +contemplated the fearful position of her lover; and to her father's +assurances of rescuing him, of reclaiming him and of their union and a +happy life in America, she only replied by a mournful feature, and +pointing to her own emaciated form and hectic cheek. Her beauty had now +assumed an almost unearthly character. The lustre of her dark blue eye +and deathly paleness of her cheek told indeed her race was nearly run. +As they all stood together in the steward's house on the morning of +their visit, they formed a strange and touching group. The bowed figure +of the aged man whose life had been prolonged so far beyond the usual +term of man's existence, the strong form of the mariner, whose vigor was +unabated although near sixty, and the wasted figure and sharpened +features of his daughter, who though scarce more than past the threshold +of womanhood, was yet closer to the dread abyss of eternity than either. +The old steward looked wistfully after them as they passed out into the +wintry air.</p> + +<p>Hunter's passion for drink, his remorse for the officer's death, his +burning thirst for vengeance, and his own sense of self-abasement—all +conspired to add to the fever of his brain; and when Walter and his +daughter were admitted to his cell, it was a gibbering maniac that +rushed forward to meet them. Walter removed his fainting daughter from +the appalling spectacle, and returned with a sickening heart and +terrible forebodings. The shades of evening had given place to bright +moonlight ere they reached the castle. The driver used his utmost speed, +but the snow hindered their progress, and just as they arrived at the +castle gates, the horses swerved violently, and starting to the side of +the road, stood snorting with terror. Walter sprang out, and in the +momentary strength caused by the excitement, his daughter followed him. +The Earl with some companions rode up at the moment of seeing the +carriage stopped; but a more ghastly obstacle obstructed their path—for +there in the snow drift at the gates of the mansion where her seducer +lived in splendor, lay the corpse of the once fair, gentle, and +accomplished Ellen Hunter.</p> + +<p>The Earl gazed upon the body of his victim for a moment, and even his +callous heart was touched. It was evanescent, however, for on one of his +companions asking in a tone of coarse buffoonery, if he was +contemplating that frozen carrion with a view to ornamenting his hall +with it as a statue, he replied in the same strain, and was turning his +horse's head towards the gate, when he was arrested by the stern voice +of the mariner.</p> + +<p>'Blasphemer, peace! Add not insult to the fearful injury you have +committed to that poor piece of clay! Man of the marble heart, your +career is near its close! This is not the only one of your crimes that +has resulted in death. There arises from the earth in South Carolina a +voice that calls for vengeance on her murderer. The child you thought +without a friend, whom you hoped would perish unknown, is even now +preparing to assert his rights, and drive you, titled bastard as you +know yourself to be, from your usurped position. Your agents have +confessed, and nothing can save you from the merited punishment of your +crimes. Repent, weep tears of penitence over this poor form, and make +your peace with God. You have but little time left ere man's justice +will claim you as its due.' He replaced his daughter in the carriage, +and lifting the body of poor Ellen as tenderly as if it had been a +child, placed it inside, and thus the dying and the dead departed.</p> + +<p>At headlong speed the Earl reached his mansion, galled to madness. He +pondered long and deeply who the mysterious seaman could be, but could +arrive at no satisfactory conclusion; but reflecting that he still +possessed the only papers which could be produced in support of the +claimant of his title, he became more collected, and resolved first to +destroy the documents, and then to devise means for getting rid of the +obnoxious seaman, and also of his nephew, if he dared to press his +claim. Somewhat relieved by these considerations, he entered into an +explanation with his friends, spoke of the seaman as a harmless maniac, +and succeeded in calming the irritation of their wounded pride.</p> + +<p>But he could not calm the raging tumult of his own heart—he had entered +into preliminary engagements for a marriage with the daughter of a house +as haughty as his own. His mother's fame would suffer, not that he cared +one jot for any abstract idea of virtue, and she had been sinless in +that at least, for she knew not that her husband had another wife. He +had been offered by the king, and had accepted a high confidential +mission to a foreign power, and now when every proud wish of his heart +seemed to be gratified, to be threatened with the loss of all—and more, +to be subjected to the vulgar gaze as a murderer—death he felt were +better. He drank deeply, which was not his usual custom, and to conceal +his feelings affected a wild gaiety, which, however, failed in deceiving +his companions. Midnight had long passed when he retired to his chamber, +harassed and jaded by the efforts he had made to preserve appearances, +and still more irritated by the wine he had drank. A vague feeling of +horror moreover began to steal over him. He looked out upon the +moonlight and drew his head in with a shudder, for he fancied—it was +but fancy, that he saw a body lying upon the ground. He tried to nerve +himself to the task of destroying the documents, but could not bring +himself to touch the casket. At length he opened the casket; a deep +groan seemed to issue from it. The long low musical laugh he had heard +before sounded in the room. The next moment he hardened himself and +began to read them over. They consisted of the letters mentioned before, +his father's marriage certificate, and the addition of a still more +important document—a statement drawn up by his father a little before +his death, in which he acknowledged Captain Piercy, the name his son had +been known by, prayed for forgiveness for the wrong he had done his +mother, and fully acknowledged his marriage with the fair Italian. This +was the document which had led the countess to persecute Captain +Williams, and her son to murder his brother's widow. He read them slowly +through, and taking them in his hand walked towards the fireplace; he +was about to cast them in, when the same low mocking voice sounded so +close him—he turned and beheld an appalling spectacle. The picture of +his own mother, that had occupied a large compartment of the room, had +entirely disappeared, although but the instant before he had seen +it—and in its place appeared the figures of a man in a full dress naval +uniform, and a lady in the costume of the one he had murdered in distant +America. He gave one wild shriek and fell senseless on the floor. To +seize the papers was to Edward, whom our readers will easily guess to +have personated the lady, but the work of a moment; he regained the +panel and swung it to just as the domestics were hurrying up; not +however before he had fixed upon the toilet with a penknife of the +Earl's, a paper with the word "doomed!" in large characters traced upon +it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>THE AGENT'S PUNISHMENT.</h3> + + +<p>The village bells tolled mournfully, and the stout farmers looked with +Saddened faces at each other on the morning which was to consign to +earth the remains of Mary Waters. Matrons held their aprons to their +eyes as they followed the melancholy procession. She was laid by her own +request in the same grave with Ellen Hunter. The old clergyman who had +loved her as his daughter, faltered as he read the solemn words, "I am +the resurrection and the life," and when the ceremony was concluded, +there was not an eye that was not filled with tears. When the old +steward heard the earth fall upon the coffin lid, his frame was seen to +quiver, he fell forward, and his spirit had departed. They laid him by +the side of his grand daughter the next day; and it was soon ascertained +that he had left the bulk of his savings to the poor children of +Johnson, and that Mrs. Alice Goodfellow was appointed sole executrix.</p> + +<p>Rumors now began to circulate about the Earl—a claim had been laid in +due form by Edward—and the tumult which raged in his heart was +indescribable. Yet he dared to think of vengeance, and swore an oath to +have the heart's blood of those who had humbled him. As he approached +the house of the agent he determined to ask his aid in carrying out his +schemes. Mr. Lambert, however, had no intention of being dragged down +into the vortex, and received him coldly.</p> + +<p>'This is not the reception I expected, Mr. Lambert.'</p> + +<p>'I beg your pardon sir.'</p> + +<p>Sir!—how the word grated on the ear, that had been accustomed to 'my +lord,' and that in the humblest tone; 'I merely wish to intimate, Mr. +Lambert, when it is your gracious pleasure to listen, that I want a word +or two with you.' He spoke in his old sneering tone; the other, who from +habit, remained standing in his presence, bowed; but he did not answer a +word. 'Since you cannot, or will not speak—hear one thing; for your +interest is thereby affected; and that I suppose will reach you—do you +suppose, that those who have attacked the master, will let the servant +escape. Will not even the great Mr. Lambert, be required to give an +account of his stewardship; when so humble an individual as myself, has +been deemed worthy of notice?'—he bowed with mock humility. 'My +accounts are prepared to undergo the strictest investigation. My—sir—' +said the agent, recovering his self possession the instant business was +mentioned, 'both as regards the estate and personal account, my balances +are correct—that of the estate which yet remains unsettled I am ready +to account for to—the proper parties—' (he substituted for the new +Earl's name which rose to his lips,) 'the small balance on the personal +account which is in my favour, I shall be happy to take your note +for—properly endorsed.' The man of business had been so occupied with +the figures he was running up in his mind, that he had failed to observe +the gathering storm on his companion's brow; he had been so used to hold +down his head while speaking to his patron, that even now he could not +forego the habit; but the last word had not passed his lips fully—ere +the earl rose from his seat, and seizing the heavy brass lamp upon the +table between them, struck the unfortunate man a tremendous blow with +it, which prostrated him to the floor; smashing in a portion of his +skull, and inflicting a mortal wound; the agent groaned and lay +senseless; the servants rushed to the scene on hearing the fall, but the +furious appearance of the murderer terrified them, particularly as he +still held in his hand the weapon he had used; he burst through them, +and mounting his horse at the door, fled as though pursued by all the +fiends of hell.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>RETRIBUTION.</h3> + + +<p>Regardless of the wintry storm, the murderer spurred on the noble animal +he rode; he had no purpose in the flight, he had arranged no plan of +escape; unused to act for himself, his movements were all uncertainty: +now he reined in his horse, and listened as if for pursuers, but none +came: now fancying he heard the mocking laugh he had so often heard, he +dashed forward, as if the furies were behind him; the storm meanwhile +increased in its violence, he felt it not; the warfare of the elements +was calmness to the tumult of his heart; he looked up to the heavens, +but there on the edge of every lurid cloud, he saw it, he saw them; not +one but hundreds: maidens with stony blue eyes, all glaring upon him; he +looked upon the earth, a gibbering madman was running by his side, +howling and hooting in the wind; now so near as almost to touch him: now +hundreds of yards away, but always the same; behind him with his ghastly +mangled head, came the form of his last victim, forward! forward! while +the crashing thunder pealed above his head; he shook his impious hand +against the sky, and still darted onward, till the horse stopped, +snorting on the beach; and there as the great sea, rolled in foaming and +turgid, there, he saw it plain in yon glare of livid lightning, on the +crest of every curling wave, a dark haired lady lay, glaring at him with +eyes that looked like coals of fire; a monster wave came rolling in, and +the frightened horse turned, and seizing the bit between his teeth sped +homeward, but still he saw them in the clouds behind, before, beckoning +to him, calling to him, in the voice of the great wind; on, on, towards +the castle gates, he looked up to the battlements; they were there, on +every turret's top, on every pointed arch, from every window, visible to +him, as though it had been bright daylight he saw them. The horse unable +to check his momentum dashed against the castle gates, and falling over +crushed him in its fall; and there on the very spot where one of his +victims had lain in the sleep of death, there lay the mangled and now +dying man, mingling his blood with that of the expiring animal. Day +dawned, and when the red sun rose, it shone upon a corpse; the storm had +ceased, but the wind had blown the snow from off it, and the laborer who +found the body, rushed from the spot in terror at the horrible +expression of the dead man's face.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>CONCLUSION.</h3> + + +<p>Three years have passed away,—the young Earl has arrived at age, and is +coming to take possession of his domains—after finishing his education +at Oxford; great preparation has been made to welcome him. Foremost on +the occasion is Mrs. Alice Goodfellow, and as their Lord's reputed aunt +for so many years, she is a person of no small importance:—still +single, but beginning to think of settling now, as her glass gives +awkward reflections,—but still balancing the claims of her admirers, +though she does give color to the report of shewing a preference for the +sturdy blacksmith;—by her side, smartly dressed, are gamboling about +the young Johnsons, while their father, in a respectable suit of black, +marshals the somewhat unruly procession of maidens and youths chosen to +receive the young Earl. He is now the steward, (agent is a name he +wisely discards,) and a great man, but young girls and boys from sixteen +to twenty have a trick of paying no attention to the wisdom of their +elders, and he is sorely put to it to maintain order. Spring has planted +her fair feet upon the daisied green, and a huge May-Pole has been +erected, as in the olden time, an ox is roasted whole upon the lawn, +tables are spread out under the shade of the great elms and sturdy oaks, +foaming barrels of mighty ale, such as Guy of Warwick drank, ere he +encountered the dun cow, are seen with taps ready in them,—the children +are dancing round the May-Pole in wild glee,—and now a scout posted on +a rising ground comes tearing towards them as though life and death +defended on his speed,—the carriage is coming,—a cheer arises,—it has +passed the gates, and is coming up the avenue. Johnson is full of +nervous excitement, the maidens cease giggling and pinching and all +those endearing little amusements, the young men try to look solemn and +only succeed in causing a burst of laughter from the sly girls, some of +whom draw down their faces in imitation. They are nervous, too—what if +the great man should see their dresses in disorder, and he a young man, +too; the elder matrons and the farmers stand nearest the house, all is +expectation, he has come, the carriage has stopped at the very extremity +of the line, a cheer, thrice repeated, peals through the air, as he +descends from the carriage, and it is a heartfelt one, for this they +know has been among themselves, and shared their hopes and fears. He is +followed by Captain Williams, in the full uniform of an American Naval +Officer; he is whiter headed than when we saw him last, but he looks +able to wrestle any man upon the ground, a cheer bursts forth for him +also, though none recognize in him aught but the brave sailor who had +shown such sympathy at the grave of Mary Waters. They are received by +the Curate, Mr. Johnson, the Lawyer and the Clerk. The young Earl waves +his hand, and every door and window, in the spacious edifice is thrown +open. With a kind word for every one, a merry joke with one fair maiden, +and a laughing glance at another, a cheerful nod to the young men, and a +hearty shake of the hand to the old, and as he decorously salutes each +old matron on the cheek, he fairly rushes into the arms of his quondam +aunt, who nearly goes into hysterics with joy, (which would have been +awkward, as she is stout, and has laced some,) so she thinks better of +it, and cries over him, which does just as well. Such a shout arises as +makes the very welkin ring. He stops upon the top-most step, Capt. +Williams and the others by his side. Every sound is hushed as he speaks. +'It is not outside, my friends, whom I hope I may never give reason to +regret this day. It is not outside of my halls that I can give you +thanks for my reception. There is no room in my house in which you are +not freely welcome, this night, and to him who will not accept the call +of the Earl de Montford, I will send poor Edward Barnett. Ten years from +this day, if such of you as are spared, and I am one, will meet me here +again, I will render to you an account of my stewardship, and then if +you can raise again the cheers with which you have this day greeted me, +poor Edward Barnett will be more than rewarded for his trials, and the +Count de Montford the happiest of his race.' The glorious sun shone full +upon his manly form and handsome features, and as cheer upon cheer +arose, not one that looked upon his open truthful countenance, feared he +would not redeem his promise, or disgrace the proud motto emblazoned on +the banners that waved high above his head on the battlements;—Nulli +Secundi,—Second to none.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="POSTSCRIPT" id="POSTSCRIPT"></a>POSTSCRIPT.</h2> + +<h3>THE AUTHOR TO THE READER.</h3> + + +<p>Gentle reader! if thou hast been interested in this tale of human hopes +and fears—of stern retribution on the wicked, if thou hast shed a tear +over the fate of the gentle and the good—thou wilt perhaps be anxious +to know more of him, who at the close of our tale, we left—in life's +young morning brightness—with wealth and power to aid in his path. Did +he fall from his high estate, did prosperity dim the lustre of his +promise, (and methinks some gentle maiden asks, how sped he in his +love.) If thou hast borne with our tediousness, and hast not +fainted—fear not, we will inflict upon thee yet more.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>What all thy tediousness on me? (<i>Leonato</i>)</p> + +<p>Yes, please your worship. (<i>Dogberry</i>.)</p></div> + +<p>If thou hast been disgusted at the gloomy record, and kicked the book +from thee,—Why then farewell, so end the hopes of poor</p> + +<p>TOBY ACONITE,</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">e Scribe</span>.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDWARD BARNETT; A NEGLECTED CHILD OF SOUTH CAROLINA, WHO ROSE TO BE A PEER OF GREAT BRITAIN,--AND THE STORMY LIFE OF HIS GRANDFATHER, CAPTAIN WILLIAMS***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 16112-h.txt or 16112-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/1/1/16112">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/1/1/16112</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>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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